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| Sextet for marimba and strings | |
| Date Completed: | January 23, 1990 |
| Duration: | 16 minutes |
| Instrumentation: | marimba, 2 violins, viola, 2 'cellos |
| First Performance: | University of Akron New Music Group: Joseph Patrick, marimba; Roger Zahab and Philip Baldwin, violins; Jerome P. Miskell, viola; and James P. Hinkley and Barry Kiernan, cellos; at the Coach House Theatre in Akron, Ohio on 14 June, 1990. |
| Comments: | for Tim Walsh |
| Program Notes: | Sextet for marimba and strings was begun in Kalamazoo, Michigan on 4 November 1989 and completed 23 January 1990 in Akron. I wrote it for my beloved friend Tim Walsh, who was the Muse of my formative years. I intended to have it done and recorded by his birthday on the 10th of January, but the work seemed to expand the more I tried to bring it to a close. He was already in fast declining health, and - recognizing that this was probably the last gift of music I would create for him - I wanted to make something he would find both interesting and beautiful. I chose the marimba and the string quintet with two cellos to refer to some of his favorite music - African marimba and the Schubert C major string quintet, and used the musical signature derived from his name as the central idea of the piece. In late January 1990 I was able to play a tape of a the reading for him. With a serene smile he told me that it was "beautiful ... and so lush!" |