Chorale, Fanfare, and Prayer for Brass Quintet

Setting out to provide an old brass quintet with a new finale that would be fiery and dynamic, I quickly learned that this piece had other ideas in mind. What materialized instead was very different. The dissonant melodies and harmonies from the earlier quintet apparently had a life of their own, becoming much more consonant and euphonious in this new, independent piece. While composing, a continuous “amen” repeated itself in my mind, floating upward into the ether in a spirit of calm acceptance. It was only after it was performed that I realized this piece was a delayed response to my parents' deaths a year earlier.