Pan the Goat-God (piano)

Pan the Goat-God 1. The Forbidden Instinct 2. Panic & Fear 3. Selene 4. Metamorphosis PAN the Goat-God is set in four movements. The music for this cycle is driven by hard rhythmic patterns which support complex motives and intricate melodic lines. The composition is also characterised by aggressive contrasts within the same movement which often surprise the listener as the music jolts forward in leaps and bounds. The music of Ruben Zahra often carries the fragments of colliding musical cultures. In this particular work Zahra is applying a series of patterns derived from hard-rock and heavy metal bands which constitute (amongst others) the raw material for the whole composition. These fragments are transformed and absorbed within the music tapestry of the contemporary work, yet provide a distinct hard rhythmic pulse of the music. PAN the Goat-God was premiered at the Malta Arts Festival 2008 as an interdisciplinary piece featuring contemporary music, theatre, dance and video-art. The solo piano version was written for Tricia Dawn Williams to be performed at The Béla Bartók Memorial House in June 2013.