This work is dedicated to director Nancy Joy and the NMSU Horn Ensemble, and was first performed at the 2000 HIS Horn Symposium. It consists of two pieces, one slow and lyrical, with an extended introductory first horn solo, repeated by the second horn and imitated in the other voices. The second piece is faster, setting up a characteristic rhythm with chordal accompaniment. These two elements are then expanded upon.
The language is tonal, and the difficulty closer to easy than medium, however there is a long bb2 at the end of A joyful noise, which puts it out of the reach of most beginner’s ensembles.