The title is a line from Charles Bukowski's (1920-1994) poem "Mind and Heart“, which inspired me to this composition. Bukowski wrote „Mind and Heart“ at the end of his life when he was coming to terms with his inner demons. In the context of the anthology in which I found this poem, the lyrical ‚I‘ seems incredibly at peace with itself, like it is in a calm, reflective state - no struggle, no grand final chord, just elegant acceptance. A very desirable state of mind for me, especially when I wish to write music.„The dark and the light and everything in between“ is a very special piece for me. When working on it I realized for the first time that I can write the music I want to hear, without having to make it fit in certain structures. Concert music has a very strong academic and historical tradition and takes place in a very institutionalized environment, which put me off at first as it felt quite restrictive. At the time when I wanted to turn "Mind and Heart"into music, I was actually expressing myself musically more through electronic music. For this piece, however, I was looking for a very unique, special sound: acoustic and warm, strong, light and somber at the same time. That's how the instrumentation for this piece came about, and that's how I found my musical approach.