I finished off a duo for cello and marimba today commissioned by Stick&Bow (Krystina Marcoux and Juan Sebastian Delgado). This work is an interesting example of how long ideas can live inside an artist before finally finding their manifestation. I first thought of this image of moths throwing themselves against a lantern when experimenting with a marimba during So Percussion‘s composing for percussion seminar (informally known as Sominar) at Princeton University back in 2015. Something about the dull, but velvety warm thudding of that lowest octave on a 5-octave marimba made me think that if moths were human-sized, they would sound just like that in their manic desire to unite with the flame. These moths were throwing themselves against my mind’s lantern for 8 years before finally reaching the light.

I originally intended to write a quartet for two marimbas and two vibraphones, or two marimbas played by four people (marimba four hands? because you know, getting four 5-octave marimbas on one stage seemed unlikely). I never got around to that. But when this commission came my way, this image floated up from the depth of my creative repository. And then Kaija Saariaho passed away not long before I started the work and I knew this piece would be my homage to her. Her solo cello work Sept Papillon, Seven Butterflies, blew my mind when I first heard it back in 2011 from the hands of Vanessa Hunt Russell, who was learning it at the Banff Centre, where I was also doing my first residency. The work was important in my investigations of the cello, along with Spins and Spells, as I wrote The Child, Bringer of Light for a workshop led by Kaija and her long-time collaborator, cellist Anssi Karttunen.

Like Moths to a Flame is very different from Kaija’s style, but I have retained many timbral elements and notational approaches from her work in my string writing. Studying her scores, and then studying with her and Anssi was a transformative moment in my artist development. The Sominar was also an import moment in my development. So this is how two different formative experiences unexpectedly came together in one piece, many years later. Thank you!