lystn

Building on a long-standing collaborative relationship, Marcos Balter wrote Intercepting a Shivery Light for the Anubis Quartet, a saxophone ensemble, in 2012. The piece's title is an anagram for Everything in its Right Place, a Radiohead song, which Marcos admits is an important song for him "and many members of [his] generation."

The saxophone quartet is a particularly pliable medium, in that the four members can blend seamlessly in a way that's impossible for other instrument groups (gauntlet thrown!). As a result, this piece is an excellent example of one of the hallmarks of Marcos' music: turning a group of people into one thing (for the record, he also likes to turn one person into a whole group of people; check out his Memória for solo cello).

This month's Bonus Track is a live recording of the Anubis Quartet performing Intercepting a Shivery Light, from the world premiere at the Music Institute of Chicago in 2012. The Anubis Quartet is Allison Balcetis, David Wegehaupt, Sean Patayanikorn, and Ryan Muncy.