Splendid Wood

Jennifer Higdon

2006

Marimba (3)

“Splendid Wood” is a joyous celebration of the sound of wood, one of nature’s most basic materials, a part of all sorts of things in our world, but used most thrillingly and gloriously in instruments. Wood is the material that gives the marimba its unique sound, with a “round” sort of attack and a tone that blossoms out. This work reflects the evolving patterns inside a piece of wood, always shifting, and yet every part is related and contributes to the magnificence of the whole. This is a celebration of the splendor of the marimba.

This work was commissioned in 2006 by Bradford and Dorothea Endicott, for Frank Epstein and the New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble.

--Jennifer Higdon