Last year I got an amazing phone call, out of the blue, from Robert Blackson, who runs the contemporary art gallery at Temple University.  He told me that he had somehow – miraculously – gotten access to all the broken instruments in the Philadelphia public school system, and he asked if I had any interest in writing something for them.  In fact, I did!

Robert didn’t know it, but my first thought about these instruments was autobiographical.  I am only a musician because there were robust music programs in the public schools that I attended as a child – a public school music education is why I am here today.  My first thought was that 1500 broken musical instruments meant 1500 missed opportunities to change school children’s lives, the way my life had been changed.

My second thought was that I have been writing a kind of community music lately and that this project might be a good way continue my interest in using music to build a better world.  In 2014, I wrote a piece called crowd out, for 1000 people yelling and singing.  Commissioned by presenters in London, Birmingham (UK) and Berlin, it was based on the kind of singing I had heard in a London soccer match.  the public domain, from 2016, is a kinder and gentler sequel, commissioned by Lincoln Center and three European presenters for 1000 amateur voices.  What I hoped to do in these pieces was to give untrained and lesser trained performers the chance to do what our most trained and sophisticated performers do all the time – to work really hard together, to solve a tough musical problem together, to make something beautiful together.

I have tried to do the same thing in symphony for a broken orchestra.  Our ensemble has a range of everyone in the city – from school children just learning how to play to amateurs to future professionals to members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  People from all across the city, coming together, making music.  It is a beautiful sight.  

Of course, in this piece, one of the problems these musicians have come together to solve is that their instruments don’t work as they are expected to.  Some are barely changed, some are just more complicated to play, and some are now incapable of doing what they were designed for.  Part of each player’s job is learning what each instrument can and cannot do, and then adapting himself or herself to it.  These instruments, like the people who play them, are unique, extraordinary.  It has been a joy to work with them.å

I have worked with So Percussion for a very long time now and I know them really well.  When I got the opportunity to write a concerto for them I wanted to make it specifically for them, for the things that they have been concentrating on for the past few years.  They are frequently theatrical, they invite found objects into their performances, they build their own instruments, etc.  I wondered if I could make the unusualness of their musicality the centerpiece of this concerto, but how could an orchestra of 'normal' instruments doing mostly 'normal' things find common ground with them?  My solution was to set up a kind of ecology between the soloists and the orchestra, using the orchestral percussionists as 'translators.'  An idea begins with the soloists on an invented instrument, the percussionists in the orchestra hear the solo music and translate it into something that can be approximated by more traditional orchestral percussion, the rest of the orchestra hears and understands the orchestral percussion, and they join in.  The opening, for example begins with the soloists snapping twigs, which the orchestral percussionists translate into woodblocks, marimba and xylophone, which the orchestra takes up and embellishes, eventually overwhelming the soloists.  This process of finding something intricate and unique, decoding it, regularizing it, and mass producing it reminded me of how a lot of ideas in our world get invented, built and overwhelmed, so I decided to call it 'man made.'

I wanted to make a piece about the inner thought process of a person who is not sure how, or why, to live. to do this I needed a text that felt like a litany of questions and statements and possibilities for self exploration, and I hit upon the idea of making the text out an internet search. the libretto for this piece is made up entirely from the results out of an internet search of the phrase AND I WILL MAKE IT, setting to music every iteration of that phrase plus whatever words follow it, in the order in which it appeared in the search - that day, that very moment. 'and I will make it, and I will make it waste, and I will make it fit, and I will make it snow, and I will make it proud, etc....' the weight of these statements accumulates until it begins to feel like the story of a single person, convincing himself or herself that life is worth living.

