Fragility (2022)
For cello and percussion
Commissioned by the Land’s End Ensemble
Duration: 10 min
In our earliest discussion regarding this collaboration, Dame Evelyn Glennie suggested the work could explore extremes in frequencies, particularly pairing the high glockenspiel with the low cello. As I began writing the piece within the context of the previous three years, these extremes came to represent being trapped in a state of solastalgia, with the vast divide between the memory of a beloved place or environment that has been irrevocably changed, and the grittiness and harshness of the present reality.
The piece opens with a gentle and lyrical glockenspiel solo while the cello gradually emerges with unpitched, airy sounds and long sustained notes. As the piece unfolds, the materials become increasingly distorted and intensified, eventually transferring to the marimba and moving through moments of outburst, longing, nostalgia and numbness.
Ultimately, the piece is a reflection on how every aspect of our lives seems precariously fragile and easily lost or broken at any moment. From individuals to entire ecosystems, nearly everyone and everything has experienced tremendous disruption and loss over the past few years. Fragility is a reminder of how very delicately the present hangs in the balance.
