Breaking Point
Brass Quintet
Recording Engineer: Alexander Tobin
program note
There are many things that composers must think about when it comes to writing for performers. One of the more simple concepts is the difficulty of the work, and level that the performers typically play at. When a collaboration between Dr. Jacob Cameron and the composition studio at Western Michigan University came to be, he asked for a composer to write a work for the high level achieving undergraduate group, the Russell Brown Brass Quintet. With the level of performers I was able to work with, I decide to write a quintet that would push them to their breaking point. Fast gestures, high licks, extreme dynamics, and a crazy fast tempo are exactly what is included in this very demanding work.
Caleb Hammer- April 5, 2017
-Age 22
Premiered by the Russell Brown Brass Quintet on April 2nd, 2017
russell brown brass quintet
left to right
Jasmine Joubran (Horn), Shannon Rouston (Tuba), Charles Taft (Trombone), Nathan Vanderwerf (Trumpet), Amy Head (Trumpet)