Trio in B-flat for English Horn, Viola, and Contrabass (2013)

A Trio I composed about 3 years ago in mid-2013 for three friends who were professors at Friends University, Wichita.  The unusual instrumentation was first suggested by the contrabassist, who had composed his own very fine piece for himself and the two others to play, and it inspired me to try my own hand at it.  Unusual though it may be, the three instruments actually blend quite nicely together.  Incidentally, the contrabassist was also a former love interest, which added yet more urgency to this attempt.  

The players had originally intended to premiere the work in 2014, but the plan fell through for various reasons - not the least being that the piece is somewhat challenging, and it wasn't easy for three university professors to find time to rehearse it sufficiently.  

In an attempt to garner some publicity, I published the piece on IMSLP, and earlier this year I heard from a trio of young men from Venezuela who had found it online and were planning to perform it.  This ensemble of students did indeed premiere the piece in Venezuela in March of this year, albeit substituting 'cello for the contrabass.  They did a yeoman's job of performing a piece intended to put professionals through their paces, and their performance may be found here:  

Scores for the movements are attached.  

Wow! This is extremely good! It's nice to find another classical style composer!

Likewise for me to find another, and thanks for the compliment.  There are a lot of baroque historicists out there, but in the Classical-Revival world, I'm only aware of you and I, and a tiny handful of others - maybe 5 worldwide - so we're a rare breed.  If you have some compositions up here, I'll give them a look!  

It seems that "Classical Revivalists" are indeed trapped between the more fashionable "Baroque Revivalists" and the "Romanticism did never die" movement (towards which I seem to gravitate). Nevertheless, it's a tough rabbit to pull out from a hat - to compose convincingly in an old-fashioned, authentic style (not the "Neo-classical" promoted by Stravinsky and Prokofiev, but rather in the way that Haydn or Bocherini would have done it), yet managing to sound fresh and original. That is a feat in itself, and you've been able to do it consistently. The fact that people you didn't even know chose the work for a performance speaks for itself. Good job!