One Day Wonder #46

For 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones and tuba.

My original intention was to write a swinging, half-time feel join-in, but what emerged is something that sounds like a missing track from the Casino Royale soundtrack (the old mess of a James Bond parody from the sixties, not the new one). I didn’t intend for it to mimic Herb Alpert, but I only realized it after I was finished. I'm still mystified as to how it turned out. It's kind of like the piece wrote itself, including the modulations and the quasi-chorale. I have no idea where any of that came from. Well, I began this project for surprises like this, as I firmly believe that any composer who knows exactly what any given piece requires, has an ironclad plan and a sensible approach is going to write something extremely boring. On the other hand, there is always a chance that someone like me, who approaches each piece with only a vague ghost of an idea as to how it should go, will write a lot of really stupid music. Fortunately, that's not the case today. Sure, this piece isn't perfect; the intro is a bit drawn out, but everybody gets to play their parts before things get under way. If it began with all the parts firing at once, it wouldn't have nearly the same impact. In addition, this piece doesn't even resemble classical music, but as you can see, that wasn't my goal. I just wanted to write something - anything - and after a good deal of shaking, this is what fell out of the tree. I'm very happy with this piece.

Click on the title to listen.