for solo horn

Commissioned by Kyndra Sisayaket, Goldbach’s Comet is a short study in polyphony for solo horn written as part of my project to take on “mini-commissions” for unaccompanied works during the spring and summer of 2020. 

The title comes from the name of the plot of a mathematical function related to Goldbach’s conjecture, one of the oldest unsolved problems in mathematics. The plot’s comet-like shape with two large tails inspired the piece’s polyphonic opening and closing sections in which the soloist accompanies themself, alternating between a grooving bassline and an exuberant solo part.