 Alembic was commissioned in 1992 by William Halpin for the Dublin Institute
of Technology College of Music Wind Band who gave it its first performance
in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, in March 1993. In 1997 it was selected
by the international jury for performance (by the RNCM Wind Band) at the ISCM
World Music Days held in Manchester the following year.
An alembic was a retort used for distillation in mediaeval alchemy, and by
extension means anything that distils or purifies. My piece sets out from one
of the rawest of musical raw materials © the ascending horn©call of minor sixth/perfect
fifth/major third © and transforms it in a series of climaxes framing a central "alembicated" (complex,
intricate) passacaglia. Although written for student players the piece makes
fully professional demands on its large ensemble, which includes a considerable
battery of percussion instruments and two groups of trumpets placed stereophonically
at opposite sides of the performing space. 
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