—David Lang

Text by David Lang

And I will make it

And I will make it waste

And I will make it

And I will make it fit

And I will make it proud

And I will make it snow

And I will make it better

And I will make it

And I will make it come true

And I will make it happen

And I will make it a pit of clay

And I will make it for five dollars

And I will make it famous

And I will make it right

And I will make it worse

And I will make it known

And I will make it desolate

And I will make it

And I will make it lighter

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it for you

And I will make it up to you

And I will make it again for sure

And I will make it worth your while

And I will make it

And I will make it in the end

And I will make it

And I will make it at the mourning

And I will make it

And I will make it burn

And I will make it rhyme with another word

And I will make it up to you somehow

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it on my own

And I will make it longer

And I will make it this weekend

And I will make it into a link

And I will make it a proverb and a byword among all the peoples

And I will make it as the mourning

And I will make it into a quilt

And I will make it count

And I will make it something to possess

And I will make it a devastated place

And I will make it private

And I will make it with my child

And I will make it available for you soon

And I will make it

And I will make it so

And I will make it perpetual desolations

And I will make it

And I will make it to her graduation

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog

And I will make it out of aluminum

And I will make it my foundation

And I will make it fast

And I will make it communicate

And I will make it worth thy while

And I will make it back, I know I can

And I will make it the law of the land

And I will make it

And I will make it clear

And I will make it work

And I will make it a top priority

And I will make it type

And I will make it appear

And I will make it

And I will make it through the day

And I will make it

And I will make it home

And I will make it my priority

And I will make it a goal of mine

And I will make it together

And I will make it again and again

And I will make it

And I will make it big news on the frontpage

And I will make it

And I will make it easy to use

And I will make it if you will support me in this difficult situation

And I will make it soon

And I will make it to the top

And I will make it desolate forever

And I will make it back into the mix

And I will make it happen for you

And I will make it look good

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it available

And I will make it all true

And I will make it

And I will make it in gaza

And I will make it as comfortable an atmosphere as I can for you

And I will make it my mission to get you where you want to be in life

And I will make it again

And I will make it

And I will make it all up to you

And I will make it home alive

And I will make it for you

And I will make it

And I will make it so it costs less

And I will make it very much worth your time

And I will make it

And I will make it so that you will follow

And I will make it into rafts to go by sea

And I will make it even easier

And I will make it

And I will make it up I promise

And I will make it available to you

And I will make it

And I will make it right for free

And I will make it out alive right now

And I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples

And I will make it

And I will make it very clear

And I will make it soon

And I will make it for them

And I will make it

And I will make it all right with you

And I will make it available to the public

And I will make it this time

And I will make it some day

And I will make it a perpetual desolation

And I will make it work somehow

And I will make it

And I will make it easy for you

And I will make it my legacy

And I will make it my goal

And I will make it open

And I will make it

And I will make it to dallas

And I will make it up to you, I promise

And I will make it rustle and crackle

And I will make it

And I will make it public

And I will make it one of these days, I promise

And I will make it easier for you

And I will make it tomorrow

And I will make it a point to be quiet

And I will make it together this weekend

And I will make it come out well

And I will make it unnecessary for them

And I will make it

And I will make it up to them

And I will make it before the season is out, mark my words

And I will make it interesting

And I will make it a good one

And I will make it down again

And I will make it to the yacht club

And I will make it for you immediately

And I will make it

And I will make it again often

And I will make it a point to go back and try it

And I will make it

And I will make it up to each and every one of you

And I will make it later

And I will make it more realistic

And I will make it vast as sky

And I will make it through

And I will make it a priority

And I will make it work for you

And I will make it through the winter

And I will make it a top priority for my first year as president

And I will make it

And I will make it more presentable

And I will make it my awesome everything

And I will make it go well with you

And I will make it truth

And I will make it

And I will make it a possession

And I will make it all the way

And I will make it a point to comply with you from right now on

And I will make it live

And I will make it a number one hit

And I will make it back

And I will make it my career

And I will make it there

And I will make it happy

And I will make it to the final

And I will make it to retreat in the sight of thy rays

And I will make it

And I will make it tomorrow if I can

And I will make it go

And I will make it a lot more clear with the use of images

And I will make it into a cushion

And I will make it

And I will make it so as the image in this mirror does become reality

And I will make it

And I will make it available to everyone once it is finished

And I will make it a personal goal

And I will make it a life goal of mine

And I will make it

And I will make it one of our top priorities

And I will make it as easy as I possibly can

And I will make it alive

And I will make it so that you follow my decrees

And I will make it

And I will make it or not

And I will make it to may

And I will make it happen with everyone’s help

And I will make it for you then

And I will make it easy

And I will make it

And I will make it fit your doll

