ca. 4min
Published in Octobert 2019 at AvA Musical Editions
Also available at Köbl 
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Repertoire piece for the IV Concurso Adácio Pestana (2020) and the Matosinhos Internacional Competition 2024
This piece was composed for the horn player Frank Leonard Starobin, in gratitude for accepting a collaboration with my PhD research. As the name suggests, it is a piece written on an improvised character including a section where the horn player can even opt to do a live improvisation.
Some standard extended techniques are required, there are however some differences to mention. On bar 22 the thumb is used to perform a tremolo using different fingerings on the same note. The same technique is used rhythmically on bars 23 and 29, but here there is other intention: rhythmically alternating fingerings produces a soft articulation due to the change of the tube length where the air is passing (that in this case produces a difference of about 1 meter of tube).
Also glisandi appear on different occasions where different techniques should be applied: the ones indicated by a scoop or with straight lines (for eg. scoop on bar 9 and glissandi on bar 12) should sound as a smooth half step glissandi. On the other hand, the glissando on bar 41 should be performed with some sort of interference (using either harmonic series, alternating fingerings or even combination of both). On bar 44 there is even a third type of glissando that should be played by placing the key levers half way. Some of the indicated fingerings are mere suggestions that can give a flow feeling to the phrases and making the legati easier. Some examples of this include the useful usage the combination 1•2 when there is an adjacent note played using the 2nd finger or the alternative usage of the 3rd finger when there are neighbor notes played with 2•3. However, there are other passages where the indicated fingering can transform an impossible or hard to play passage into a passage that works really idiomatically when played on a horn.
Ricardo Matosinhos
