Five Bagatelles for horn & marimba by Jason Thorpe Buchanan were written in Fall 2008. These five movements each emphasize a different musical element and their construction is loosely based on the geometric subtitles, Circles, Squares, Dots, Lines, and Triangles. These figures are sometimes represented intervallically, rhythmically, structurally or graphically, with much of the pitch and rhythmic material being generated based on the shape and its designated musical element.
Originally scored for brass quintet, March and Sing was arranged in 2009 for Tad Suzuki and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas Brass Ensemble. The title of the piece is derived from the two main compositional forces at work in the music: passacaglias and chorales. In the passacaglia sections a recurring theme is played in hocket amongst three instruments (first the trombones, then later the trumpets). During each successive statement of the passacaglia theme, additional counterpoint is woven into the musical texture by other instruments which imitate the motivic ideas of the passacaglia figure. Building steadily, these rigid portions of the piece eventually spill over into flowing chorales where larger homophonic scoring replaces the busy counterpoint. In the middle of the movement the entire ensemble comes together during a jubilant chorale. This passage grows until a haunting bugle call cascades downwards from the upper registers of Trumpets 1 and 2. At this point the music begins to subside and various musical ideas from earlier in the piece are recapitulated. As the work closes, a final reference to the passacaglia theme is played by muted Horn and Trombone, suggesting that the bold marching which opened the work is now fading away in the distance. - D.T.
Vasava (Lord of the Spheres) for Brass Ensemble by Jason Thorpe Buchanan was written between December 2008 and January 2009. After a trip to the Asian art museum in San Francisco, I was reminded of my interest in Indian culture and their systems of organization in music. This work largely incorporates the Indian desi-tala system of rhythmic cycles, which are treated relatively strictly throughout the entire work. Each of the 120 ancient talas have specific cultural, spiritual and emotional associations and are used for specific events and situations. While visiting the museum and reading some Hindu mythology, I became intrigued by the idea of writing a series of character pieces for various instrumentation based on Hindu deities. The title is Sanskrit, and its English translation is "Lord of the Spheres". This name is often used interchangeably with the more commonly known "Indra", the god of thunder, lightning and rain. The title Vasava is in reference to Indra's position as leader of Vasus, name for a group of Hindu (Vedic) gods. They are considered eight deities attendant on Indra, comprising day, dawn, fire, moon, pole star, sun, water, and wind. This work was commissioned by Takayoshi "Tad" Suzuki and the UNLV Brass Ensemble for a performance in May 2009.