And I will make it for thee

And I will make it prompt

And I will make it my mission to share my experience

And I will make it a point to adhere to you from now on

And I will make it disappear totally

And I will make it up to you in every way I know how

And I will make it available tomorrow

And I will make it my priority to help these young individuals succeed

And I will make it through the day and I will smile

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it just for you

And I will make it

And I will make it smaller

And I will make it

And I will make it like a time of mourning

And I will make it a point to allow extra time

And I will make it more heart winning

And I will make it in

And I will make it one of the best

And I will make it freely available

And I will make it a point to make sure

And I will make it yours

And I will make it

And I will make it known when I do

And I will make it

And I will make it okay

And I will make it all caps

And I will make it

And I will make it impossible

And I will make it on my own and don’t worry about me

And I will make it as you have it

And I will make it there eventually

And I will make it an everlasting desolation

And I will make it done in less than five minutes

And I will make it active as possible

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it official

And I will make it a point

And I will make it real, even if you don’t believe it

And I will make it my new theme song

And I will make it through this week too

And I will make it through this night alive

And I will make it all effortless

And I will make it right any way I can

And I will make it

And I will make it long

And I will make it a point to write

And I will make it up somehow

And I will make it through this day

And I will make it a position to follow you from now on

And I will make it my new project

And I will make it mine

And I will make it instrumental

And I will make it go insane

And I will make it

And I will make it accordingly

And I will make it to your specifications

And I will make it a level to comply with you from now on

And I will make it big enough for everyone

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it my duty

And I will make it for my inlaws

And I will make it even better

And I will make it unstable

And I will make it through this

And I will make it up

And I will make it

And I will make it very short

And I will make it here

And I will make it a memorable experience for you

And I will make it hot

And I will make it hotter for you

And I will make it

And I will make it a reality

And I will make it all about you

And I will make it as realistic as possible

And I will make it

And I will make it out alive

And I will make it quick

And I will make it

And I will make it available for you

And I will make it known to the whole world

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it home safely

And I will make it come true somehow

And I will make it an annual event

And I will make it beautiful

And I will make it this time around

And I will make it

And I will make it

And I will make it to the mountain top

And I will make it a point in every city that I visit

And I will make it so beautiful

And I will make it funny

And I will make it for you with pleasure

And I will make it fine

There is a big gulf between the way that classical music teaches us to experience emotions and the way that our emotions are actually felt.

We have a great tradition in Western music of embracing great swings of temperament and mood – we have no problem thinking that a piece can move seamlessly from something that is whisper-soft to ear-splittingly loud. When I think of how my life actually works, however, I don’t think of it in terms of giant emotional leaps from one extreme to another – most of my emotional range is not from extreme bliss to gut-wrenching misery and back, all in a short period of time; my range is much more narrow, and too slowly changing for that. In my piece darker I wanted to make a piece of music that more closely matches my own emotional narrative than the narrative we have inherited from the dramatic music of the past.

darker is in many ways more like an object than a piece of music. It is a long, slow passing from something mostly even and pleasant to something a little less pleasant. My piece, like life, expends a lot of effort to go a very short distance, from beautiful to a little less beautiful, from a little light to something a little darker.

darker is dedicated to the memory of Jeanette Yanikian.

pierced was commissioned by the ensemble Real Quiet – Felix Fan, cello, David Cossin, percussion and Andy Russo, piano, as a concerto for their ensemble and string orchestra. I was trying to imagine a way the soloists and the orchestra could relate to each other that would not be old-fashioned. I liked the idea of an opposition between them but I didn't want the kind of competition that traditional concerti generate, where the soloists try to struggle with the orchestra for the supremacy of their ideas. What would it be like to make two almost completely separate musical worlds, in which the musical material from one world was needed in order to decode the meaning of the material of the other? I imagined, for example, a dissonant, chromatic line in one ensemble and a tonal chord progression in the other – maybe we would perceive the two as related and necessary to each other, but the material in each world would remain distinct. There would be a wall between them – they wouldn’t hear or influence each other but we could hear their separate contributions mixed together. (And it goes without saying that the combination of materials that we hear would have to sound whole.)

—David Lang

The reason why the psalms are so central to religious experience is that they are a comprehensive catalogue of examples of how to talk to the Almighty, not by a prophet or a priest but in the voice of a single person out in the world, with problems and concerns not unlike those faced by real people in all times. Of course, it’s like reading one side of a correspondence—we can read David’s letters but the letters back are the ones we really want to see. 

My pieces are not conventionally virtuosic, but they are very hard. One of the things that interests me very much is how certain mechanical musical tasks force players - and listeners - into a kind of concentration that can be spellbinding. The intense concentration necessary to coordinate the ensemble in Grind to a Halt is a kind of virtuosity in itself. 

