"the night speech of plant and stone" for solo cello - was written in dedication to to my former teacher, Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung, on the occasion of his 60th birthday in November of 2002. The piece is constructed of three primary pitches, taken from the opening of Ung's work Spiral, which are embellished and ornamented using other pitches present in Spiral's first modal exposition. The title reflects my many experiences working and talking with Chinary in his garden both as student and friend.