Dark Fanfare for trombone octet
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2025 8:11 am
Hi everyone!
I recently composed a new work for trombone octet titled Dark Fanfare. It was commissioned by Benjamin Yates in honor of Mr. Nyline for the 2025 Luther College Low Brass Reunion.
Here's a score video if you'd like to have a listen:
Here are the program notes if you'd like to have a read:
Dark Fanfare, Op. 26 for trombone octet is a haunting and powerful work that plunges the listener into a sound world of ominous grandeur and surreal unease. Inspired by the 1961 cinematic adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price, this composition evokes the film’s unsettling atmosphere and brooding tension through towering melodies, dissonant cluster chords, and gloomy harmonic progressions.
Set in post-Inquisition Spain, the film’s influences are subtly woven throughout the piece, anchoring the work in its historical and cultural context while distorting those traditions through a lens of horror and suspense. The resulting textures feel familiar yet unsettling, much like the ancient castle and dusty corridors in the film. A contrasting middle section brings forth serene melodies, accompanied by warm harmonies that offer a fleeting sense of hopefulness.
Ultimately, Dark Fanfare is a study in contrasts: darkness and grandeur, fear and serenity, dread and beauty. It invites the audience not only to listen, but to inhabit its world - a place where fear takes shape in sound, and every moment resonates with the swing of a pendulum.
Thanks!
-Ian
I recently composed a new work for trombone octet titled Dark Fanfare. It was commissioned by Benjamin Yates in honor of Mr. Nyline for the 2025 Luther College Low Brass Reunion.
Here's a score video if you'd like to have a listen:
Here are the program notes if you'd like to have a read:
Dark Fanfare, Op. 26 for trombone octet is a haunting and powerful work that plunges the listener into a sound world of ominous grandeur and surreal unease. Inspired by the 1961 cinematic adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price, this composition evokes the film’s unsettling atmosphere and brooding tension through towering melodies, dissonant cluster chords, and gloomy harmonic progressions.
Set in post-Inquisition Spain, the film’s influences are subtly woven throughout the piece, anchoring the work in its historical and cultural context while distorting those traditions through a lens of horror and suspense. The resulting textures feel familiar yet unsettling, much like the ancient castle and dusty corridors in the film. A contrasting middle section brings forth serene melodies, accompanied by warm harmonies that offer a fleeting sense of hopefulness.
Ultimately, Dark Fanfare is a study in contrasts: darkness and grandeur, fear and serenity, dread and beauty. It invites the audience not only to listen, but to inhabit its world - a place where fear takes shape in sound, and every moment resonates with the swing of a pendulum.
Thanks!
-Ian
