Burnout (2022)
(for brass ensemble)

Burnout is a short work written for the brass section of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as part of the Fifty Fanfares Project.

A burnout is not only reserved for ‘hooning’, or the increasingly common gender-reveal-party, but is also a legitimate way to warm up a car’s tyres to optimum race temperature. I imagine Burnout as the brass’s wheel-spinning equivalent: a fanfare and call to musical arms, a loosening up and burning of rubber. Sonically, this idea trickles down into various motor-inspired sights and sounds heard throughout. The flutter-tonguing of a revving-engine or the rapid glissandi of a passing supercar combine with moments of slo-mo drifting, skidding, and handbrake turns (the threat of a donut is never far away. . .)

More V8 than Formula 1, funk-inspired rhythms punctuate the work with an air of cheekiness, while chunky riffs and surging chords propel the work forward. The final section puts the pedal to the metal as we leave the safety of the Opera House walls, maneuvering out of sight and into the horizon.

It’s an enormous privilege to be asked to write a fanfare for this historic project, and I’m especially grateful to Geoff Stearn for supporting the commission and my growth as a composer.

Holly Harrison