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Program Notes

Commissioned by the International Low Brass Trio, Chorale and Fanfare opens with one of the most iconic rhythmic motives in music: the great four note short-short-short-long motive found in Beethoven’s Fifth. The energetic opening fanfare is contrasted with a more relaxed and lyrical chorale theme. The four note fanfare motive is hinted at in the chorale, but subsides as the chorale theme expands and grows bolder in character. The chorale is then answered by a contrasting section with pulsating repeated notes and a driving variation on the fanfare. Ultimately, the chorale and fanfare are juxtaposed in a manner that the San Francisco Examiner praised for being “a rethinking of form and genres into a distinctively unique texture."