Keiko Abe’s Marimba d'amore is a challenging work for solo marimba and features many dense and musically lyrical lines. This version contains suggestions for performance without a five-octave marimba. 

Based on the French folk song Plaisir d’Amour by Jean Paul Martini (1741–1816), Abe creates a theme and variation piece that plays with tonality, density and chromaticism. Abe uses the entirety of the five-octave marimba, and it shows off the different ways that performers can play on the marimba, from hitting the bar with the shaft of the mallet to deadstrokes on the bars. Try to figure out where the melody is in each section of the piece!

– Steve Weiss Music