Revolving around the first recording of Sir James MacMillan’s Kiss on Wood for viola and piano arranged and performed by Rachel Yonan, this album explores the polarity of light and darkness. Minimalist composer Arvo Pärt’s beloved Fratres and Spiegel im Spiegel bookend the program.

The concept of light infuses these pieces with their intense clarity and search for transcendent meaning. Fratres (Brotherhood) evokes the struggle between good and evil with its contrasting voices.

Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror) is pure and stable as it sonically imagines the infinite reflection between two mirrors. Pärt’s deeply spiritual music links to MacMillan’s devotional Kiss on Wood which invites the listener into a place of stillness and silence as it reaches for an essence of meaning beyond words. MacMillan sounds out the darkness of loss, yet finds delicate rays of hope to fill the long spaces.

Paired with these intense yet static twenty-first century works are Schumann’s miniature character pieces Märchenbilder (Fairytale Pictures) that use an emotional palette ranging from bright and playful to deeply melancholic. The programmatic title of each work— Fratres, Kiss on Wood, Märchenbilder, Spiegel im Spiegel —hints at meaning that cannot be expressed by words alone, but must be illuminated by the music.