Air burnt dry

John Pax
2022

For reinforced cello. Premiered by Nadar (7'), Fromm residency Harvard University

Australian summer changes everything there. Air is burnt dry by the sun, the earth is harsh and firm. Sounds sound different when water in the air has been burnt away by the heat. Everything is still when hiding from our summer sun.

On days like this, shade feels like a dampness. The air has no weight when it’s that dry, it feels as if you’re moving through nothing, like the air is an absence of pressure.

In spring regrowth begins in the shade of these trees. After a fire, from the bark of a tree.

both to dust, and for dust  –– sing from dust, and of honey

“..and your voice shall whisper out of dust.” (Isaiah)

Recording

John Pax
Composer
John Pax