— David Lang

I wrote a melody that I really liked. It seemed to go on forever, never repeating exactly, never locating in a particular place, never giving away too much about its shape, or where it came from, or where it was going. Then I started asking myself - what would happen to this irregular, free flowing tune if it was superimposed over other more regular elements? How much regularity would have to be added before the piece changed its character entirely? How much of a march rhythm, for example, would have to be added before the perception of the piece changed from odd melody to ordinary march? I wrote this piece to find out.

forced march is dedicated to Donnacha Dennehy, after Samuel Beckett my closest friend in Ireland.

''O Isis and Osiris'' is Sarastro’s aria at the start of Act 2 of The Magic Flute, in which he calls upon his gods to watch over the trials to which our hero Tamino will be subjected. Mozart’s melody at this point is beautiful, lush and supportive, but I have always felt that if I were Tamino I would be terrified about the mystery about to unfold in front of me. In my piece I have taken all the notes from Sarastro’s aria and rearranged them, in order to put some of the mystery back into it.

—David Lang

''I fought the law'' was commissioned as a companion piece to the chamber version of ''The Unanswered Question'' of Charles Ives. I know this piece has many revolutionary features; I have always felt, however, that it is one of Ives' least courageous works. I guess I have never really believed that a few spooky flutes could represent me and my problems in the depiction of the struggle of human existence. What bothers me the most is the passivity of Ives' conception of human struggle in general—Ives watches the strings who watch the flutes who watch the trumpet. The piece has an already-defeated feeling to it. Where is it shown that this struggle means anything, that life is a never-ending fight to find an answer, even if that answer can never be found? Then I remembered a line from a rock and roll classic—''I fought the law and the law won.'' It is just as futile as an unanswered question but not nearly so pathetic.

—David Lang

People seem to like a lot of things happening in a piece of music: fireworks, excitement, fancy technology. These things can be great, but sometimes, as a composer, it's tiring to know that everyone wants so many things all of the time. In ''slow movement'' I just wanted to write a piece in which nothing happens. Well, something happens: a kind of dim spotlight is focused on the fundamental musical experience, marking out the inexorable passage of time. I wrote ''slow movement'' for Icebreaker in 1993, and it was the first time I made a piece using this approach. Since then I have made several others, most notably ''the passing measures'' for bass clarinet, women's voices, and amplified orchestra.

—David Lang

30 years ago, three young composers, Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe started a journey together, and they called that journey "Bang on a Can." After hundreds of thousands of miles and hundreds of new pieces, records, productions, marathons and summer festivals, they're still best of friends - on the road together, sharing the journey. The electric Bang on a Can All-Stars power it up. Director Michael Counts and scenic designer Deborah Johnson (aka CandyStations) create an immersive landscape. Road Trip takes us on a cross country trek - celebrating the freedom and mystery of the open road.  Dirt road, country road, two lane blacktop, superhighway.  Destination unknown. Maybe even unknowable.  

In 2005 I did a project with the English artist and filmmaker Peter Greenaway, called writing on water. It was a kind of circus, with live calligraphy, live multi-screen video and film projection on four screens that surrounded the stage, and the London Sinfonietta. I enjoyed it a lot. What I enjoyed the most, however, was the beautiful libretto that Peter had crafted out of fragmentary descriptions of sea travel and shipwrecks from The Tempest, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Moby Dick. This text was so moving to me that I asked Peter if he would write me another one, this time possibly on a religious subject, or at least somehow related to an old testament theme. ark luggage was the text he sent me, a list of 92 things Noah took along with him during the flood. The way I interpreted this text was to notice how Peter shows the confidence Noah has in packing for his life after the flood, confident about his survival past the catastrophe. The act of packing these suitcases itself becomes a statement of faith, and a simple list becomes a kind of prayer. ark luggage was commissioned by Glasgow Concert Halls and was written for Else Torp and the Smith Quartet, who premiered it 24 March 2012, in Glasgow, Scotland. The music is dedicated to Else Torp.

death speaks was commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Stanford Lively Arts, specifically to go on a program with the little match girl passion. The opportunity came without many other parameters, so there were a lot of questions I had to answer. Would the new piece be for an existing ensemble or some group I would assemble for these performances only? Would it relate to little match girl, musically or emotionally, or would it start from its own place?

Something that has always interested me about the little match girl story is that the place where we are left emotionally at the end is so far away from where the match girl is. We are all weeping at the end and yet she is happily transfigured, in the welcoming arms of her grandmother in heaven. The original story switches starkly back and forth at the end, between her state and ours, perhaps in order to show us just how far away from redemption we are; it is Andersen's way of making us feel left behind.

