Between the Leaves began when an output error turned a recording of John Cage speaking into a dense tapestry of noise; a fitting tribute, perhaps, for a piece created in the centenary of Cage’s birth.

The work presents a foreground of clicking gestures — every one following the same trajectory, yet every one unique, with subtle differences in timbre, velocity, and so on — layered and sequenced to provide a balance between monotonous repetition and detailed counterpoint. Behind this foreground layer is a soundscape struggling to be heard, sometimes masked by the mechanical foreground, sometimes spilling forward with a burst, cry, or distant wail.

Formally speaking, the piece slows to a halt at about the two-thirds mark, and then turns back on itself: the click trajectory changes direction, and we move back through the piece in reverse, gaining speed as we go, to finish where we began. The work is thereby unravelled and undone until it vanishes without a trace.

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Between the Leaves was realized in 2012 in Studio Erkki of Sibelius-Akatemia in Helsinki (Finland), and premiered on November 12, 2012 at the Acousmatica VI concert in the Black Box of the Musiikkitalo (Music Centre) in Helsinki (Finland).

Composition

• 2012, Studio Erkki — Sibelius-Akatemia, Helsinki (Finland)

Premiere

• November 12, 2012, Acousmatica VI: Convergences, Black Box — Musiikkitalo, Helsinki (Finland)

Mastering

• February 14, 2019, James Andean • MTI Research Centre — De Montfort University, Leicester (England, UK)