Aside from the obvious virtuosity of these two great musicians, my inspiration for the work also came from a short poem by William Carlos Williams (1883–1963):

The Locust Tree in Flower

Among
of
green

stiff
old
bright

broken
branch
come

white
sweet
May

Again

I was especially intrigued by the structure of this short poem and the surprising final line. I wondered if I could emulate it in music: a work begins with material which seems to be going its own way but unexpectedly turns into something almost unrelated, though gentle and comforting.