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.