Kosciusko Canyon has never been performed. The full instrumentation is:
2 Flutes Piccolo 2 Oboes English Horn in F 2 Clarinets in Bb Clarinet in Eb 2 Bassoons Contrabassoon
4 Horns in F Trumpet in D Trumpet in Bb Piccolo Trumpet in Bb (doubles on Trumpet in C) 2 Trombones Bass Trombone Tuba
Timpani Percussion I Glockenspiel, Concert Bass Drum, Crotales, Tubular Bells Percussion II Vibraphone, Large Suspended Cymbal, Medium Gong Percussion III Whip, Snare Drum, Kit Bass Drum with Foot Pedal, Tom-Toms Piano Harp
Strings 14 Violin I 12 Violin II 10 Viola 8 Cello 6 Double Bass
Kosciusko, the street under Disney Hall where where one enters the parking beneath the building
I wrote this piece for the 10th anniversary of the Composer Fellowship Program at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It's a celebratory and fanfare-like raucous with a few surprises along the way. An asymmetrical multi-octave scale governs and binds the harmony, while the rhythm struggles to ever settle into a regular groove despite the music's apparent attempt to drive itself forward.
The name of the piece comes from the street under Disney Hall where the parking structure is entered. Anybody who has spent any time regularly going to Disney Hall, as I did for two years, will recognize the reference. I felt the piece's twists and turns shared an essence with Los Angeles' many canyons—Temescal, Topenga, Runyon, Laurel—so I invented this new imaginary canyon, yet named after this must urban spot in LA's sprawl.