From the composer: When pianist Inon Barnatan asked me to write him a new work, he had a particular stipulation: that I somehow connect my piece with Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit, which he would program alongside my new work. This seemed an intriguing proposition. I decided not to refer to any musical material in Gaspard, but took my cue from the textual elements that accompany the score. The title of the work comes from a collection of poems by Aloysius Bertrand. It is is generally translated as “The Treasurer (or Jewel Keeper) of the Night.”