4 players: perc. quartet - Lifeline

Ensemble: percussion quartet

Duration: 11 minutes

Commissioned by: Sandbox Percussion

Premiered by: Sandbox Percussion at 92Y, New York City, NY

Published by: Yes Daedalus Music

Note:

In talking with the members of Sandbox Percussion, I became interested in writing a work that would showcase a different side of their musicianship, with an emphasis on polyphony and harmonic development. It would have the kind of extended melodic lines– so often a feature of string quartets, but less so in percussion repertoire– that lend themselves to interpretive phrasing in performance.The piece begins in a whirlwind: fast notes on mallet instruments, with expansions and contractions in the metric grid providing bursts of energy that propel the quartet through quick harmonic changes. This process spins itself out, exhausting its energy as it gives way to quiet, sustained harmony primarily played on bowed instruments. The journey from explosive, energetic music to a more serene, internal landscape brings a feeling of ritual– a shared understanding that growth and life eventually gives way to decay.

As I was writing, I thought about an experience I had one night watching a school of squid as they surrounded minnows beneath a dock. The squid formed a ghostly circle, and one by one, they took turns venturing into the ring to nab a fish. There was an order to the system that was moving– and spooky– to watch. In my writing, I like to set up processes that feel organic and inevitable, highlighting the ephemeral nature of our experience on this earth. The piece concludes with a haunted fugue, drifting in as on the tide, all four players gathered around two vibraphones. Gradually, the music fades as each player retreats into darkness, like those ghostly squid, leaving just a shimmer of scales in the dock light.

Perusal score: view here