Light the Torch, Op. 13 for Brass & Percussion

Light the Torch, Op. 13 for Brass & Percussion

• Instrumentation: 4.4.3.2.2, T+3
• Opus 13, 2021
• Duration: c. 3m

Light the Torch is a stately 3-minute ceremonial fanfare appropriate for any number of occasions where the music director wishes to capture the mood of anticipation and excitement.

The fanfare begins in a stately, dignified tone, laying out the first thematic material up until bar 25, where the tempo picks up and presents the second theme in the euphoniums. That is answered by the horns in a new key. Then, after building the tension during a brief transition, we hear the two themes combined after bar 55, which leads into a rousing, climactic coda. 

Although this fanfare was completed in 2021, I started on it sometime in the mid-2000s, but left it abandoned, half-finished, on my hard drive for well over a decade because I wasn't quite sure where to go with it, and I had other pieces to work on in the meantime. (Or, in the case of my "silent" periods, life to live! For the five years I lived in Mexico, for example, I just performed and arranged without composing a note.)

Finally, one day in 2021 when I was going through my catalog revising pieces, and getting them performance-ready and publication-ready, I found this remnant (which consisted of just the introduction), and decided to finished it. 

I hope you find it enjoyable to work on and perform!