Loss
Composer: Peter Benbow
Major/Class: Political Science/Freshman
Hometown: Concord, North Carolina
Genre: Trio for Piano (Patty McBrayer), French Horn (Will
Winter), and Euphonium (Peter Benbow)
This piece was written to confront my mixed feelings of seeing
my brother deploy for the war in Iraq almost a year ago. Beginning with a varied
descending line between all instruments, the piece soon introduces a motive that
starts as a triumphant-sounding round to convey the obligatory sense of pride I
felt for my brother, but quickly evolves into the main melody with its leap from
the first scale degree to the ninth followed by a smooth descending line. This
somber melody is meant to represent the worry that began to pervade my thoughts
upon the beginning of hostilities in the region. All is different towards the
end of the piece when the fast and complicated melodic lines are replaced with
sustained notes and a return to a more relaxed sound, but the end of the piece
is underscored by the dark, bell-like tones of the piano that forebode my
brother’s deployment to Afghanistan less than six months after his return from
Iraq.
The choice of instrumentation, particularly in the brass, was meant to create a
sonorous, clear sound to be supported by the thick chords and supporting lines
of the piano. The euphonium, an instrument rarely seen outside the world of wind
ensembles and bands, is used with its close cousin, the french horn, because of
their similarities in tone quality and versatility.
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