Rock Garden

The primary inspiration for this work is the ancient Japanese art of dry landscape gardens, or karesansui. I find that the static energy implied by the relationship of stones to one another in these Zen gardens can be related to disparate musical objects. As the stones each possess a beauty of edges and lines, they in turn have evoked various rhythms, harmonies, and timbres in this piece for double woodwind quintet. I was particularly intrigued by the numerical rhythm of the garden of Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto. Based on the series 7-5-3, the garden’s composition reflects the propitious nature of uneven numbers in Eastern numerology. The number 5 is accorded special significance due its being situated in the middle of the first nine numbers. As such it is the symbol of the center. With the piece’s proportions and rhythms derived from the uneven number series, the layout of the fifteen rocks of the Ryoanji garden permeates its formal structure on several levels. Rock Garden draws on other influences, including the play The Rock Garden by Sam Shepard, John Cage’s Ryonaji, and the music of The Smashing Pumpkins. It was commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center and premiered on July 9, 2022, in Studio E in the Linde Center for Music and Learning. It was made possible in part with the support of The Hermitage Artist Retreat. Rock Garden is dedicated with gratitude to my mentor, composer Stephen Jaffe.