Jim Fox (1953-)
Descansos, past (2004)

Barry Newton, Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, Jessica Catron, Aniela Perry, Rachel Arnold

Descansos, past is moody, intimate “in memoriam” music for double bass and a choir of nine cellos led by new-music-champion cellist Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick. It was written in April 2004 in memory of composer-performer John Kuhlman, who died a few years earlier, and was premiered in Los Angeles as part of a series of concerts held at the historic Schindler House. In a somewhat concerto-like fashion, the piece sets an ever-pizzicato double bass (a five-string, extending to low B) alongside a nine ever-arco cellos, one of which soars up to the highest notes available on the edge of the instrument’s fingerboard. (15-minute CD single/EP, in digipak)