Program Notes

In French sillage literally means wake or trail. In perfumery it's the degree to which a perfume's fragrance lingers in the air when worn. When I first heard the term I knew I would use it for the title of a piece. Then David Moore asked me to write a work for double bass quartet and I started with that as the title. To combine two seemingly disparate ideas–large double basses and the delicate waft of a scent–I asked Canadian writer André Alexis to write a poem that did just that. His poem was the poetic inspiration for this work for the four amazing bassists of the Los Angeles Philharmonic: David Moore, Christopher Hanulik, Oscar Meza and Peter Rofé.

Sillages
A roar wafts into the land rumbling something floral.
Under last year's straw the civet comes to life.
While plows with fragrant wrists stutter
and dig the crumbling fields.
Lumbering beasts with delicate minds,
They leave quartz and citrus, almonds and rust.
- André Alexis (2013)