I fashioned in my mind this piece for string orchestra with harp while making the crossing by ferry from Galveston Island to Bolivar Peninsula, on the upper Texas Gulf Coast, on a beautiful June evening in 2008, the summer before Hurricane Ike devastated that lovely scene of my childhood.

The piece is a tango only in the loosest sense of the word - i.e., the musical idiom (especially in the tonally minor middle, or B, section) is suggestive of the tango, but actually dancing the tango to the entire work could be difficult. Certainly, though, it is a musical representation of gently swaying palm trees against a background of a warm sea and a tropical early-summer twilight.

I classify it as difficult mostly because of the upper voice in the divided first violin part in the return of the A-section, or A' . In addition, the syncopated rhythm in other parts requires a lot of concentration. It’s definitely for a seasoned, mature ensemble that needs to be rather large because of the divided parts.