Sails Knife-bright in a Seasonal Wind

Sails Knife-Bright in a Seasonal Wind is dedicated to Boyce’s son, a dreamy and dramatic four year old when the work was composed. In much of Boyce’s work, motive is presented as a process; here motive stands as gesture, a statement of its own. The spareness of the work brings into relief the three very different characters of the violin, guitar and percussion, and allows for the varied timbres and combinations to speak clearly. Elsewhere, the instruments interact so tightly as to sound like a single organism. Especially arresting are moments when the sonic border between one instrument and another is unstable; another affecting moment happens about three minutes from the end, when an imitated line is slowly mapped onto violin and guitar.