Xylophone. That’s how it all started. With tricky, delicate chamber music in need of a xylophone. With a screenshot, from a lost bidding on Ebay as blueprint, the plan was to build one. The result was mediocre: the tuning was acceptable, but the timbre was faint (decking from the local DIY store is better suited for porch flooring than for percussion instruments). The solution came in the form of a xylophone from the former Eastern Bloc.

The instruments guided the project. Xylophone: childish, but ­also rigorously challenging. Glockenspiel: cute and mysterious. Accordion: folkloristic and melancholic. March drums: sometimes heated and political, sometimes marching airily as part of a twisted parade. Brass: elevated, sacred and gleaming but also sober. Strings: fervent and swirling.