Pandora’s Box, for percussion quintet Duration 5’45”. (1989)

Pandora’s Box was composed for the percussion ensemble of Holy Cross High School, under the direction of Michael Lipsey. He asked me for a piece that had a difficult part for his star pupil, an easy part for the new kid, and three medium parts for the rest of the group. It starts with an extended passage for woodblocks and cymbals, explodes into color with a section for pitched instruments, and eventually returns to unpitched instruments.