Wind Ensemble

Brass Choir

Choir

Solo Works

Music for Two

Chamber Music for Larger Ensembles

Tip of the Spear (2019) for trombone choir (8 parts: 6 tenor, 2 bass)
Heroic Brew (2018) for horn choir (6 parts)
Moonlight Rhapsody (2016) for oboe, viola, and piano
Up To No Good (2015) for woodwind quintet
Homage (2014) for trumpet sextet

Duration: 5 ’45”

First score pages (pdf)

Adolph “Bud” Herseth was principal trumpet with the Chicago Symphony from 1948 until 2001.  He was also an alumnus of Luther College.  When John Cord, then in his first year at Luther College, contacted me about composing a new piece, Herseth had recently passed away.  One of John’s suggestions was to write a piece in Bud’s honor. 

Playing principal trumpet for over 50 years in one of the world’s finest orchestras, Herseth performed almost every major orchestral work multiple times.  When I asked my trumpet colleague Eric Swisher which piece comes to mind for trumpeters when I say “Bud Herseth,” he answered right away, without missing a beat: Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.  That piece begins with one of the most famous solos in the trumpet repertoire and, since the first movement is a funeral march, it seemed appropriate to use that solo to generate much of the musical material for my piece.  The Mahler material, which is subtly nestled into the texture, shares the stage with an original tune which I had dubbed the “lament melody” during the composition process.  In truth, for me that music is emotionally rich and suggests beauty and optimism along with the mourning…a celebration of an amazing life.

A note about transposition: Homage originally began with a repeated concert C#, same as the Mahler solo. Unfortunately that opening key (D#-minor for Bb trumpets) made the beginning, as well as the rest of the work, extraordinarily difficult to read and play.  This version has been transposed up a half step (repeated concert D) to solve that problem.

Score and parts available for sale at Triplo Press.

Inosculation (2014) for string quartet
Compressionism (2012) for trumpet sextet
Cross Face Cradle (2010) for clarinet, trumpet, viola, piano, and percussion
Ice Town (2009) for trumpet sextet
OK, Then AL (2005) for brass quintet
The Belfry (2001) for woodwind quintet and vibraphone
The Last Sunset (2000) for trumpet, trombone, and piano
Poetics (1999) for flute, clarinet, bassoon, piano, and marimba
What Love Tells Me (1999) for 2 horns and organ
Prelude and Scherzo (1995) for brass quintet