Only in the Anticipation
For clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, and double bass (2015)
Other Performances:
The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, April, 2020
West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Public Radio, December, 2018
Fairmont State University, Fairmont, West Virginia, September, 2018
Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, November, 2016
Alfred Hitchcock, the famous director of suspense and thriller films, once said “there is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” While my piece is not meant to terrify, I do intend for the music to remain in a state of anticipation similar to the one Hitchcock describes. The piece can be broken into three parts. The first part is disconcertingly comical, dancing on the brink of insanity. The middle of the piece is intended to evoke a different kind of anticipation, that of floating without a clear landing in sight. The third part returns to the original character of the first and ends WITHOUT a bang.