Two scores needed for performance.
1 movement. Approximately 7 minutes.
In spite of it's closing phrase, "No, you'd rather see an opera," hors d'oeuvres is in fact an operatic duet—fractured, admittedly—between the soprano and the tenor trombone. Should there be any doubt that hors d'oeuvres is a love scene, the trombone's music hews consistently to a distinctly vocal style, and the player occasionally breaks into speech, as if to seal the point of the dialogue. This is a music of cycles: of pitch modes (designed to project a key center, but only tentatively), of languages (French, German, Italian, and English), and of topics (food, love, sports, and cliché). Neither does the text stand alone successfully without the music, nor does the music stand alone without the text. The necessary fusion of a text and music which couldn't survive without one another continues to be my requirement for a nontrivial song.
hors d'oeuvres was commissioned by soprano Candace Natvig and trombonist Jon English in 1975 and performed by them on tour throughout Europe in 1975 and 1976. It received its North American premiere at the Berkshire (now Tanglewood) Music Center in 1976, featuring trombonist Donald Sanders and the soprano Cheryl Studer.
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