BRASS INSTITUTES OF VIRGINIA SERIES
Written for the faculty ensemble of Fred Brass 2018, From the Ramparts Ever Daunting is a brief, accessible work that allows a brass choir to shine forth through its long melodies, rich harmonies, and driving rhythmic grooves. This work is an homage to both literal and figurative "ramparts." Looking out the office window of our Colorado home, it was not difficult to be inspired by the looming front range of the Rocky Mountains, but the ramparts also represent themes of difficulty and obstacle, from which the musical form of this piece takes shape. The melody, presented humbly and plainly at first, undergoes periods of musical tumult where it is masked, divided, chopped up, and turned around, but emerges in its final iteration in triumph and jubilation. Instrumentation is 5 trumpets (piccolo in Bb, 4 c trumpet), 5 horns, 3 trombones, 2 euphoniums and tuba.
Duration: 4:45, Difficulty: V.