Opening, Philip Glass

Opening, as the title suggests, serves as a prelude for this album. The work, originally written for solo piano, is performed unaltered on the marimba. An excellent marimba in an excellent concert hall is truly gorgeous!

Precipice - for marimba and computer-generated sounds, Allan Schindler

Precipice, which I commissioned in 2003, is an elegant exploration of the vast sonic resources of the modern five-octave marimba. In particular, Precipice is stunning in its nuanced use of tremolo and other idiomatic and extended marimba techniques.

The computer-generated sounds were originally conceived for a high-definition, multi-channel (surround) sound environment. This “virtual” environment was created through the use of sophisticated ambisonic formulae, as opposed to a more simple approach utilizing only intensity panning. Many of the computer-generated sounds heard in this composition were derived from recordings of me at the marimba. In many instances, these marimba samples have been broken into tiny grains and then reassembled. These conglomerations of tiny sound grains form, as Schindler has put it, timbral “necklaces” which create new and beautifully complex sounds.

Interlude - for marimba and computer-generated sounds, Greg Wilder

In 2005, I contacted Greg Wilder with a special request for a new composition for marimba and high-definition, multi-channel, computer-generated sounds that would serve as an interlude for this album. The result, Interlude, fulfills this function perfectly by creating a moment of repose in the middle of this album's musical program.

Most of the computer-generated sounds are digital manipulations of various acoustic instruments (piano and woodwinds in particular). The combination of “live” marimba and acoustically based computer-generated sounds creates a pacific but playful environment of enhanced” realism.

Silhouettes, Augusta Read Thomas

Silhouettes, which Augusta Read Thomas and I collaborated on in 2004, is a transcription for marimba of two movements of her solo guitar work Dialogs and of her Piano Etudes #2 and #4. The title Silhouettes refers to the presence of a number of musical influences in this work. These influences manifest themselves not as overt imitation, but as modest homages to great classical and jazz masters, as named in the titles of the four movements.

Vermont Counterpoint, Steve Reich

In this incarnation of Reich's fantastic work (originally composed for an ensemble of flutes, piccolos, and alto flutes) I have performed all the parts on the marimba. To enhance and clarify the counterpoint, each voice has been given its own position in space. In the surround version, the voices are spacialized within a 360 degree sound field, with the listener in the center. In the stereo versions, the voices are spacialized within the left-to-right stereo sound field.

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