or “mock sun” (from the Greek parēlion: pará, beside and hēlios, sun) is an optical phenomenon in the atmosphere resulting from the refraction of sunlight from ice crystals. In many of my compositions, optical phenomena play a major role in the formation of musical concepts, which is reflected by the titles: Irisations I, Irisations II, Deep Aqua Reflections, ...Both Shadow and Flame... Parhelion elaborates on the idea of sound travel in space: both illusory (imaginary or intentional), manifesting itself in the multilayered structure of music, and real, achieved through the arrangement of instruments on the stage. The traditional orchestra setup was modified in order to create multidirectional trajectories of sound moving in space (strings: longitudinal movement between background and foreground; winds, piano and harp: horizontal movements between right and left). Apart from the prearranged, spatial movement of sound, another form-determining element is the energetic structure of the narrative. The various sound phenomena (simultaneous or successive) are in fact “virtual reflections” or “parhelions” of their predecessors. What came a moment ago has now become something different, and yet – still the same. These virtual images in sound, appearing as “reflections” of the original, are never identical, and so the principle of symmetry is violated here.
This is dynamic music, abounding in brief, colourful, energetic sound events. The metamorphic nature of musical material has become a kind of hallmark distinguishing my compositions to date. Could this also be a reflection of Heraclitus’ panta rhei?

Kamil Kruk