Light Refracted is a two-movement composition for chamber ensemble by the American composer Jennifer Higdon.
The possible number of ways that light can refract (meaning to splinter and reflect in different dimensions and angles) are endless.
The style and mood inevitably evoke French atmospheres, but with a determined and concise way of completing core musical ideas.
Higdon turned the music inside out with brusque attacks in the strings, insistent piano patterns, and fierce energy.
Here, the clarinet recalled Eastern Europe, yet the composer found gestures in each instrument to identify the work instantly as American.