Preparing for Carnegie Hall

So the piece is finished. It is called Lí—Brightness and is dedicated to a very dear friend of mine, Prof. Carey Denholm, in Australia.

Here is the program note for the piece:

Lí—Brightness takes its title from the 30th hexagram of the I-Ching:

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The image for this is brightness or fire over fire indicating brightness. The four main sections of the work correspond to the four trigrams embedded with the hexagram:

Below=Radant (Lí) the image of fire, sun or lightning;

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Lower=Gentle (Xùn) the image of wind, wood

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Upper=Joyous (Duì) the image of lake, rain, and

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Above=Radant (Lí) the image of fire, sun or lightning;

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Each of the trigrams and the hexagram as a whole also carry with them profound emotional, psychological and philosophical imagery and messages as well. There is deep scholarship within Chinese culture regarding the I Ching of which this current hexagram represents only one of sixty such hexagrams. The overall meaning of the hexagram relates to good character and proper conduct of one’s life resulting in brightness, clarity, radiance, and warmth. This work is dedicated to my good friend Carey Denholm, whose life is and has been so far a demonstration of the qualities and meanings of Lí—Brightness.

Douglas Knehans