LICCA

For French Horn and Soundtrack

My friend and French horn player, Joey O’Neill, asked me to write a piece for him recital programme. He is an advocate of new music but wanted to do something in his programme that was bit outlandish and would turn some heads. He suggested something for Horn and Tape but I, whilst loving the idea of a fuller sounding piece without the need for other musicians, am not a fan of a majority of ‘Electroacoustic’ music. I was, and still am, a fan of electronic dance music , however. I suggested a drum and bass piece for horn and Joey left at the chance. I tailored the piece around Joey, using inside jokes between us and facts about him to guide the material in the piece. He’s a low horn player so I utilised the lower register of the horn to achieve a bassy, synth like sound. Joey is also a very competent rhythm reader and so I took the opportunity to play with the strange time signatures and non repeating drum programming of ‘Venetian Snares’. I took particular inspiration from his 2001 album “Songs About My Cats” which features field recordings of cats (I used Joey’s cat, Oreo, thus the name) and crazed drums that often will not repeat kick patterns for the entire track.