Jungle Hunt
Instrumentation
Duration
Performance Information
Score
Program Notes
This was my entry to the Ryan Leach Composition Contest in October 2024. The assignment was to write a piece of no more than 90 seconds based on the artwork Mountain by Ngan Pham, scored for the above orchestration. It was the overall first place winner in the competition, which garnered around 275 entries, and is therefore slated to be recorded by the Cape Town (South Africa) Philharmonic via Cinemagic Scoring in 2025.
This piece depicts an indigenous hunter traversing a dangerous jungle. The music starts by setting the scene, describing the jungle itself. Then the hunt starts, with a focus on the hunter. We hear the suspense and action building until suddenly, an enormous deer spirit appears striding majestically before the hunter. Finally, as the hunter is overcome by awe, we “zoom out” to see the whole jungle again; the opening melody returns and the music ends triumphantly.
The piece uses two main motifs. The first motif, a sequence of rising thirds derived from the first three notes of the main melody, permeates the work. The other main motif is the driving 10/8 rhythmic pattern. It appears first as an unpitched ostinato in the toms, but is later elaborated in the cellos and basses. Variants of this second motif are developed throughout the “hunt” section. Finally, as the piece draws to a close, all the musical material is used, including the second motif being echoed briefly in the horn countermelody, to tie the whole work together.