Description

Saga for solo horn (duration: 3’30”)

for Addison Kotulski

Saga is a short piece for solo horn written as part of my project to take on “mini-commissions” for unaccompanied works during the spring and summer of 2020.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s suites for solo cello are masterpieces of implied harmony; despite being written for one instrument, the music at times almost feels as if there are many voices sounding simultaneously. This idea of implied harmony was the seed of Saga’s opening, in which a simple horn call is decorated with grace notes that suggest a second voice. The call leads into a free, cadenza-like section, which eventually gives way to the song that is the “heart” of the piece before fading back into the cadenza material and a final statement of the opening call.