This reminded me of certain other stark comparisons between the living and the dead. I remembered the structure of Schubert's beautiful song "Death and the Maiden" in which the text is divided in half; the first half of the song is in the voice of the young girl, begging Death to pass her by, and the second half of the song is Death's calming answer. This seemed to be the same division as in the Andersen story — the fear of the living opposed against the restfulness of death.

What makes the Schubert interesting is that Death is personified. It isn't a state of being or a place or a metaphor, but a person, a character in a drama who can tell us in our own language what to expect in the World to Come. Schubert has a lot of songs with texts like these — I wondered if I assembled all of the instances of Death speaking directly to us then maybe a fuller portrait of his character might emerge. Most of these texts are melodramatic, hyper-romantic and over-emotional; one of the knocks on Schubert is that he often saved his best music for the worst poetry. Nevertheless, I felt that taking these overwrought comments by Death at face value just might lead me someplace worth going.

I went alphabetically in the German through every single Schubert song text (thank you, internet!) and compiled every instance of when the dead send a message to the living. Some of these are obvious and some are more speculative — Death is a named character in "Der Erlkönig," the brook at the end of Die Schöne Müllerin speaks in Death's name when it talks the miller into killing himself, the hurdy gurdy player at the end of Winterreise has long been interpreted as a stand-in for Death. All told, I have used excerpts from 32 songs, translating them very roughly and trimming them, in the same way that I adjusted the Bach texts in the little match girl passion.

Art songs have been moving out of classical music in the last many years — indie rock seems to be the place where Schubert's sensibilities now lie, a better match for direct storytelling and intimate emotionality.

I started thinking that many of the most interesting musicians in that scene made the same journey themselves, beginning as classical musicians and drifting over to indie rock when they bumped up against the limits of where classical music was most comfortable. What would it be like to put together an ensemble of successful indie composer-performers and invite them back into classical music, the world from which they sprang?

I asked rock musicians Bryce Dessner, Owen Pallett, and Shara Worden to join me, and we added Nico Muhly, who, although not someone who left classical music, is certainly known and welcome in many musical environments. All of these musicians are composers who can write all the music they need themselves, so it is a tremendous honor for me to ask them to spend some of their musicality on my music.

death speaks – words and music by david lang 
 
1. you will return 
   
you will return to dust 
you will turn 
return to dust 
   
turn to the sun 
like me, turn to the sun 
turn to the light 
turn to the light 
 
if thereʼs an eye still open 
grieving 
sweet sleep 
close it for me 
 
turn your heart, your poor heart 
it will only find rest 
when it has stopped beating 
 
turn to peace 
turn to peace 
this is the only road that leads you home  
 
enter 
 
I am your pale companion 
I mirror your pain 
I was your shadow 
all those long nights, all those days long past 
 
listen to me 
this message is for you 
where I am now, all sorrow is gone 
where I am now, all lovers are together 
where I am now 
in my arms only will you find rest 
gentle rest 
 

2. I hear you 
 
I hear you 
I hear you call 
I pity you 
I am your friend 
I am not cruel 
give me your hand 
you will sleep so softly in my arms 
 
when love breaks free from sorrow 
a new star shines 
a new star shines 
 
three roses, half red, half white 
they will never wither 
 
the angels  
they shed their wings  
and fall 
  
rest well 
rest well 
close your eyes 
you will rest with me 
until the river drains into the sea 
 
Iʼll make a bed for you 
the softest pillow 
come, rest 
everyone will sing for you 
for you 
 
I will protect you 
from the hunter, from the forest 
from the flowers, from your dreams 
from the wicked girl, from her shadow 
I will keep your eyes covered 
I will protect you 
 
good night, good night 


3. mist is rising   
 
mist is rising 
moon is full and rising 
sky above us 
it is so full 
 
I greet you, sister soul 
rise up, like an eagle  
rise up, to where the light is 
rise up, to where the light is from 
 
