When I was twenty and studying composition in California, I composed a little percussion piece in which the rhythms seemed to be constantly getting faster, yet never quite arriving.

Two years later I found my way to Alaska, and from the moment I arrived I knew that I’d come home. In Alaska, through my experiences in wild country and my friendships with extraordinary people like the poet John Haines and the conductor Gordon Wright, I discovered the full dimensions of my life’s work. 

If in those early days you’d suggested to me that one day I’d be composing string quartets, I wouldn’t have laughed. I would’ve snarled at the suggestion. Two things changed my attitude: My beloved friend Gordon passed away. And then I heard a performance by the JACK Quartet.

My first string quartet, The Wind in High Places, evoked cherished moments and places that Gordon and I shared in Alaska. And now here we are with Never and Always Becoming — my ninth string quartet.

Over the years much of my music has spiraled upward in pitch — rising, always rising. In this new work I’ve combined the constant rising with the ideal of a perpetual acceleration canon that I first explored in that early percussion piece, more than fifty years ago.

Whenever I think of a string quartet, I think of the JACK Quartet. And I’m thrilled that these extraordinary musicians are giving the first performances of this music in the place that I will always think of as my true home.

— JLA

The JACK Quartet will premiere Never and Always Becoming on May 14 in Juneau, Alaska. Learn more...