Commissioned by Katherine Wynn, Out of the ash was written in the summer of 2022. It is inspired by the poem, “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath. The work mainly focuses around the ideas presented in the final stanza of the poem. I found the allusion to a phoenix at the end to be powerful, and decided to explore this idea musically. Opening with a dreary scene of falling ash, a character emerges slowly in a daze. As the piece progresses, we are introduced to the phoenix, which is represented musically through the use of natural harmonics on the cello. The harmonics and the traditional sonorities of the cello are heard calling to one another, with the harmonic phoenix presenting a way out of the daze. Despite a world of challenges against them, the two interact and blend until they finally emerge, out of the ash, as one.

The performer in this video is:

Myself : )

Thank you for listening!