Written as an obvious pairing for Francis Poulenc’s cornerstone work the Sextet for Piano and Winds, my sextet Of Observation and Experience II (2014) is one of several pieces I’ve written using aleatoric methods. Scored for flute, english horn, bass clarinet, horn, and piano, the work continues an exploration of spectral and “hyper-tonal” harmonic areas I became infatuated with in my earlier compositions Use Your Words and Of Observation and Experience I. The predominant texture is built on bubbling stews of close harmony in the winds, which are thickened nicely by the substitution of the english horn and bass clarinet for the wind quintet’s usual oboe and clarinet. The pianist provides harmonic grounding and structural waypoints, acting much like the large gong ageng in a gamelan ensemble. The work’s climactic passage is defined by a precipitous fall to the lowest registers, where the bass clarinet, horn, and piano tangle in a deep groan. Gradually the horn rises from the morass, transforming this dark passage into a soaring melody, with clangorous piano interjections providing a shimmering blur to a triumphant passage in G-flat lydian. The music gradually lets off steam, spinning its way back to a more tender and reflective reminiscence of the work’s opening material.