Intrada, for Six Horns. 2’45”. For the Curtis Institute of Music Horn Studio. Premiered 1 Dec 2021, the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia.
Composed spring 2021 at the request of Jeffrey Lang and Jennifer Montone, who teach horn at Curtis and who direct the Curtis Horn Studio. Jennifer is Principal Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Jeff is Philadelphia’s Associate Principal. Our daughter Martina Adams studied horn at Curtis under them from 2019 to 2022.
I wrote the Exsultet for Horn and String Orchestra for Jennifer in 2007, and Jeff had also been Martina’s horn teacher for her Bachelor’s degree at Temple University. They are not only world-class players and beloved teachers, but are warm and inspiring human beings.
Jeff was my first contact about this and wondered about a La Peri-type fanfare in duration and scope. This I was happy to attempt, as the Paul Dukas La Peri Fanfare is not only a brilliant piece, but a model of concision, richness, and excitement. One difference is that while this is for horns rather than for a mix of brass instruments, I very much thought of this as a work for an orchestral horn section. (It’s a larger than normal one to accommodate the six players normally in the Curtis studio during any year.) I thought of the six horns primarily as two groups of three, although in every composition I always desire each voice to be independent and important at every moment.
There’s no difference that I know of between an Intrada and a Fanfare, although I can imagine, with or without good reason, some difference in color between the two terms. But as I have already composed a few fanfares, I cast about for another title, and this seemed to reflect the character of the music.
