Burnout (2022)

for brass (4.3.2.1)

Duration: 4 mins

Commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, generously supported by Geoff Stearn, as part of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s 50 Fanfares Project

Program Note

Burnout is a short work written for the brass section of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as part of the Fifty Fanfares Project.

A burnout is not only reserved for ‘hooning’, or the increasingly common gender-reveal-party, but is also a legitimate way to warm up a car’s tyres to optimum race temperature. I imagine Burnout as the brass’s wheel-spinning equivalent: a fanfare and call to musical arms, a loosening up and burning of rubber. Sonically, this idea trickles down into various motor-inspired sights and sounds heard throughout. The flutter-tonguing of a revving-engine or the rapid glissandi of a passing supercar combine with moments of slo-mo drifting, skidding, and handbrake turns (the threat of a donut is never far away. . .)

More V8 than Formula 1, funk-inspired rhythms punctuate the work with an air of cheekiness, while chunky riffs and surging chords propel the work forward. The final section puts the pedal to the metal as we leave the safety of the Opera House walls, maneuvering out of sight and into the horizon.

It’s an enormous privilege to be asked to write a fanfare for this historic project, and I’m especially grateful to Geoff Stearn for supporting the commission and my growth as a composer.

Performances

24 April 2024, Western Sydney Philharmonic, Fabian Russell, The King’s School, NSW

5 May 2023, Sydney Symphony Orchestra brass, Umberto Clerici, Sydney Opera House, NSW, AUS

29 October 2022, Sydney Symphony Orchestra brass, Eduardo Strausser, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, NSW, AUS

28 October 2022, Sydney Symphony Orchestra brass, Eduardo Strausser, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, NSW, AUS

27 October 2022, Sydney Symphony Orchestra brass, Eduardo Strausser, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, NSW, AUS