Stones Fall to the Sea was written in response to the landscape of the South Downs in the South of England. Referencing Jaquetta Hawke’s A Land the piece explores the chalk landscape as a temporally and spatially interrelated form where connections can be made materially, economically, ecologically, politically, and environmentally. Stones Fall to the Sea approaches landscape as something that describes a nostalgia for the future, an appreciation for the complexity of our engagement with the spaces we inhabit, and an acknowledgement that whilst history is linear, time is not. It embraces and celebrates matter under a weight of time, compressing, pulsating, folding, eroding, shaping, and forming anew.

Written for the Extradition Ensemble and performed by Sam Klapper (violin), Collin Oldham (cello), Shao Way Wu (bass), Juniana Lanning (electronics), Daniel Reyes Llinás (guitar), and Stephanie Lavon Trotter (piano) at the Extradition Ensemble Fall Concert, October 21, 2023, at Leaven Community, Portland, OR, USA. With thanks to Matt Hannafin.

Full programme: Ryoko Akama, Object Performance (2014); Marianne Schuppe, Behind (2019–20; Nomi Epstein, Structured Improvisation #1.19 (2019); Thomas Stiegler, Märchenbilder I (2013); Sarah Hughes, Stones Fall to the Sea (2023)