Beyond the Horizon (2020)
string quartet, 10'
Beyond the Horizon takes an imaginary trip into the black hole, and portrays the protagonist’s experience travelling through various stages, from the ergosphere to the event horizon. Various physical phenomena such as time dilation and doppler effect are portrayed in the music, where there is constant ritardando throughout the middle section. I was inspired by various depictions of journeys into black holes in films and literature, and they often meander through the ideas of mystery, inevitability, and power: Is entering a black hole a one-way ride to certain doom? What lies beyond the event horizon? Here I take a musical interpretation of my imagination of the unknown beyond the event horizon, which could lead to a point of singularity where everything ceases to exist, or to another universe, in which case the black hole is in fact a wormhole. While most would imagine the former outcome, this piece seems to suggest otherwise, as it rises to a triumphant climax towards the end of the piece.