Untitled 18 (Passacaglia) was motivated by two factors: the harmonic language inherent to the carillon, and an idea for a texture that I thought would sound cool. Carillon bells produce a very strong minor 3rd tone above their fundamental, so harmonies that make use of this are very nice on the instrument; by using this as a guideline, I developed a harmonic language different from what I normally use for this piece. Texture-wise, I simply thought fast notes in the very upper range of the carillon would sound cool, especially in counterpoint with the very low range of the instrument. As implied by the title, a passacaglia forms the backbone of the piece, which rises in energy before calming back down.
Recording Notes
Outdoor performance (by nature of the carillon), so there are some environmental sounds.