Antiphonies

Antiphonies is a work for two brass quintets and, although there are occasional sections where the two quintets play together as one large ensemble, for most of the piece they play together in an antiphonal fashion. At times these antiphonal sections feature the same sort of material passed from one group to another while at other times the quintets exchange phrases of a contrasting nature.

I believe that brass instruments have a great capability for expressing extremes in music, both dynamically and emotionally, and so in this work I have tried to show as many sides of brass instruments as I could - there are passages of intense aggression, yet at other times passages are calm, reflective, atmospheric, and almost impressionistic.