"Lagniappe" (lanny-app) is a Cajun word meaning a little something extra thrown in gratis. Because my mother was from the Lake Pontchartrain area of Louisiana, I grew up using it, and only learned when I went north for college that it was exotic. I had felt like retiring from composing, or at least taking a long break from it, after I finished my mammoth microtonal piece Hyperchromatica, but I had this previous commission, and I jestingly started calling the piece Lagniappe. The Americas Society commissioned the piece, but did not perform the second movement at the first performance because they hadn't scheduled enough rehearsal. Later, they performed the second movement by itself, but with the Disklavier set at the wrong tempo. I include both versions above to obviate misunderstanding.

As I worked on it, I realized that the instrumentation chosen by the ensemble was incredibly infelicitous. The Disklavier, not being human, had to serve a metronome function, which rendered the bass often redundant. The Ondes Martenot, being electronic, didn't seem to fit in. And since a Disklavier piece by its nature has to be very fast, and since my music is very chromatic, I nearly despaired of what to do with the diatonic harp. Everything except the vibraphone came to seem superfluous, and Lagniappe grew to seem the right word after all. Nevertheless, I persevered.

The first movement was performed in September 2018 in New York City, the second movement rushed through on May 3, 2019.

Kyle Gann

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