Instrumental Music

This three-movement sonata is dedicated to my longtime Loyola colleague, cellist Allen Nisbet, with whom I gave the first performance. In the first movement, all the themes are lyrical, and, at the close, tinged with sadness. The second movement begins with an off-kilter dance, but with an ethereal middle section. The last movement is again quite lyrical, but with a march-like middle section that bristles with energy. “[Horne’s] Cello Sonata is an exquisite, neatly constructed work, full of gentle melancholy and reminiscence.” (Barnaby Rayfield, Fanfare)You can hear a beautiful performance of this work by cellist Jeremy Crosmer and pianist Jeannette Fang nearby.

1. Molto moderato
2. Allegretto
3. Andante con moto—poco allegro—Tempo I

This Toccata is a high-energy show piece for violin and piano written for violinist William Scobie, a member of the Dallas Symphony, who gave the first performance of the piece at Loyola University New Orleans. Marked Allegro, the single movement is developed from two themes, the first driving and energetic, the second more pliable and coquettish.   

My viola sonata is a challenging, neo-Romantic work in three movements—highly chromatic, but tonal. The first movement is somewhat like a nocturne, full of tenderness and longing, as if for someone far away. The second movement is a lively dance, full of high spirits, yet the yearning mood of the first movement returns in the central section. The last movement expresses an angry mood, its twisting lines connoting frustration and torment. The performance nearby is by violist Hong-Mei Xiao and pianist Logan Skelton.

1. Molto moderato
2. Allegro molto
3. Energico

These three short pieces for oboe and piano are in an atonal style. I wrote them during my early years on the faculty at Loyola University New Orleans. The first movement is slow and expressive, the second a wild, fantastic dance. The last movement, again slow and expressive, is a cancrizan, that is, a special kind of canon in which the oboe part is the same as the piano part, but played backwards. The performers in the nearby performance are Helen Erb, oboe, and William Horne, piano.

1. Molto adagio
2. Allegretto
3. Arioso

My first violin sonata is a taut, dissonant work in three movements. I wrote the first movement while a graduate student at Yale, and the second and third movements during a summer residency at the Aspen Music Festival. The outer movements are fast, energetic pieces full of angular melodic writing and agitated rhythms. The middle movement, which begins with a long violin solo, is deeply expressive and filled with a spirit of lamentation. The performance nearby is by violinist Valerie Poulette and pianist Logan Skelton.

1. Risoluto
2. Adagio
3. Presto agitato