2016

The title "a leaf falls" is taken from the e.e. cummings poem with the first line "l(a." I once set that poem to music in a piece for men's choir. It reads "l (a leaf falls) oneliness." Though I've never really lived in a place with an autumn, I nevertheless feel a sense of nostalgia for the coming of autumn, the leaves turning bright oranges and reds, and is it a sense of emptiness when the leaves fall? Eugene Carchesio captured something like this sense beautifully in his "Dead leaves of Tokyo" series. I enjoy raking the leaves in my backyard, it's a kind of meditation. And who doesn't love jumping into a pile of leaves?

"Exquisite...delicate and nuanced...intimate, poetic music." (a leaf falls premiere) - Chris Reid, Realtime Dec 2011

"Erik Griswold's a leaf falls, based on poetry by e.e. cummings, was the program's most inventive piece. Across its five movements it brought together the disparate instrumental forces of cello and percussion quartet to an effective common ground with well-matched sonorities employing tremolo effects, blues influences and other expressive devices." - Graham Strahle, The Australian, 4 Oct 2011

Commissioned by Soundstream Collective with support from the Australia Council for the Arts.  Premiered by John Addison and Soundstream Collective at Elder Conservatorium, Adelaide, 30 Sep 2011.