“Island Music began on my first trip to Bali, in 2003. Lying around our house in the village of Sian were wooden instruments belonging to the local gamelan. I couldn’t resist the opportunity of improvising on them and soon evolved a bouncy little tune which became the main theme of Island Music. Everything in the piece comes from the development of this tune.
The musical language of the piece ‘drifts’ back and forth between the islands of Indonesia and the Caribbean, stopping along the way in the United States.
The piece is in the form of a rondo—ABACADAE, etc. The A theme is the perky little vacation tune, and the BCD etc. music represents distracting or vexing thoughts of day-to-day problems that one tries to get rid of while on vacation. Gradually, these distracting thoughts begin to affect the happy vacation tune, eventually completely changing and stopping it. Then the decision is made to work back to the tune and recover its energy and optimism.
The introduction, ‘Long Familiar Refrains,’ presents a meditative improvisation for the soloists on a melancholy reflection of the main tune, which bears a resemblance to the kind of half-heard melodies my father used to hum.
Part I, which is called ‘Thoughts on the Dance Floor,’ introduces the main theme and its dialogues within the contrasting materials. The title of this section recalls my house in Bali (which was also a dance pavilion) and also the kind of wandering thoughts that I have always found are part of the dance club experience.
Part II, ‘In the Clearing,’ imagines a break in the dancing. The music gradually becomes more moody as it remembers, praises, and laments the spirits of those who are sadly no longer with us on the dance floor. The music becomes more and more lyrical until it dissolves into arabesques.
Part III, ‘Ride Outs,’ encourages the soloists to lead the ensemble back to the original happy form of the tune with which it began. There then follows a coda, very much indebted to both Beethoven and James Brown, which brings the piece to a jubilant conclusion.
The piece, originally conceived as a small solo, grew into its present shape with the encouragement of Nancy Zeltsman. Her beautiful marimba playing, especially in the low part of the instrument, was an inspiration. Jack Van Geem, then principal percussionist of the San Francisco Symphony, possessed a virtuosic stamina that pushed me on toward creating this piece. It is definitely a tour de force.”
—Michael Tilson Thomas
Written for two solo marimba players against a small four-player ensemble, ISLAND MUSIC was begun as a “diversion” while working on other, larger pieces. Bali has long been an escape for the conductor-composer, and the inspiration comes from his happy, relaxed feelings when vacationing there. The work is cast in a large three-part Rondo form, with alternating episodes of more anxious and darker moments interrupting the bucolic island idyll. Dedicated to the late Lou Harrison, ISLAND MUSIC reflects some of the older composer’s influence in its pentatonic writing and gamelan style. The Balinese influence comes through vividly…The two marimba soloists exchange a buoyant main theme that returns in various guises, and there is much ingenious rhythmic writing and an exhilarating finale.”
Sun-Sentinel
This recording is of the original version of the score with the original performers.
Notable Performances
New World Symphony