Performance of "pluck.divide.cut" by Chartreuse PLUS

An excellent performance of pluck.divide.cut by Chartreuse Plus at Clonick Hall in Oberlin, OH

David Bird's pluck.divide.cut, a deep-water exploration of humanity's fraught relationship with horseshoe crabs, ancient creatures whose blood we harvest for our health. Scored for string trio with bassoon, bass clarinet, and flute. Premiere performance of this version, as guest artists at Oberlin Conservatory's Winter Term Chamber Music Intensive, in Clonick Hall, 7 January 2015.

Each year over half a million American Horseshoe Crabs (Limulus polyphemus) are harvested to produce Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL), a medically important product found in the crabs' blood, which is used to detect pathogenic bacteria. The FDA requires every drug they certify to be tested with LAL to ensure that intravenous drugs, vaccines, and medical devices are free of bacterial contamination that could damage patient health. As such, the copper-based and uniquely colored, “blue blood” of the horseshoe crab is in high demand; a quart of LAL typically costs around $15,000. Substantial efforts are put in place to harvest LAL and in these “blood harvests” the crabs are heavily bled — 30 percent or more of their blood is taken and approximately 20 to 30 percent of the crabs do not survive.