Rockaby (2007)
Rockaby was written for and performed by the red fish blue fish percussion ensemble as part of the June in Buffalo summer music festival. The piece takes its name after the one-woman play by Samuel Beckett.
In essence, the piece is an experiment in musicolinguistic translation. The idea is simple: every word in Beckett's play is translated into a unique sound (or combination of sounds) and played in the order that they appear in the play. Because of Beckett's distinctive use of permutational minimalism, his writing is particularly suited to a "musical reading." With some concentration you can hear various passages recur and become altered over the course of the piece.
The rhythms are a direct transcription of a recorded performance of the play by Penelope Wilton. Despite the understated tone of the piece, it is immensely challenging to play (not to mention long). I am grateful to have been able to work with such an extraordinarily talented and dedicated group of performers.
