Orchestration:

solo vibraphone 

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Duration:

7' 30"

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Premiere:

Premiered by John McGovern at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on November 16, 2022.

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Note:

Through long decays and gradually transforming rhythms, Embracing Decay aims to capture the idea of Impermanence—an Eastern religious concept which asserts that all things are transient and in a continuous condition of change and decline. Many of the pitches in this piece are not tied to fixed rhythms, but instead are placed along rhythmic gradients where the performer slowly transitions from one specified rhythm to the next—sometimes performing two separate gradients at once. Three times in the piece, the textures emerge from a single pitch and slowly transform into a forest of discrete rhythms and reoccurring harmonies.