I am your rest, I am your peace 
I am what you long for, and 
what makes the longing go away 
I am full of joy for you, and 
I am full of grief  
come in and close the door behind you 
I will drive your sadnesses away  
my eyes fill with your light 
fill them 
fill them  
 
sweetest child 
come with me 
I will play with you  
I will show you 
the flowers and the shore 
my motherʼs golden robe 
my daughters and their evening dance 
they know a song to sing while you are sleeping 
I love you 
I love all of you  
I love your face 
I love your form 
please donʼt make me make you follow me 
 
come and see 
 
tears of love become strands of pearls  
when the angel comes 
 
 
4. pain changes 
 
pain changes every shape 
 
once you are truly lonely 
you will never be alone 
 
feel my hand 
I feel you  
touch my cold hand 
I will take you  
from her 
to your new cold land 
 
I have chosen you  
my only love 
those others 
they search for you 
but 
where they search  
they will never find you 
 
after the leaves fall, spring returns 
after love is parted, it returns 
all you have to do is  
come with me 
and wait 
one day she will be lowered in the earth  
beside you 
my hand will guide her home 
to the place where love is 
and no pain 
 
when that door opens  
you will be healed 
 
dearest man, dearest woman 
dearest boy, dearest girl 
dearest mother, dearest father 
dearest son, dearest daughter 
you will never leave me 
 
you listen 
you are silent 
you feel me leaning towards you 
 
nothing escapes me 
not the warrior 
not the hunter 
 
everything awaits the way it changes  
when life falls away 
that is the meaning of the swan and its song 
 
the night canʼt last forever 
nor will this sleep 
beyond this sleep is light 
forever light 
until that light can shine 
until you see it shining 
sleep sweetly here 
in the cool, dark night 
 

5. I am walking 
 
I am walking in the sunlight 
I see the moon, at my feet 
I see the sun, at my feet 
I walk in joy 
I am kissed by angels 
 
your heart 
child of man 
your heart canʼt know  
what joy I feel 
 
sister soul, come to rest 
 
pure notes of love  
echo around you 
a lily, a rose  
they wait for you 
while you sleep 
 
only you can hear me 
only you can see me 
only you can hear the music 
it never stops 

© 2013, Red Poppy, LTD.

The three movements of these broken wings concentrate on three different physical and musical challenges. The first movement consists of music that requires incredible stamina and intense concentration. Sad, falling gestures dominate the slow second movement, and I gave the vague but hopefully inspiring instruction that the players should drop things when they are not playing. In the last movement I wanted to make a music that danced and pushed forward, in the hope that it would encourage the musicians to do so as well.
—David Lang

I started thinking about writing a piece called Sunray in 2006, while in residence at MASS MoCA. That summer, my family was staying in the MASS MoCA artist's housing in North Adams, which is next door to the SUN cleaners. Every morning I would wake up, make a cup of coffee, and stare out the window at the rays of the sun on the cleaner's big sign. Even on rainy mornings I woke up to the rays of the sun. It is dedicated to my father, Daniel Lang, on his 80th birthday.

My piece depart is also a meditation on death. A group of doctors in a French hospital felt frustrated that they could do so little to comfort the relatives of the departed. They imagined it might help if the bereaved could see their loved ones one last time, in a calm and peaceful setting. With the help of the Fondation de France they commissioned Italian artist Ettore Spalletti to create a morgue, and they commissioned musical scores from the composer Scanner and from me. What I think is most noble about this project is not that the space or the music can really make the pain any easier to bear, but that the doctors felt morally compelled to try everything in their powers to ease the suffering around them. It's a beautiful idea.

I went to college to study science. I was expected to become a doctor, or at the very least a medical researcher, and I spent much of my undergraduate years studying math and chemistry and physics, hanging out with future scientists, going to their parties, sharing their apartments, eavesdropping on their conversations. I remember a particularly heated discussion about a quote from Wittgenstein: “At the basis of the whole modern view of the world lies the illusion that the so-called laws of nature are the explanation of natural phenomena.” This quote rankled all us future scientists, as it implied that science can’t explain the universe but can only offer mere descriptions of things observed. Over the years it occurred to me that this could be rephrased as a musical problem. 

Because music is made of proportions and numbers and formulas and patterns, I always wonder what these numbers actually mean. Do the numbers themselves generate a certain structure, creating the context and the meaning and the form, or are they just the incidental byproducts of other, deeper, more mysterious processes? My piece the so-called laws of nature tries to explore the “meaning” of various processes and formulas. The individual parts are virtually identical – the percussionists play identical patterns throughout, playing unison rhythms on subtly different instruments. Most of these instruments the performers are required to build themselves. Some of the patterns between the players are displaced in time. Some are on instruments which have a kind of incoherence built into their sound. Does the music come out of the patterns or in spite of them? I am not sure which, but I know that this piece is as close to becoming a scientist as I will ever get. 

