Thak's Mammoth Anecdote is a piece both new and old; it was begun in 1995 at the University of Oregon pursuing my master's degree, but never performed; while reviewing my catalog during the isolation of COVID I came across the score and found it similar to the work I had begun to sketch for Molly and Jeremy, and I was intrigued by the notion, as I approached a notable birthday, to review the work of that young composer that bore the same name as mine– a kind of aesthetic archeology of my composerly voice.

The draft was more playful but less nuanced than my current work, but still, it contained many suggestions of interests that have come to dominate my work;– rhythm and interruptions of meter, counterpoint, formal balance manifest via texture as much by texture as by harmony or melos. It should be noted that I date the work 2020; my work in the summer was, in my eyes, the completion of the work, not merely edit or revision;– while devices consistent with my more developed voice abound, the score I discovered was manifestly juvenalia. In a peculiar way, this re-engagement with material from my younger self is akin to my work with other historical sources;– the need to consider context, and acknowledge and frame the past while at the same time reshaping with affect and technics of the current state of the art.

One thread of the work that is not typical of my mature work is the narrative element – the original piece (to my recollection) was to have an extensive program note, a musical short story with a childlike character, a tale told by a caveman telling, recounting his most glorious hunt, show-boating with intermittent sophistication, but mostly of brute force.  The note was not recovered, however, leaving only a peculiar title and a few inscrutable character and tempo marking. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.