Insrumentation: bass clarinet, trombone, piano & percussion (vibraphone & marimba)

The Deep refers to a painting by American artist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956); one of the very few completed in his final years. The painting is largely white, comprising multiple layers of very intense brushwork. Tearing straight up through the middle of this is a dark, black rift which seems to reach inwards, suggesting an almost infinite depth. In contrast to Pollock's more famous "dripped" works, which are on the whole characterized by an "all over" approach, resulting in an ultimately flat, surface-level texture, The Deep is just this, and it is the depth suggested in this painting which interested me compositionally.