One Day Wonder #168

For 2 horns, 1 trumpet, 2 trombones and tuba.

It’s been far too long since I’ve attempted something Balkanesque. The last really good foray into that area was #33 and that was a really long time ago. Unfortunately, this doesn’t come off as hardcore and evil-sounding as that. It’s OK. This piece embodies a different kind of Balkanesque. What we have here is a much gentler, more benign-sounding result. Sure, I wasn’t really looking for that, but this is how it ended up. This piece is comprised of alternating 5/8 and 9/8 measures and doesn’t really play up the whole harmonic minor thing at all. The form is more of an adventure than anything, because you go pretty deep into some thematic material before you hear something repeated. Basically, you hear the intro, then the A theme, then a lot of middle stuff, then the reprise of the A theme and then we’re out. So, once again, it isn’t authentic, but it works out better than I thought it would. At least it’s fun working in odd meters.