Caltabiano: Rotations, for 16 Horns

Rotations

Duration:

5 min.

Year:

1995

16 Horns

Catalog No.:

144-40264

	Opening (18" -- 150 K)		download

	Excerpt 2 (17" --141 K)		download

Rotations was written in 1995 at the request of my friend Richard Runnels, a marvelous horn player living in Melbourne, Australia. The work is dedicated to Richard and Judy's son, Christopher, who was born as the piece was finished.

The title refers to several kinds of rotations within the work, from the visual (the movement of the 64 rotary valves of the players), to the explicit (the manner in which material is rotated through all the parts), to the implicit (pitch sets are varied through the technique of rotation).

Rotations begins with a series of soft but very resonant and dark 15-note chords with menacing crescendos. These passages are interrupted by dramatic articulations that soon form the constantly transforming ostinato of section two. Here, as the tonal color moves from chromatic to more open diatonic sounds, a series of legato solos are spun above. Near the end the work darkens again, ending with material from the opening.

-- R. C.

This dramatic five-minute composition was recorded via over-dubbing by Richard Runnels on Move Records (MD 3172): 10 Glen Drive, Eaglemont VOC. 3084, Australia. The sixteen horn parts are divided into four groups of four. These quartets sometimes act independently and at other times share material.

Rotations can best be described as an atonal, sound-mass composition, a la Penderecki, permeated with the kaleidoscopic effects of that genre. It is the type of work where color is more crucial than accuracy. Beginning softly en masse, the composition's intensity builds slowly to what becomes a false climax, followed by a brief cadenza in horn 2a, and then another run at the real peak, where half the ensemble must peg a high b". The work then quickly evaporates, with mini-cadenzas for horns 1a, 2a, and 3a, and a condensed version of the soft, dissonant, opening chord. With the exception of the climatic b", only one strong high hornist, capable of sustaining soft notes above the staff, and four solid low hornists are required. While the are rhythmically tricky gestures, a bit of easy mixed meter, and minimal stopped and muted passages in all the parts, a group of sixteen hornists who are capable of independent rhythm and pitch accuracy could quickly assemble a performance of this composition. There are not many unique works for sixteen horns and this is one of them.

-- The Horn Call

Rotations was commissioned by [Richard] Runnels for a horn ensemble concert in Melbourne. He performs all sixteen parts on the disc. The work is similar in some was to the extended harmonies found in works of Hollywood composers in the '60s and '70s and as recorded by the Los Angeles Horn Club. It is a marvelous work with lots of effects with stopping and mutes that add sparkle and life to all its melodic and harmonic drive.

-- from a CD review in The Horn Call


		Rotations is available on Move CD 3172, a collection of Caltabiano instrumental music. The CD can be purchased in any retail store, or on line at Buywell.com.