Programme note:
The work based on the first verse of the Lenten hymn Pange Lingua.

"Bend, O noble tree, they branches; Let thy fibers yielding be, Let the rigid strength be softened Which in birth was given thee. That the limbs of my dear Jesus May be stretched most tenderly."

Then bending and warping of the tree is heard in a key idea in my work. Rigid chords and uniform tempi are stretched into polyrhythmic counterpoint. Chord clusters spanning the length of the keyboard are (tenderly) stretched into almost transparent harmonies allowing the viola to poke, like a finger, through membranes of sound. Also, strict unison rhythms rush head on into helter-skelter chaos - their rigid pulse yielding and softening into clouds of superimposed tempi.

While reading the stanza from the hymn I was reminded of paintings by Salvador Dali and in particularly, his famous interpretation of the Crucifixion. As he painted his Christ figure leaning over the world suspended from the cross. So, my central movement is hung from the brief, high, outer movements.