From the very title, “Dark or Bright?” announces the contrast that structures this three-part work. Louis Kroni develops an expressive architecture that plays on oppositions of colour, mood and energy.

The piece opens with a dark, introspective cadenza, a dramatic prelude to a fast, tense, tormented movement dominated by dark hues (Dark). This initial momentum gives way to a brighter central slow movement (Bright), in which the composer inserts a striking melodic quotation: the theme from Jea...