The Only Evidence

In part a palimpsest, The Only Evidence, setting poems by Jesse Ball—among my favorite living writers—began in 2007 with the first song, two small, equal ensembles hocketing chords under a slowly unfolding vocal line, with the occasional exotic trio of piccolos commenting high above a kind of Greek chorus in the sky. That song never quite worked—felt lonesome and attenuated on its own—so eventually accumulated a second a cappella setting of From a Clearing, intended as a bridge to a more energetic third song that never quite emerged. Although new versions of the first song were made in 2013 and 2017, it was only in 2024 when I added a string orchestra to the piccolos, vibraphone, and pianos, that the score took shape, and it was then I finally composed A Speech, concluding a compositional saga that took seventeen years to shape ten minutes of music.