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Score [ePDF]
Mirage : for brass ensemble [eScore] / Alex Turley.
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Work Overview
It was a pleasure to create this new work for the Sydney Symphony's stellar brass section. Orchestral brass instruments are perhaps best known for their directness and power, however, they also have an extraordinary palette of subtle and mysterious colours. From the outset, I intended to create a work that explores these darker shades whilst highlighting a few of my favourite textural effects.
In this piece, I ask that the horns and trumpets be separated from the rest of the ensemble by a great distance, in reference to the long history of antiphonal brass in music. There is a curious symmetry to be found as the instruments call out to one another across the hall with interwoven melodies, creating a shimmering quality in the air. This quality underpins the central theme and title of this work, which refers to the bending and refracting of rays of light in a mirage.
As the central ensemble on stage provides an ever-shifting harmonic background, wispy melodies grow outwards from afar, propelling the piece forward through a curious and warped sense of time.
Work Details
Year: 2021
Instrumentation: 4 Horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba.
Duration: 5 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Commission note: Commissioned by Sydney Symphony Orchestra.. Commissioned by Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
First performance: by Sydney Symphony Orchestra at Elgar's Cello Concerto (Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall) on 19 Apr 2023
Subjects
- In the form/style of: Fanfares
Performances of this work
19 Apr 2023: at Elgar's Cello Concerto (Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall). Featuring Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
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