One Day Wonder #284

For 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones and tuba.

This is the project’s biggest piece in a long time. Strangely enough, the only piece with more parts in it is #1. Although I was seriously pressed for time today, I managed to finish it. Ever since the Icebreaker IV festival (I reviewed it here) in January, I’ve been thinking about the music of this guy named John Luther Adams. He’s a guy who lives up in Alaska and writes this very sonorous music. His piece at Icebreaker wasn’t that great, but I was intrigued by his approach. This is my impression of it. Yes, it’s big and slow, beginning with the tuba, then the trombones show up, then the horns and the trumpets, and over this carpet of sound the horns and trumpets make some pretty cool statements. For some reason, Finale starts spitting out weird dynamics toward the end in the trumpets (I’ve tried correcting it to no avail), but other than that, this is a big, slow, kickass piece. I just wanted to see how tough it was to write some ponderous stuff. You know what? It wasn’t that difficult. This piece might even be a greatest hit. It’s intense and brooding, and it actually works up to a climax. In case you’re interested, I wrote most of it while I was making burritos.