The first World War was particularly devastating to the population of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, in which it has been said that every family on the island suffered a loss in the conflict. Prior to 1949, Newfoundland was a colony of the British Empire and during the first World War, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment…
Tag: horn
Ghost Circles for natural horn and electronics (2013)
This piece is the second in a series of collaborations with Bruce Bonnell for natural horn and live electronics (the whole project has been dubbed Supernatural). To contrast with the hectic and spastic counterpart movement Silhouettes, Receding, this movement is a single melody set against a gradually evolving drone. The title is taken from the…
March for woodwind octet (2009)
In early 2009, I was asked to write a work for woodwind octet. I pushed around a lot of ideas which didn’t work until I finally de- cided to revive an old work for saxophone quartet (this quartet movement is currently operating under the title Mechismo). The piece is mechanical, chunky, and slightly robotic. Given…
Silhouettes, Receding for natural horn and live electronics
This piece is the first in a series of collaborations with Bruce Bonnell for natural horn and live electronics (the whole project has been dubbed Supernatural). Originally performed under the title Golfballs the Size of Hail, the title Silhouettes, Receding seems to be a better fit for the mood and tone of the piece. Hectic,…
H.B.M.D. for horn, trombone, and strings (2004)
In the summer of 2004, I was fortunate to be accepted to the Composers Conference at Wellesley College. Mario Davidovsky, the main composer entity during those two weeks, was celebrating his 70th birthday that year. All of the composer fellows decided, quite at the last minute, to each write a variation on “Happy Birthday” and surprise Mario with performances of…
March for wind octet (2008)
This is one of those cases where the program notes aren’t going to tell you much. There isn’t much to this piece other than an inclination towards mechanical and quirky material. This march was ?rst composed for saxophone quartet in 1997 and, after about a decade of neglect, I decided the music wasn’t so bad…
Lentissimo for woodwind quintet (2011)
len·tis·si·mo adverb (as a direction) At a very slow tempo Download the score: Lentissimo
Sonatiny for solo horn (2010)
I have always been moderately baffled by the horn. I’ve known a lot of horn players, too, and that hasn’t really helped me become un-baffled. This work is a short two movement piece (a tiny sonatina) which I think should speak for itself. The first movement is slow and moribund, the second is bouncy and…