Commission by Vance George of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and dedicated to Eric's little sister, this piece features text by e.e. cummings. Note from the Composer: While in my second year at Juilliard (1996) I received a phone call from Vance George, the legendary conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. He wanted to know if I might be interest in a commission for their big Christmas concert, something that would feature their amazing accompanist Marc Shapiro and the smaller choir of 80 singers. The only catch was that it was now the middle of October, and could I please finish the piece by the first of November. I took the commission, of course (how could you say no to Vance George?) and my future wife Hila found for me the timeless E.E. Cummings poem little tree. I started writing as fast as I could and noticed something very strange happening on the page: I was writing with a completely different voice. Part of it was the nature of the poem, but most of it was residue