Woodwind Quartet

Woodwind Quartet by Joshua Pettus

About the Piece

I wrote this piece during my sophomore year at the Hartt School of Music. Originally, I was going to try my hand at the standard Woodwind Quintet, but my composition teacher, at the time, convinced me otherwise with the following two arguments against it:

  1. The french horn in this ensemble is the bane of so many composers’ existence as it's out of place with the rest of the instruments. As a result, it's huge challenge to figure out what to do with it in the group.
  2. Not many people have written for a woodwind quartet.