Entanglement, soliloquy, tango, flight: each movement poses a problem from which the next unfolds. Themes continually resurface, transformed, as the music reinvents its own past — the endless process Gabriel García Márquez described as “piecing together the broken mirror of memory from so many scattered shards.” The coda gathers everything together, grappling, burning down — and then, from the embers, a simple benediction emerges, present all along, now laid bare. We discover in retrospect that the music’s destination has always been its source.

I wrote the bass clarinet part for Pat O’Keefe. He is a wise and gracious collaborator, the rare sort of polyvalent musician a composer dreams of. This piece would not exist without his help.

This a recording Pat and I made in my home studio, and it is very much a studio construction: live playing, yes, to be sure, but meticulously edited and mixed by the composer (yours truly) to create a version of the music that approximates the piece as it exists in the composer’s mind.

Pat and I made a second recording of the piece for his album Contents May Differ. Though it is also a studio recording, that version feels much more like a live performance: the piece as it exists for an audience. I love both versions, and love that both versions exist.

You can see the score. You’ll also find more information on that page about the composition’s influences and history.

Thanks for listening.

Paul