Knots II, for organ and violin, was composed for the United Music Publishers Organ Ensemble Prize at the Royal Academy of Music. The concept of the piece was drawn from a poem by R.D. Laing, according to which, a steady state of mind is not possible since human behaviour is a reaction to everyday life or social interaction. Therefore, as life is always in flux, human behaviour constantly changes in order to adjust and adapt to new circumstances. Although these changes of mood follow some patterns, they can not be fully predicted since they are closely related to the stimulus that triggers them. Knots II, a reaction to the poem, has two sets of variations that reflect the opposing states of blissful serenity and restless confusion that can alternate at will in the human mind. However, the term variation is used here in a rather general sense, as each piece is a reaction to the others of the same set and furthermore, each set of variations is a reaction to the other. When shuffling the pieces in an almost random order, an irrational discontinuity can be achieved, while still maintaining a peculiar sense of a knotted unity. Therefore, the eight pieces may be played in any order according to the performer’s preference. The current order is just one possibility…
First performance: February 2004, St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, Eleni Keventsidou, Stelios Chatziiosifidis.