Once, in a grove of tamarisk

FESTUS
Best ope the casement: see,
The night, late strewn with clouds and flying stars,
Is blank and motionless: how peaceful sleep
The tree-tops altogether! Like an asp,
The wind slips whispering from bough to bough.

PARACELSUS          
Ay; you would gaze on a wind-shaken tree
By the hour, nor count time lost.

FESTUS 
So you shall gaze:
      Those happy times will come again.

PARACELSUS  
Gone, gone,
Those pleasant times! Does not the moaning wind
Seem to bewail that we have gained such gains
And bartered sleep for them?

— from Paracelsus, by Robert Browning

Composed for the 2012 nief norf Summer Festival, Once, in a Grove of Tamarisk is a post-minimal meditation composed in an invented rhythmic shorthand allowing for some indeterminate coordination between performers.

Instrumentation:

Three keyboard percussion instruments. The three instruments may be of the same type or different types provided the ranges are suitable. The three parts should be considered as high (1), middle (2), and low (3) even though they overlap in register. The parts may be performed in the register indicated or may be transposed by one more octaves, provided that the relative high/middle/low relationship is preserved. For example, if part 3 is played an octave higher then the other parts must also be played one or more octaves higher. But part 1 may be played an octave higher without transposing the other parts. Likewise, part 3 can be transposed down without affecting the other parts, but part 1 cannot. Transpositions may result from instrument choice (using a glockenspiel, for example), or simply by playing the part an octave higher or lower on an instrument of sufficient size, such as marimba. The range of all parts is suitable for standard keyboard percussion, including glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone and marimba, but if three glockenspiels are used, note that part 3 requires a low F. Other chromatic instruments such as tuned metal tubes, almglocken, celesta, etc., may be used provided that all required pitches are available.

* It is also possible to substitute keyboard (piano, harpsichord, organ, synth, etc.) or guitar (electric or amplified acoustic) for any or all of the three parts.

Additional performance recommendations on The Interpreter’s Forum

11×8.5 PDF score (12 p.)
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