This short tableau for solo horn was written in early January 2021. It was created in commission for test pieces for a masterclass with Ben Goldscheider, as part of sound festival’s celebration of the instrument.

The piece takes direct inspiration from the vocalisations of the hyena, an animal known for ‘laughing’ in a completely serious and dangerous context, hence the title ‘The Unhumorous Joke’. Hyenas have been known to make a variety of different calls: in addition to the iconic laughing, there are also whoops used for territorial, short sharp chattering, and low-pitched growling. These four contrasting calls make up the main crux of musical material for each of the sections of this piece, beginning with the whooping, then chattering, laughter and growling, before returning to the whooping once again.

The various extended techniques used in this piece would subsequently be incorporated into the solo part of my chamber piece Gevaudan, owing to the assumption that the monstrous and violent lupine Beast of this dark legend may have in reality been a species of hyena.

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