'Cavernous Ruins' is work concerned with notions of loss and unrealized potential. It speaks to the tension of cultural conflict and reflects the unrelenting drive of our evolutionary impulse to survive as we lurch forward in the vast continuum of time.

Musically the works first statement is a broad sweep of texture and conflict which begins almost inaudibly and rises through out the movement to a full crescendo, from which appears, out of the final swell of a gong, the single high note of a violin - this seemingly final grasp for breath also serves as the introduction to the rhythmically declarative and insistent second movement which goes on to define the marimba more clearly as a major player in the music’s narrative thread. This movement is brought to a close with an open and fully improvised marimba solo which takes us into the works final slow movement of lyrical reflection, suffused with complex emotional shades of melancholy, questioning and longing.

Performed at the Adams Chamber Music Festival, Nelson, N.Z. Feb. 2017 - New Zealand String Quartet with Ian Rosenbaum.