Reviews

Lockwood:  Suite for Horn Octet with Optional Snare Drum

and Gong

    “Yet another demanding horn choir composition has been dedicated to the hardy men and women of the Rocky Mountain Horn Ensemble. Lockwood’s suite consists of Overture, The Call, Chorale and Conclusion.

    “The opening of the Overture is a rhythmically punctuated prolongation of bi-tonal major  triads a step apart (written D major and E major), but voiced over two and a half octaves. What follows is a constantly changing palette of contrasts in texture: a very sparsely contrapuntal melodic material in only a few parts at a time, fragmented throughout the eight parts; clusters undulating in unison rhythm; a dialogue between two horns; and other features all contrasted as well with various mood changes through dynamics, articulations and tempo changes.

     “The Call begins with a rather  abstract solo call, and it virtually never offers more than one or two hardly independent lines at a time (sometimes doubled) unti the end, which features a different kind of call—a four-part imitation of a train whistle. The score includes a quote from Walt Whitman, ‘...whistles of the great trains going west, lonely at night…’

    “The Chorale is relatively straightforward. Its melodic source is the beginning of a medieval Latin hymn (later known as ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’). The thematic material for The Conclusion is the dies irae, though the first statement of it si somewhat masked by its concurrent inversion. This movement again features provocative contrasts in texture, and between consonance and dissonance.

    “The most demanding technical aspects of this work are the independence of the eight parts (which sometimes function as two groups of four), and the tessitura of Horn 1A, which never exceeds c’’’, but does spend almost the entire piece in the top octave. Fortunately, because of the texture changes, there appears to be a significant amount of rest in that part.

    “I believe this suite is a fine contribution to the eight-part horn choir repertoire because it is a multi-movement original work of a serious nature that will appeal to both the players and their audiences.”

    (Reviewed by Virginia Thompson, Music and Book Reviews Editor, The Horn Call, May 2000)

 

 

Turner:  The Labyrinth for Brass Ensemble and Percussion

     “Commissioned by Susan Salminen and the Bethany Brass Ensemble at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, this is another spectacular work by Kerry Turner of the American Horn Quartet. Scored for piccolo trumpet, three B-flat trumpets, four horns, two trombones, bass trombone, tuba, and two percussionists, it is full of the rhythmic energy, and the interesting harmonic twists typical (of) Turner’s fine horn quartet writing.

     “The composer states that his inspiration came from a dream about a giant labyrinth, with corridors each of their own colors and sounds. The traveler races through several corridors, some of which are dead ends, and finally, after seven minutes, bursts into the open.

     “A cassette recording ... of the work was sent by Jim Emerson together with a score for review. The performance is so spectacular I called Jim to find that Kerry Turner and his colleagues in the Radio-Tele-Luxembourg Orchestra recorded it. The colors of the work can (be) imagined from the percussion roster: timpani, suspended crash cymbals, temple blocks, sandpaper, whip, and optional wind chimes.

     “This is a powerful work for a college-level or professional brass ensemble!”

     (Reviewed by William Scharnberg, Music and Book Reviews

Editor, The Horn Call, May 1999)

 

 

Wiggins:  Canto for 18 Horns, Opus 101

     “Canto is written in the style of a late sixteenth-century polychoral motet with modern harmony. It was premiered in July 1995 at the Gally International Horn Festival in Bordeaux. Although the work is brief and the effort is shared by a multitude of parts, many of the parts are difficult. At least nine of the players must have a strong high c”’, and the eighteenth part descends to a pedal C! It is a noisy work and a tour de force for any herd of this many hornists!”

     (Reviewed by William Scharnberg, Contributing Editor, The Horn Call, February 1996)

more Reviews

Next