Siphonophore for String Trio

I’ve always had a fascination- or more really a fear- of the deep sea, especially with the macabre and haunting creatures of the dark. The bioluminescence of these alien creatures has a very visceral beauty to me. The siphonophore is the quintessential beautiful and bizarre oddity of the bottom of the ocean. A siphonophore, though it looks like a single animal, is actually a colonial organism like a coral- each segment is made of several identical individuals. Many species are bioluminescent, either as a defensive tactic or a predatory technique to lure prey.

My piece, named after the order Siphonophore, explores many facets of their natural habitat. The piece is built off compositional techniques like tintinnabulation, Messiaen’s 3rd mode of limited transposition and an extensive use of fast changes between bowing techniques. It opens with an individual floating far out in the dark, slowly creeping towards the audience. As the piece develops as the ocean current speeds up, each instrument in the trio ripples one after another. The piece peaks with a virtuosic show of technique as the Siphonophore puts on a technicolor display of bioluminescence . The piece finally fades into the distance as the opening material returns.