True Self

The start of the third movement is the climax of the composition. It is a breakthrough, an apotheosis, a wave of time-dilating reflections or as the great 6th century Chinese Buddhist scholar Tiantai described it, ‘three thousand realms in a single moment of life”
  
The hammer blows at the start and the pungent sound of open strings, evokes the rhythm of that resolutely determined 6 syllable chant of Nicherin Buddhism “Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo.” 
From the outset the music is hot and fiery and quickly develops into multiple streams of musical discourse, held together under great tension. Maybe this is the approach to the threshold of life, in which the past is said to replay in an instant. In any case, there is a threshold and a resolution to this moment as the true self theme reemerges, this time stronger and with much greater warmth, now bathed in the balm of piano scales, the hammer blows now softened and transformed. The ending is feminine, pulsing and in balance. Listen out for the special ‘seagull’ sounds made by the cello.

True Self 3rd movement

The second movement is a groove, a dance and a blast. It is a celebration of the material, the sensual, the earth. The players use their instruments sometimes as percussion and other times in their full melodic sonority. The music rolls and rushes between dances and circus acts, but despite the contrast in mood and rhythm the second movement is literally another manifestation of the true self theme. The same body, as it were, but in different clothes.

True self 2nd movement

True Self is a piano trio performed by Natasha Sachsenmeier (violin), Timothée Botbol  (cello) and Ilya Chetverikov (piano).
The title are the words of the historical Bhuddha, who proclaimed true self as one of the four noble qualities.
The first movement begins with a violin solo, - a playful pre-echo of the true self theme, which begins when the piano enters. The mood is joyful, illuminated and moving with the quality of water. As each instrument enters, the theme is continuously reiterated in a series of meditative waves of flowing counterpoint.

True Self 3rd movement

Jeremy Arden