I. with quiet resignation - score preview
II. with great anxiety - score preview
Duration: 12'
Originally conceived as a three-movement work, this quintet eventually settled into a two-movement structure consisting of a slow first movement and a very fast concluding movement played without pause. It is a youthful composition that seeks to explore two elements idiomatic to brass playing: the sustaining of long tones juxtaposed with the ability to execute rapid repeated notes and short articulations. The first movement begins with a long held note by the horn. This pitch is the basis for all ensuing musical materials. Other pitches begin to fade in and out with one another. As the movement progresses, distinct motives begin to appear. As the texture gradually thickens, all voices slowly gravitate to a unison pitch. At the climax of the movement, all voices suddenly move away from the unison pitch playing a series of chords that lead directly into the second movement. The second movement consists of three sections. The first section features rapid repeated notes while in the second section, these materials are subjected to dynamic and timbral shifts (including the use of mutes) and a motion towards a unison pitch. The third section begins with a sudden return to the opening material that builds steadily in intensity as the work reaches its climax.