Marimba Solo

Quintessence

(kwin tes’ ens), n. The pure and concentrated essence of a substance

Quintessence is an episodic work that utilizes the extrapolation of a single musical cell to create the impetus for the entire piece.  It is, above all, a work meant to be organically self-perpetuating.  In this piece, the note G could be considered the “primordial ooze” from which the first organism will emerge… a single-cell musical amoeba of sorts.  This is comprised of the first three notes presented in episode one:  F, G and A-flat.  This whole-step, half-step relationship extending out from G serves as the evolutionary starting point for the music.  As in nature, variation and mutation give way to increasingly more diverse offspring as the work progresses through its five episodes.