Song for Monica by Assaf Kraus

This multifaceted vibraphone solo is both a lilting ode to a youthful first love and a painful reflection on the suicide of a friend, a friend who was that same first love. The free opening introduces a series of ethereal lines that hang over a triplet ostinato. At times dissonant, the figures are always ascending and provide a forward motion and energy. That, along with a more consonant section, makes this a song not about a tragedy but rather a song to a much-loved and missed person whose own song is a complicated happiness.