gegenschein by Clifton Callender published on 2015-02-08T02:26:23Z Recording by Piotr Szewczyk. The gegenschein, or counter shine, is a very feint brightening of the night sky centered on the point directly opposite the sun. It is a very indirect source of light—sunlight reflecting off of the very fine particles that make up interplanetary dust. This is an appropriate metaphor for the kind of sound world I have tried to create using a solo violin, a work consisting mostly of very fast arpeggiated and tremolo-like figures involving natural harmonics. Due to the speed of these figures, the harmonics only have time to partially sound, yielding a rapid succession of very feint overtones. The result is a fragile yet brilliant flickering of sound, mostly quiet and diffuse yet played with great intensity and aggression. My thanks to Piotr Szewczyk who commissioned and premiered the work as part of his Violin Futura project. Genre Violin