This is the world premiere of the new work for double-bell horn, developed during the Virtual Brass Academy with Christine Chapman and Ensemble MusikFabrik, July 2020. This performance took place on July 30th, 2020 - in Cologne.
I am indebted to Ensemble MusikFabrik and the fantastic work they did with us in introducing us to the worlds of double-bell instruments, and to the ever-expanding repertoire of new music for these instruments they are bringing to the world.

The work explores a sense of dual forces that act and react upon each other, and how the relative mediator (the performer) indeed interacts with the score, the instrument and it's two bells, and finally how the theatre of the piece - both through actions and the position of the instrument - is transmitted to the audience. In the four sections of the piece that each explore a different facet of the manipulation of the horn - first through the use of a contra-bassoon reed to produce aggressive yet fulfilling multiphonics; then in the second and third exploring the two bells and their range of possibilities. The final section condenses the instrument down to only it's single-bell form and the mute and interacts briefly with it to express a settling within the performance. Gasping, grunting, growling and grandeur are all some of the ideas explored in this short miniature.

Image: LIGO/Caltech/MIT/Sonoma State (https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/1/15721268/gravitational-waves-ligo-future)

Understated Matter - for solo double-bell horn [premiere]

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EVERYTHING is music.
We are ALL waveforms in infinity.
EACH of us is a whole universe.
WE ALL BEAR RESPONSIBILITY.
LET'S BE GRATEFUL, LET'S EVOLVE.🏳️

Understated Matter - for solo double-bell horn [premiere]

Sean Quinn - Composer