Starlighter from Starlighter (ICR026) by Colin Jacobsen

From the composer:

I'm lucky to have a father-in-law, Melvin Okamura, who has spent many years as a researcher and professor at UCSD patiently investigating the phenomena of photosynthesis, by which plants and bacteria absorb light emitted by our nearest star, our beloved sun, and turn the light into energy (ATP molecules). As a byproduct of this process, they ingest carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, effectively being responsible for the air we breathe and depend upon. Mel's research, done in tandem with his friend and mentor George Feher, related specifically to how light was transformed into energy by bacteria and plants on a molecular level. I realized after speaking with Mel that in this process there was a form that could relate well to a classic music structure. Simplified here, it goes like this: A. Light is absorbed by chlorophyll molecules (the green pigment in plants) in the Reaction Center and excites an electron to a high energy state. B. The excited electron jumps/interacts with a series of other molecules until it is far away from the original chlorophyll site. C. A new molecule (ATP- the energy/food of the plant) is synthesized out of the energy in the excited electron.

Musically speaking, this reads to me almost like sonata form- with opening material (ie light entering) leading to an excited state; a development (in which the electron/music goes through a series of interactions/energy changes); recapitulation (in which something new is synthesized out of the old).

So in a sense this is a piece of program music, though after all that explanation I would say that Starlighter is more of a free fantasy on those themes rather than a strict and slavish depiction of this very involved and beautiful process of photosynthesis. - Colin Jacobsen