HERSH

HERSH is named after Susan Hersh, an old business partner of my father’s. Together they ran a high-fashion scarf weaving company in the 1990s, and the piece grew out of my childhood memories of visiting the weaving mills.

The rhythmic clatter of the looms became the starting point for the music, translated into interlocking patterns for strings, winds and piano. Repeating figures pass between the instruments, gradually shifting in density and texture to create a constantly changing musical fabric. The piece draws on the physical movement and mechanical energy of the weaving process rather than attempting to imitate the sounds of the machinery directly.