Expanse
a chord-array fanfare
for brass quintet - 2011, ca 3-4 minutes - commissioned by the Aspen Festival of Music
Performance by musicians of the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music:
Instrumentation - Brass Quintet
Piccolo Trumpet, Trumpet, Horn, Trombone & Bass Trombone or Tuba
Score Preview
Program Note
This short piece is built on the idea of each of the instruments being assigned a different scale, and having each voice slowly moving outward through its respective scale at the same time. This results in the music forming an array of both dissonant and consonant chords. At the apex, the music quickly retraces its steps back to the first chord of the piece, like running down a hill after a long climb. A postlude unites the ensemble in the key of C, where their expanding voices now reach a stable conclusion.