All works are available from the composer

Laura.Hoffman@lrhmusic.com

Larger works
Chamber ensembles (including with voice)
Solo instrument
Solo instrument and piano
Choral

Larger works

Around in Circles
 Concerto-like work features solo guitar with an ensemble of flute, alto saxophone, euphonium, trombone, marimba, percussion (snare drum, bell tree, suspended cymbal, wood blocks), violin, cello and bass. Moderate difficulty for ensemble, difficult guitar part. Single, sectional movement approximately 10'20"
 First performed Dalhousie University Concerto Night, January 1998, Joey Tucker, guitar, the ensemble conducted by the composer. Subsequent performance conducted by Carolyn Davies.

And with the leaving /Compline
 This large brass ensemble work was written for the Sewanee Festival Brass, and performed at the close of the 1995 Sewanee Summer Music Festival. Employing 3 small choirs and two solo trombones, placed in the front, sides and rear of the church, as well as two off-stage trumpets, the work was designed to take advantage of the extreme resonance of St. Luke's Chapel. The work employs polytonality and a suggestion of the Medieval. A version for slightly smaller resources was performed at St. Andrew's United Church, Halifax, NS in April 1997, by Nova Sinfonia, Carolyn Davies conductor. Both versions available.
 Original: 8 trp (6 possible), 6 hrn, 5 trb, 3 tuba
 Smaller: 7 trp (5 possible), 5 hrn, 4 trb, 1 bass trb, 2 tuba
 "A clever mix of fanfare and plainchant in which a simple melody evolves into an increasingly complex texture as dense with melodic traffic as a freeway with cars and trucks and busses at rush-hour, Hoffman's work surrounded the audience with four brass choirs in an impressive blow-out." Stephen Pedersen, The Chronicle Herald, Halifax, NS April 23, 1997

Chamber ensembles

Not everyone agrees
 Saxophone quartet incorporating improvisational as well as notated sections. Moderate difficult. First performed at Dalhousie University (1995). Approximately 10"
  Audio excerpt performed by Michael Duke, soprano, Steven Yarbro, alto, John Petit, tenor, Anna Dusdieker, baritone, Indiana University (1998)

Fog
Soprano (suitable for tenor also), Double bass and Vibraphone. Text from the collection Dim Time and History on a Garrison Clock by Halifax poet Margaret Benjamin Hammer (2002). 13'

La Barque Mystique

Short, single movement for soprano saxophone and violin inspired by the Redon painting of the same name. (1993) 2'10"


 Program note: The artist Bertrand-Jean Redon, better known as Odilon, was born April 20, 1840 in Bordeaux, the son of a planter who had made his fortune in Louisiana and his Creole wife Marie-Odile. A sickly child, he was entrusted to an elderly uncle, who raised him in a supposedly haunted mansion on the family estate of Peyrelebade - a wild, desolate, swampy area in the Médoc region. This isolated environment inspired the frightful nightmares and bizarre fantasies that stimulated Redon's imagination for the rest of his life. The mystic barque which Redon painted more than once was the boat which carried Mary Magdalene and her sister away to Provence, the foundation of her legend in France.
Score

Crossfire
An argumentative fanfare for 2 B flat trumpets (1985)
Score

And who will fill the void
Single movement for string orchestra (two bass parts). 7'
Score available from the Canadian Music Centre

the sea forever changed
In Memoriam
Single movement for string quartet. An opening section featuring cello and viola solos accompanied by harmonics leads to a furious middle section and calm ending. 7'

Just Around the Bend
 Single movement for string quartet, approximately 7', difficult ensemble work. Overall intense and fast paced with a flowing section featuring the instruments in duets and a short , out of time section. 7'5"
    Excerpt performed by The Halifax Chamber Musicians: Anne Rapson, Jennifer Jones, violin; Margot Aldrich, viola; Shimon Walt, cello; 1997


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Last updated: Tuesday, May 3, 2005