Instrumentation: clarinet, shakuhachi (3.6)

Duration: 10 minutes

Year composed: 2020

First performance:  Thomas Piercy (clarinet), Hideyuki Tsuchiya (shakuhachi), Tokyo to New York, Moments in This Time, online, November 21st 2020

Program note: La cage sombre des lucioles is taken from the French translation of Takako Hashimoto’s haïku. The clarinet and shakuhachi represent the contradiction between the darkness of a closed space and the freedom and light of the « lucioles » (fireflies). They emancipate themselves from being enclosed in a register and fixed set of pitches through reserved microtonality and bursts of light.

The piece is warmly dedicated to Thomas Piercy and Hideyuki Tsuchiya.