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For an upcoming recital, I have been trying to figure out how to perform (or arrange to have performed) my new choral work… without a chorus. Apart from my not having many connections in the choral community, a full chorus would probably outnumber the students and parents in attendance at the recital. As a fallback, I hastily mixed a synthesized rendition of the hymn for horn choir. I owe this exercise to GarageBand for having an impressive horn ensemble sample in its sound library, but I was happy enough with the results to take the time to “write out” (in Sibelius) the score for a 5-part horn choir....

My recent predilection for liturgical music has given rise to what ought to be my first choral work. It’s not finished, but with it, I have tried to produce a hymn in the style of Romantic-era musical settings of Russian orthodox worship services. I have given myself the rather daunting task of trying to capture the same spiritual flavor of these works, while omitting any religious program (that is, for some definition of “spiritual”)....

This past Saturday, I attended South Bay Horn Day at Mountain View High School. The festival lasted from nine in the morning to nine at night, with a mix of workshops, horn choir rehearsals, and performances filling the day. It is held annually, and I only attended once before in 2013. From my seat in the mass choir It was a joy to meet so many other horn players from the area and to hear the excitement in their voices as they recounted their experiences with the instrument....

The latest flurry in the vicissitudes of my listening patterns summons the music of the church. I have created a playlist on Spotify called “Hymns” containing five ecclesiastical selections for unaccompanied chorus. Cathedral Interior Sergei Rachmaninoff – Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, Op. 31: XII. To Thee We Sing Sergei Rechmaninoff – All-Night Vigil, Op. 37: II. Praise the Lord, O my soul Eric Whitacre – Lux Aurumque Alexander Gretchaninov – Passion Week, Op....

About a year ago, I found myself listening to less and less classical music in my daily listening routine, replacing the late Romantic program on my playlist with a hodge podge of EDM tracks I managed to harvest from my Alesso radio station on Pandora. I’m not really sure how it happened, but I guess I was in the throes of a more… hormonal phase of music. It was a concerning thing to be getting away from my classical predilections, but corrective measures weren’t something that could be forced....