Capricorn I: Pluto in terra

About

This work was written with the underground, ominous, hidden nature of Pluto in mind – in relation to the build up of energy created by the planetary 'cardinal T-square' which came to full force at the end of July 2010, with Pluto in Capricorn, Saturn (and Mars) in Libra and Uranus (and Jupiter) in Aries – and in rememberance of all those who have suffered in the aftermath of the series of earthquakes which struck near Christchurch, New Zealand, from 4th September 2010. The most devastating of these wreaked destruction through large parts of the city and surrounding suburbs on 22nd February 2011, claiming 181 lives and gravely affecting thousands more, and, at the time of writing this, the aftershocks are still occurring – with random inevitability...

Some of the intervals used in the composition relate to the dates of these two earthquakes, some of the sound effects are intended to evoke both gravelly and murky qualities of slowly-shifting earth, and the (mostly) fixed mode reflects the ruthless, unstoppable nature of Pluto in the cardinal Earth Sign of Capricorn, alongside the forces of Nature itself.

Completed in the early hours of the morning on the anniversary of the first big (September) quake, Capricorn I: Pluto in terra is written for (and dedicated to) Christchurch-based harpist extraordinaire, Helen Webby – herself a highly talented, hard-working Capricorn – who commissioned this work (along with others to be included on a CD of NZ harp music) with funding assistance from Creative New Zealand.