Written for Norio Sato

First performed by Trine Dalsgaard (viola) and Jesper Lützhøft (guitar) at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark

Earth stood hard as iron is dedicated to guitarist Norio Satio, who introduced me to many aspects of Japanese music, including the biwa narrative tradition. The first performance of Earth stood hard as iron was given by Karin Dalsgaard and Jesper Lützhøft in Århus, Denmark, on 2nd September 1999.

Frequent and sometimes awkward retuning in both instruments is a feature of the piece, and is an element of musical material with equal status to other textures and melodic fragments. Retuning actions are performed in this piece on the same level as other instrumental techniques such as bowing, pizzicato, plucking, etc. At the same time, however, tunings become increasingly liable to slip during the piece, producing an unpredictable microtonal aesthetic which becomes characteristic of the sound material.