Program Note for Hexadecathlon (1984)
After receiving a commission from John Cerminaro (then principal horn with the L.A. Philharmonic) I began work on a chamber horn concerto in 1983, just as plans for the Summer Olympics were being made in Los Angeles. As I sketched out a form for the piece, it began to take shape as a series of events that presented the soloist with a variety of virtuosic challenges. This reminded me of the Olympic Decathlon, but I found myself writing 16 events, not 10; hence the title Hexadecathlon. I wanted to embrace the tradition of the horn, while still casting it in a contemporary setting. For that reason, while most of the piece is written in a somewhat dissonant pitch language, some sections sound quite consonant, having been built around the natural overtone series, which is so indigenous to the horn.