Rūta Vitkauskaitė

Prana (2019)

Duration:

4′ 57″

Instrumentation:

Piano

Programme Note

The word “prana” in Sanskrit means “the breath of life, vital life force, air, vigour, energy”. The music floats through seemingly free passages, balanced on repeated notes or chords. When listening to the piece, one can imagine the air floating through the body: as you breathe in, the air floats through the throat, to the trachea, to the lungs, and through the bronchioles, spreading across veins, arteries, and capillaries to the very tips of your fingers before traveling all the way back. This complex process of air travel, branching out from one breath into the smallest twigs, is like an invisible air-tree growing to thrive for a moment inside your body before decaying into nothingness. And each breath gives birth to such a tree – the constant, never-stopping breath that follows you through your entire life. Commissioned by Jonathan Powell.