Premiered by the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble November 8, 2019
Matilda Hofman, conductor

When approaching writing a piece for large ensemble, I have typically framed the orchestra as a kind of abstract ecosystem, imagining various ways that instruments can interact, grow, shrink, and fall apart. In this case, rather than an ecosystem, I considered these instruments to fill roles as pieces of two slowly progressing automated machines.

The first of these machines functions far better than the second. Although many parts rub up against each other, it grinds to a peaceful halt, while the second continually turns itself on and off, eventually sputtering out entirely.

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