CLOSE TO THE EDGE

CttE is one of the pieces of music, in the tradition of Rchard Strauss 'Alpine Symphony', that evokes a sense of ascending and descending mysticism that only comes from climbing mountains and religion. The beginning puts you immediately in nature and the ascent begins. The climbing base the guitair working hard upwards culminating in a rest midway in a cave with dripping water, perhaps a place of contemplation. Finally you reach the top looking down at the silence of the valley, and with the synthetic strings pulled towards the father reaches of where sound travels, like seeing the far vista of distant peaks. Ending, as Strauss does in a quiet reflective mood, here back at the start, down by a river, close to the edge.