A Light that Pierced the Veil (String Octet) - C. L. Thomas

PROGRAM NOTES:

Driving through the mountains and hills of West Virginia, I ran into a rather violent rainstorm that lasted quite a bit of my ride. After some time passes, the rain gets lighter and then dies away. Out of nowhere, a single ray of light broke through the clouds and shined on this tiny hill amid these large mountains and trees and all of nature. This moment was one of the most overwhelming sights I have seen and had to pull over to take some time to admire it. A minute or two passed, the ray of light went away, and the rain continued so I continued the rest of my travel.

In reflecting on that moment, it felt incredibly unrealistic. It was as if the world and time stood still just to admire that little hill. The more I thought back on it, I remember seeing a pile of something that looked destroyed and the first thought that came to my mind was the bible story of Abraham and Isaac. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son as a burnt offering. As Abraham goes to the mountain and goes to sacrifice his son, an angel stopped him and pointed to a ram that had its horns stuck in a bush. He unties his son and they instead sacrificed the ram and God was pleased.

For such an overwhelming natural phenomenon to accent something that seemed so insignificant and small where everything else appears so much bigger and more beautiful... It moved me deeply and even still I am speechless.

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