‘...or a cherish’d bard...’ was written for the American pianist Deborah Richards in honor of her 50th birthday in August 1999. It represents the transition of one piano score – based on the whole-tone scale containing the pitches DEB (D, E and B-flat in German) and on rhythms derived from the hexadecimal number DEB – to another score similarly based on the whole-tone scale containing the pitches AH (A and B-natural in German) and on rhythms from the hexadecimal number A0 (the “H” is rhythmically silent and replaced by 0). The transition is in the hocket tradition: one always hears DEB or AH, never both together, though DEB predominates at the beginning and AH at the end. The title is an anagram of the pianist’s name.