When Wood and Metal Became Alive is a work that celebrates the manipulators of those intricate assemblages known as “musical instruments”. Instrumental musicians quite literally create life (and beauty!) out of inert objects. As lovely as a Stradivarius violin is when displayed in a museum, it only has meaning when picked up and played.
My way to celebrate this life was to write a kind of ensemble concerto, where the individual sounds and players of the group all get a featured turn, sometimes briefly and sometimes in more extended passages. Accordingly, much of the musical texture is solo instrument with (or without) accompaniment, although there are sections where several players or the entire ensemble unite into one colorful mega-instrument.
The work is cast in three contrasting movements. I Mean What You See is mostly active, with different tempi that eventually trail off to a lone violin’s high harmonics. They Called to Us in Dreams of Shadow and Sun is more relaxed. It begins with the piccolo picking up the violin notes of the previous movement, then works its way through several ensemble and solo textures, ending in an unaccompanied cantilena for cello. The third movement, Dancing on Tomorrow’s Wind, follows without a pause. Its motion is again active.