Leaf Metal, for Large Wind Ensemble

When imagining writing for the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, I knew immediately that I wanted to write something “oceanic.” I would use the whole ensemble like a vast organism, and fleeting soloistic creatures would emerge briefly and be quickly subsumed by the overall sound mass. The title brings together the natural and the industrial, and waves of sound move between liquid and solid states, water and steel. Colorful, strange characters emerge, as amplified, microtonal harps create detuned textures that live alongside brassy, distorted “big band” stabs. These, however, are fleeting figures in the ocean of sound that is the main thrust of the work.