Precipice

Program Notes

Precipice (2018) was composed for my friend Peyden Shelton, Director of the University of Utah trumpet program. Peyden's geographic location was an important part of my musical inspiration, because I've spent many summers hiking in Utah, enamored by the stark canyons and rocks. In this piece, I imagined different vantage points of a precipice: climbing a mountain and looking up towards a summit; standing at the top and daring a glance over the edge; sitting inside a canyon, veering your gaze upwards and hearing sounds echo all around; and so on. Depending on your specific vantage point, the same peak can look, and feel, profoundly different. Accordingly, the music here shifts in mood and atmosphere, sometimes mysterious, sometimes bold and triumphant. The work tries to capture the visceral excitement we feel when traversing rugged landscape, and it ends with the trumpet singing out, a majestic coda calling to mind a broad horizon of peaks and canyons.

- Daniel Temkin