string of pearls (2006) 9'
Commissioner: a marimba consortium (Thomas Burritt and the University of Texas Percussion Program, Michael Burritt, David Cossin, Joseph Gramley, Eduardo Leandro, Todd Meehan, William Moersch, Doug Perkins, Steven Schick, Adam Sliwinski, Robert Van Sice)
First Performer: November 10 2006, Tom Burritt, UT Austin, TX
Instrumentation: solo marimba
Special Features:
Program note:
''string of pearls'' evolved out of commission from a consortium of amazing percussionists, most of whom I haven had the honor of working with closely over the years. I had the idea to make this piece out od a series of little bursts of energy, with tiny pauses between accumulating in power an density. After I finished the music, I realized that the form of the piece resembled a string a pearls—short, exciting, shiny moments strung together in a continuous line.
When I started composing ''string of pearls,'' I struggled for a while with the question of how to leave enough rook for each of these players to make the piece their own. My solution was to give very little instruction on how to shape the performance. All notes and rhythms are written down quite specifically, but there are no dynamic markings, no accents, no crescendi, etc. The players are instructed to shape each phrase ad lib. One performance may be all loud, or all quiet, or anywhere in between. It is my hope that by being vague with the performance instructions, each of these incredible performers will find their own unique version of the piece.
—David Lang
