[fig. 3]

[Fig. 3] is the third part of Animate Objects (2014), a collection of works that composer Oscar Bettison wrote for Musikfabrik in 2014. Its arrangement for 9×13 forms a part of their first production Morendo, and is the most abstract work in the show.

The music is clearly constructed around the separate groups of 9×13’s instruments, often broken down into high (saxes, piccolo/flute), mid (trombones, trumpet, tenor horn) and low (helicon, percussion). With the players sometimes changing group. Several times they come together in an almost funky melody with marching elements, complemented by players from both groups. A virtuoso trumpet solo leads to a uniform and groovy closing part.

[Fig. 3] in Morendo shows the moment when the group is ambushed and fights for its life. The moment when the trumpet player doesn’t seem to make it…

Morendo

Morendo (2016), 9×13’s first production, is a show about loss and the rituals around saying goodbye. In Morendo, 9×13 becomes an army marching band during wartime: a unit that loses their trumpet player. While previously they’ve had to say farewell to buglers and euphonium-players, or a timpanist, a trumpet player is a different matter… there are not many of them. And he’s someone who isn’t quite ready to let go of life. Of the forty-five permanent members of the brass band, only nine are left. The marching band is doomed.

But they have become very good at saying farewell, they play more often at funerals than anywhere else. And saying farewell has become a regular group ritual.

Farewell. With a capital letter. In a procession, worthy of a brass fanfare.