FULL ANTHOLOGY

 

ATOMIC FANFARE

 

MITOSE, PROLIFÉRATION, APOPTOSE

 

PRISM

 

IN MEDIAS RES

 

ZERO QUINTET

 

TO THROW

 

BRASS QUINTET NO. 1

 

THE GRIND

 

ELEGY

 

OVERFLOW

ATOMIC FANFARE

Stuart Beatch

 

Atomic Fanfare, like many of my pieces, started as a beginning. I knew the opening gesture was going to be (had to be!) a repeated pitch, quietly insistent, and one which would get shuffled around the ensemble; my musical tastes have always tended towards minimalist and post-minimalist aesthetics, so this is nothing new or original. However, it was from these first measures, the moto perpetuo of continual sixteenth notes, from which I derived the piece. The work is cast in a basic ternary form; the opening A section features non-stop sixteenth notes as a driving force, around which other harmonies and rhythms can dance. As the music gains energy, a fanfare is exchanged from the trombones to the trumpets and horn, and finally to the entire ensemble, at which time the steady rhythmic motion is ground to a halt. The B section, a moment of pure stasis, draws itself from my own religious experiences; a free plainchant melody is passed from instrument to instrument as it progresses through several rich modes. Echoes of the opening material, distant in both tonality and rhythm, continue to make dry interruptions, until the horn begins a transition back into the A’ section. Following a brief summary of the main themes, the piece explodes with energy into the coda, and a rousing fanfare ends the work – the atom is split; let it rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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