Portraits of the Lost

Listen to the work here!
 
Portraits of the Lost is a solo work for marimba in four movements, exploring various notions of loss and being lost:
 
I. “Where am I?” – Based on being physically lost, not knowing where one is.
II. “Where did I put it?” – Based on frantically searching for a lost belonging.
III. “How could you leave me?” – Based on the grief of loss, or being left behind.
IV. “I am home.” – Based on reconciling these ideas of loss with that of being found.
 
The first three movements of the piece can be performed on a 4.3-octave marimba, and the fourth movement requires a 5-octave marimba. As such, the introduction of the lowest octave of the marimba can be interpreted as the introduction of a home that saves “the Lost” from their conditions. This work was also written in 2020 amidst the initial quarantine period of the COVID-19 pandemic, and being able to return to my school’s campus and have access to a 5-octave instrument for practice felt like a musical sense of home. Each movement presents a distinct character in rhythm and mood, with various harmonic settings to further distinguish these moods from each other. A recurring motif ends all four movements, anchoring the listener while further exemplifying the various emotional qualities of “the Lost”.