I composed “Splinter” in 2014, originally, for the reed quintet “Splinter Reeds.”  The unique combination of this relatively new ensemble formation provided me with a wonderful palette of instruments that blend very well together, and transferred well into other editions, including this one.  I was able to create sounds by using a fusion of instruments, often playing together and forming lines of sound within their combination, and sometimes being on their own as well.  The different lines of the instruments themselves fit together likes pieces of a puzzle.  Together they form the overall tapestry of sound by each supplying a branch, or leaf, to the overall musical tree.  “Splinter” is in eight short movements and work together much like a baroque suite.  Trees can be magical to me: each movement, or “splinter,” can be seen coming from and inspired by a different type.  “Weeping Willow,” for example, bends and sways in the wind while “Black Ash” is musically losing its leaves (it is one of the first trees to lose it’s leaves in the fall).

-MM