for two Trumpets/Flugelhorns and Piano
World premiere live performance; Christopher Keach, Margaret Hopkins, and Andrew Voelker
 
Three Avian Meditations was conceived as a commission for my good friend and colleague, Christopher Keach and his partner Margaret Hopkins, trumpet players with affluent loves for birds. The three movements are based off of the bird call of one of his favorite birds that I transcribed from field recordings. Each movement begins with a statement of the bird call by the first trumpet (or flugelhorn in the 2nd movement’s case) and the music that follows every time is a fantasy or meditation on that bird call. The Song Sparrow and Mourning Dove have very distinct melodic calls that one would commonly hear in a calmer setting, such as in a garden or in the woods. Black Capped-Chickadee is a direct contrast to the first two movements in which I expanded the bird’s famous “hey, sweetie” call into a driving groove that takes up the entire movement with finesse and flare!