Matthijs van Dijk: "(rage) rage against the" (Signum Quartet)
(rage) rage against the
by Matthijs van Dijk
performed by the Signum Quartet
recorded live at The Baxter Concert Hall, Cape Town, 2018, by Tony Mittelmeyer
While I’ve written many pieces dealing with death in a broad sense (having lost a parent at 18, it would only be natural that it would work its way into my music), I don’t often write works that are directly about my own mortality. Taking a lot of inspiration from Dylan Thomas’ poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, specifically the chorus “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”, most of (rage) is about pondering the inevitable (specifically THE moment), swinging from acceptance to being terrified, raging and pleading, to almost “welcoming” it – an internal monologue something those of us who deal with depression regularly have to confront.
Musically, while recently I've been including many electronic dance music gestures in my pieces (with (rage) being no exception), the above mentioned chorus nudged me in a direction to include several tips-of-the-hat to my “first love” - rock and metal - with the cello taking the roll of electric guitar, banging out elements that could potentially be played by artists as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Rage Against The Machine.