Horn 1: b - a2
Horn 2: g - e2
Horn 3: a - g2
Horn 4: e - f2
Horn 5: g - g2
Horn 6: d - e2
Horn 7: g - a2
Horn 8: E - g1
Creator's Comments
Solitude was completed in April of 2005. The piece was written during a difficult time in my life and was a means of dealing with this time in a productive manner. What started off as a short eight-measure release of tension took on a life of its own and became the piece you see here. The musical influence for this piece comes from a varied palette. The iintroduction comes from a composition exercise I did for my teacher when I was in high school. It was the beginning sketches of a piece for band that I never completed. I really liked the introduction and it seemed so appropriate for what I was feeling at the time. The following piece runs the gamut of musical ideas with the ain influences coming from Eric Whitacre, Bjork, samba, and Evenessense. What I wanted to reflect in the piece is the hodgepodge of emotions that were going through my head at the time of my personal sadness. There are moments of anger, sadness, confusion, and reflection in this piece all presented in an almost stream-of-consciousness type of manner as often emotions present themselves during trying times.
Performance Notes
Solitude has two tonal centres (one coming back at the end): A - D - A. The parts that do not have those notes play around that, but sooner or later they always return to one of these centres (depending on which part of the piece). Even with one sharp in the key, both centres are minor (the F is resolved), which bears the question why there was sharp in the key in the first place (probably the score was written in C, and then the parts transposed to F, which automatically creates the #).
It is hard to add anything to the description of the work by the composer. It certainly is a worthy addition to the horn ensemble repertoire, and could add a somber moment to the performance, if required.