Most of us—if we’re lucky—chug along more or less contentedly in an uneventful day-by-day routine... a little like the opening of this chamber work by the American composer John Howell Morrison.

But sometimes, in some lives, something happens that suddenly disrupts the uneventful, comfortable routine, something that knocks all routine and normality straight out of the ballpark: perhaps it’s the loss of a job, bad medical news, the death of a friend or spouse, or a worldwide pandemic, perhaps, and suddenly routine physical or mental health is so shaken that the soundtrack of life shifts to something uncomfortably similar to that of a bad horror film.

But most of us—if we’re lucky—somehow survive, and perhaps even grow a bit stronger from the experience.

As the old saying goes: “Hard Weather Makes Good Wood”—and that’s the title Morrison gave this piece, scored for string quartet and electronic tape, recorded on today’s date in 2002 as the title track on a collection of his chamber works.

And, yes, Morrison confesses that “Hard Weather Makes Good Wood,” was, in fact, composed during a period of intense personal struggle in his own life.

John Howell Morrison (b. 1956) – Hard Weather Makes Good Wood (Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble) Innova 584