Air burnt dry (2022)
for reinforced violoncello
Australian summer changes everything there. Air is burnt dry by the sun, the earth is harsh and firm. Sounds sound different when water in the air has been burnt away by the heat. Everything is still when hiding from our summer sun.
On days like this, shade feels like a dampness. The air has no weight when it’s that dry, it feels as if you’re moving through nothing, like the air is an absence of pressure.
In spring regrowth begins in the shade of these trees. After a fire, from the bark of a tree.
both to dust, and for dust –– sing from dust, and of honey
This work is the second part of a triptych; the other two are for clarinet, and flutes.
“..and your voice shall whisper out of dust.” (Isaiah)
premiered by Nadar Ensemble
Pieter Matthynssens (violoncello), and John Pax (amplification)
Harvard University May 21st, 2022