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Art and the Rain (2008)

Instrumentation: solo marimba
Duration: 10’
Commission: Michigan State University for Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher
Premiere: Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher, Interlochen Arts Academy
Interlochen, MI (June 2008)

A decade ago, I heard Yo-Yo Ma perform three of J.S. Bach’s Suites for Unaccompanied Cello at Tanglewood. The performance took place in the festival’s open-air venue, the Shed, during a relentless downpour. Art and the Rain juxtaposes material from the familiar Prelude of the First Suite in G Major, BWV 1007, with my own music (here associated with the rain, its sound world readily inhabited by the marimba). The piece isn't concerned with Bach’s music so much as with my recollection of Ma's eloquent, intensely-focused performance, refracted through both weather and memory.