UCLA

A meditation on solace, gentle steps and the space between moments, For the Quiet Star is framed by a simple structure: from nothing, into something, and back to nothing. To capture this, the pitched percussion and string sections are approached sonically, and presented with timbral pairings.Vibraphones are bowed throughout, in unison with high strings, creating a hybrid color. To match this sound, the strings play without vibrato throughout the piece, producing a glassy, transparent texture that merges with the sustain of the bowed vibraphones. This combination forms a core sound world for the work.By contrast, when marimbas are dominating the texture, short string sounds are used as the colorizing element, creating a kind of blended, string-timbred marimba.The vibraphones also anchor the pitch content with simultaneous low and high pedal points, one at each extreme of the instrument's range. Within that large interval, an incantatory string melody pushes toward moments of arrival. Rather than continuing to develop, these moments are static, allowed to sit in consonance for a listener to observe.Dictated by the form, the middle of the piece is the most active section. A stream of sixteenth notes is always felt in 4, but the subdivisions shift between groups of 5, 4 and 3, creating a lurching until the arrival of a true 4/4, and the climax of the work.