This record is entirely devoted to wood percussion, of which Simone Mancuso is a leading specialist. Besides marimbone in Sciarrino’s Il legno e la parola (2004), a world première recording, and Scelsi’s Maknongan (1976), recorded for the first time on marimba, there are also two works by John Cage: Child of Tree and Branches; perhaps the best examples of his so-called naturalistic phase, composed for non conventionally-pitched instruments.

In contrast with his earlier percussion works, Cage specifies that only plant-based instruments are to be used in the performance of these two pieces. Most specifically, Cage specifies a type of pod rattle that comes from the Poinciana tree, native to Mexico, and provides instructions for amplifying the sounds of a cactus when its needles are plucked, tapped or scraped. The performer chooses ten instruments in total, with the stipulation that they are all to be amplified or unamplified plant.