There are three primary sound sources for this piece: cicadas recorded at the Palatine Hill in Rome, marbles being dropped onto various surfaces, and the phrase “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble” spoken in Latin. City of Marbles explores the progression from idea genesis, through construction, to eventual destruction. While these three ideas are very separate and distinct, the musical material of the piece seeks to create an trajectory for the listener in which the transition from one to the other is seamless. This experience of musical time parallels the historical amnesia that is so easy to possess when considering the creation and eventual destruction of our own civilizations.

Source: 2016