—David Lang

A child learns to draw by drawing lines. In the hands of a child a person is a stick figure, a skeletal intersection of stark lines, stripped of flesh, without subtle details. Only later does a child learn to add things—some hair, a dress, some shoes. Watching my children go through this stage has made me realize that my music is moving in the opposite direction. With every piece a little bit of flesh is removed, a little more skeleton is uncovered.

—David Lang

I wanted to write a piece in which a large amount of effort was expended to go a very small distance. ''short fall'' is that piece. Underneath all the activity in ''short fall'' the actual notes fall only very slightly. It is as if the surface is so active that the subtle effects of gravity pass (almost) unnoticed.

''short fall'' was written for the Pearls Before Swine Experience.

It is dedicated to Lynn Garon.

—David Lang

The phrase ''my very empty mouth'' is part of a sentence I was taught to help remember the order of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, etc. Now I no longer remember the whole sentence, and the rest of the solar system has been lost.

—David Lang

wed was commissioned by the American Conservatory Theater for the Kronos Quartet. wed is from a series of incidental pieces and songs I wrote for the American Conservatory Theater's 1996 production of Shakespeare's play The Tempest, with music performed live by the Kronos. wed is a bittersweet interpretation of the wedding masque Prospero creates to entertain his daughter Miranda and her beloved Ferdinand. 

One’s first idea about writing for six pianos might be that almost all eighty-eight notes can be sounding at the same time. With all those possible notes, what’s a composer to do? I often try to do quite a lot less than is possible. I’m sure part of this is just mischievousness, but I also truly believe that concentrating on only one narrow performance aspect can make possible a musical intensity that a more expansive piece might overlook.

My piece ''orpheus over and under'' (1999) for two pianos used single-note tremolos to create a kind of nervous singing quality. For Piano Circus I wanted to go further with this idea of creating a nervous vocal tradition.

The top of the fifteenth-century charts was Guillaume Dufay’s ballade Se la face ay pale (‘If my face is pale’). My piece ''face so pale'' takes Dufay’s famous love song, subjects it to numerous pulling and stretching procedures, and divides the original three parts among the six pianos. The result is a bizarre equilibrium between the spaciousness of the actual music and the stuttering mechanism by which it is made.

—David Lang

touch not the cat is a 50th birthday present for Evelyn Glennie, a great percussionist and a great friend. Years ago I had the opportunity to write her a concerto for seven tambourines and orchestra, called loud love songs, and I thought I would remember that concerto with this short tambourine solo. One of the things I love about Evelyn is hearing her talk – she has a melodious voice and I wanted to take advantage of it. I thought how nice it would be for her to speak and have the tambourine be a kind of echo or shadow of her speaking voice. The question then was what she should say. Evelyn is, of course, from Scotland. My wife is a huge fan of Scottish lore and she reminded me of how colorful the mottos of the Scottish clans are. I took my fifty favorite clan mottos, changing them slightly by putting them in the first person, so that a single performer might use them better as a description of her or his own personal attributes. Happy birthday, Evelyn!

In 2011 it came to my attention that the University of California at Los Angeles had offered two friends of mine the chance to share a concert — the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the cellist Maya Beiser, both of whom I have worked with quite a lot. What seemed strange to me was that UCLA had proposed that they split the concert, with each of them taking a half, separately. Both these women are fearless advocates of new music and it seemed like an historic event to have them on the same stage at the same time, so I offered to write them a piece they could play together. My idea of togetherness went so far as to ask Evelyn to use the cello as a percussion instrument, sitting next to Maya, imagining them sitting together, like twins, united in their movements and gestures, playing completely in unison.

Writing table of contents was suggested to me by the percussion duo formed by Doug Perkins and Todd Meehan, both of whom I knew well from their days as members of So Percussion. My original idea for the piece was a visual image that reminded me of the television variety shows of my youth - someone would come out onstage and make music by picking up an odd array of noise makers, in lightning succession, all of which produced sound in different ways. When I presented this piece to Todd and Doug I mentioned that I imagined that all the odd objects in the piece should be set out on a table, to be picked up and animated in turn. They told me I was crazy. So we suspended the instruments on racks instead. But the idea of the table and its contents remains, if only in the title.