Three Recollections
for solo horn, winds, and percussion
1971
12 minutes
Instrumentation: solo horn, winds, and percussion
Premiere: Randall Shinn, horn soloist
United States Air Force Academy Band
Richard E. Thurston, conductor
San Antonio, Texas
1971
[Lost]
Composer Notes: About to be drafted to serve in Vietnam, I enlisted and served in the Air Force from 1968 to 1972. Most of that time I served in the band at the Air Force Academy, and played horn in the Colorado Springs Symphony.
Richard Thurston, the band’s conductor, encouraged me to compose and arrange works for the band, which I sometimes did. One of these works was this piece for solo horn, winds, and percussion, which was premiered at a bandmaster’s convention in San Antonio.
The work was structured in three sections. The first section was aggressive, the middle more reflective, and the final section exuberant. The solo horn part was virtuosic throughout.
When I left the service, I didn’t retrieve the score, and years later when I inquired, it was no longer in their library.