Instrumentation: saxophone (soprano and tenor: 1 player), piano, vibraphone

Duration: 7 minutes

Year composed: 2019

First performance:  Robert Hess (saxophones), Wesley Ducote (piano), Morgan Sutherland (vibraphone), Cortona New Music Sessions, Cortona, Italy, May 31st 2019

Other performances: Trio Cortona (Michael Michael Kirkendoll, JiHye Jung, Geoffrey Deibel, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, (TN), USA, January 22nd 2020

-Trio Cortona (Michael Kirkendoll, JiHye Jung, Geoffrey Deibel, Florida State University, Tallahassee, (FL), USA, February 8th 2020

-Trio Cortona (Michael Kirkendoll, JiHye Jung, Geoffrey Deibel), Cortona New Music Sessions, online, August 12th 2020

-Jonathan Kierspe (saxophones), Galen Dean Peiskee, Jr (piano), Ryan Boehme (vibraphone), Florida State University, Tallahassee, (FL), USA, November 21st 2021

Program note: Tombée de la branche Une fleur y est retournée is inspired by a haikai (short poem) written by Arakida Moritake. The construction of this piece is rather simple. It consists of a progressive expansion of the initial material. The saxophone and vibraphone parts grow from the material initiated by the piano. Acting first as natural resonance of the piano, these two instruments progressively gain their independence. The low register is revealed only later in the piece, following the discovery made in the poem. The last part of the piece consists of a reminiscence, a distant memory of the previous material.

A fallen blossom

returning to the bough. I thought –

But no, a butterfly.

落花枝にかへると見れば胡蝶哉

rakka eda ni kaeru to mireba kochoo kana

Arakida Moritake, Miyamori 3.