By the window (2022)

"By the Window" for viola, contrabass and prepared piano is a work inspired by Gunnel Wåhlstrand's painting of the same name. It depicts two young people at a sunlit window, deeply engrossed in leafing through a book. Or is it possibly a photo album - perhaps the very album from which Gunnel much later painted this picture?

My aim has not been to illustrate the painting in music, but I have tried to bring to life the moment itself: the immersion of the two people, the almost blinding light from the window, a sense of both melancholy and peace.

"By the Window" is one of Gunnel Wåhlstrand's paintings that contains the most white, that is, that lets the white paper shine through. This pristine white is matched in my composition by the piano's reverberation – the pristine timbre – and to enhance the contrast between light and dark, I have prepared the piano's mid-range with damping rubber. Against this we then hear two singing string instruments, often in very high registers and often revolving around the same note. The title "By the Window" has another meaning for me, namely something that the composer Steve Reich has said: "Music should be like an open window". By that he means that the composer must be open to impulses from the outside world: the music being played the street outside the window should be able to find its way into the score. Here, my window has been open to the visual arts.

"By the Window" is dedicated to the three fantastic musicians Malin Broman, Rick Stotijn and Simon Crawford-Phillips.

Britta Byström