A Knock One Night

"Elena Kats-Chernin is a strong visual composer, using rhythm and a strong affinity for dance forms to drive and shape her music. A Knock One Night, commissioned for the ACO, tells the powerful story of a family living in fear of a wartime journey that will tear their lives apart. The most beautiful opening movement began with a cluster chord creating a fog-like sound denoting memory from which the guiding melodic motif emerged. The second movement described the dreaded sound of the knock that would precipitate the journey into darkness, with evocative physical knocking from the musicians interwoven with the music. Train is the movement of deliverance, when the oppressive fear was lifted from the family and the journey ultimately leads to the final movement, Peace, in which new life in Australia was evoked through long sustained chords reflecting space, safety and tranquility." (Jennifer Gall, Canberra Times, 25 Jun 2018)

"It started and finished with a beautifully subtle fade-in and fade-out from the violas and cellos with a much edgier and disturbing centre section. At times there is gorgeously lush string writing, and a work that should stay in the repertoire." (Grahan McDonald, CityNews, 24 Jun 2018)