Locusta Marina (2009)
Locusta Marina is scored for 2 flutes, 2 bass clarinets, 2 cellos and 2 percussion. Since only one member of each pair of instruments plays at a time, the piece is a kind of "hyper-quartet" in which each instrument is capable of otherwise impossible feats (such as near-instantaneous transitions between physically incompatible extended techniques).
Throughout the piece, each pair of instruments rapidly alternates between six precomposed "drone layers" of varying rhythmic and harmonic spectra. Thus, an imagined narrative emerges from inherent stasis. This recording is a performance by members of the Callithumpian Consort at the 2009 SICPP Iditarod Concert in Boston.
