Axis program note
Axis is a piece for six instruments that I wrote in 2002, just after I moved to California from the East Coast. Some of the compositional and orchestrational aspects of the piece reflect my (initial) feelings of alienation and all-around weirdness at being 3,000 miles from home. For example, the piece begins with a steady drone in the marimba, accompanied by percussive clicks and rattles in the rest of the ensemble. Once the piece is underway, and the clicks and rattles have turned into whacks and thuds, the marimba drone becomes a quiet, lyrical melody. This somewhat perverse idea—having the percussion instrument play a tune, and the instruments that normally play the tunes imitate percussion—is probably a pretty fair reflection of my sense of displacement. The title comes from the way the music seems to spin around on itself roughly halfway through, to reveal a stark and fragmented landscape.
(Now, years later, it's California that seems like home, and the East Coast that is strange and unfamiliar.)
Axis is dedicated with great respect and affection to my friend Ross Bauer.
click here for Word doc of program note