In some of my pieces, the text is somewhat more the servant of the music than the other way around, and Second Eve is one of those works. The music is mainly inspired by a breathtaking photography taken by one of my favorite photographers, Jake Rajs, featured in the book These United States (Rizzoli). It is a picture of Alaska's Mount McKinley, the highest mountain peak in the US, and I was looking at this photo throughout the writing process, making sure that the energy and atmosphere of the music corresponded with the feeling I got from looking at the picture.
The Sancta Maria text seemed to kind of fit into what I was looking for in this piece, expressing something mystical, and kind of regal, which Mt. McKinley is in every possible way.
Second Eve was commissioned by, dedicated to, and later premiered by the Riverside City College Chamber Choir and conductor John Byun in Riverside, California, Oct. 2008.
Ola Gjeilo
