As you will see, brass instruments, and in particular the horn, feature strongly in the music of David Keeffe.
The music for horn was all written to enlarge the Australian horn music repertoire, and incidentally to give David some
interesting pieces to play.
Contact David directly (email address at the bottom of each page) to enquire about music and performances.
David believes strongly that music must be heard to exist, and all his
compositions were created where there were willing players and opportunities
for rehearsal and performance.
David Keeffe started composing when a student at Dulwich College, culminating in a performance of a trio for horn, violin and piano
in a house music competition.
He then attended Trinity College of Music, London and the University of York, where
he studied composition with John Tavener, David Blake, and the late Berthold Goldschmidt, conducting
with Bernard Keeffe and Graham Treacher, and horn with John Burden.
While at Trinity he won the Prize for Brass Instrumentalists and the Chappell Composition Prize
with the same performance.
Despite a quiet period in the '80s and '90s, David still kept on considering ways of composing. He presented a paper
at a computer conference on algorithmic creation of tonal music in 1986. Only when David and family migrated to
Australia in 1997 did his output increase again.
News
- 1 July 2008
Noisy Nora is on the playlist and can also be downloaded.
- 24 June 2008
Gosh - over a year since my last post. Things have been happening, though.- My Horn Octet was performed in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
- A new work, “City Pictures” for Symphonic Band was premiered by the Grainger Wind Symphony, a fine ensemble from Melbourne, on 21 June 2008. The concert was recorded by The Music Page and should appear on their website soon.
- Magnificat was performed in Milwaukee, WI by Mike Keegan (horn) and Steve Wolff (piano)
I have been completing a setting of Wilfred Owen's “Strange Meeting” for baritone voice and chamber orchestra, and have recently completed a short orchestral work as incidental music to Rosemary Wells' delightful “Noisy Nora”.
- 13 June 2007
Both hymn arrangements are available at music 3149. Enjoy!
- 6 June 2007
I've set up the business “Music 3149” to publish some of my works. It's properly registered as a business name owned by Systemsolve, which will handle the financial side.It's available as music3149.com and as music3149.com.au.
- 30 May 2007
There is now an on-line store, to order some of the newer works. Muso's Media is still the source for Three Poems and Magnificat.The “get” links on the Compositions page will add works to the shopping cart if they're available here. PDF versions may be provided in due course: let me know what you think.
- 12 May 2007
I've added a recording of Lonely Watcher of the Skies. It's a live recording of a rehearsal, with little care in microphone setup and no retakes - but it lets you hear it! I'm the horn player, Janis Cook is the pianist - and the piano needed tuning!
- 9 May 2007
I've added two arrangements of well-known hymn tunes for brass band, in somewhat contrasting styles. They are “Repton” (listen to Repton) and “Diadem” (listen to Diadem). They were inspired in part by Gary Bricault's magnificent arrangement of "Crown Him With Many Crowns" (transcribed for band by Nigel Horne).I've also posted audio demo files for the two recent marches and a live performance of the solo cello work; click on the links to listen.
Also, the solo part of the Horn Concerto is available for download in PDF format (A4 paper).
- 13 March 2007
My 'Octet for Horns' received its first performance live-to-air on 3MBS-FM in Melbourne. Thanks to Geoff Collinson and the University of Melbourne Horn Choir for a great rendition! I'll post an excerpt on the website as soon as it's available. At some point I think I'll come up with a better title, but 'octet' will do for now.
- 30 January 2007
I passed my Fellowship of Trinity College London (FTCL) exam in Horn Performance!I took it back in November 2006, but the process is thorough and requires reviewing at Trinity's HQ in London. In the exam recital I played Bernhard Heiden's Sonata for Horn, my own 'Lonely Watcher of the Skies' and 'Winds of May', and the Second Horn Concerto of Richard Strauss - (known universally amongst horn players simply as 'Strauss 2').
- 2 October 2006
A new slow march, called "The Eleventh Day" won its category in the inaugural McComish Composition Competition at the Melbourne International Festival of Brass. That, and a new quick march called "Emerald Hill" both made the final selection of 5 marches in total!The final round included a performance of each finalist by the Brisbane Excelsior Brass Band, current A-grade Australian Champions.
More details including some form of preview will be posted soon.
- 14 August 2006
I've posted MP3 versions of live recordings of a couple of early works: the Sinfonia for 2 Trumpets and the Trio for 2 Oboes and Cor Anglais. (The Sinfonia is really a double trumpet concerto.) Here they are:
- 21 July 2006
By request, I've prepared MP3 files of the Horn Concerto without the solo part. Here they are:Also, it seems that .ogg format isn't so easily read on a Mac or Windows.Go to the XIPH/Vorbis MacOS page or to the XIPH/Vorbis Windows page to download plugins for different OS types.
- 12 December 2005
I have revised my Horn Concerto. In particular I have added timpani in the first and third movements, and I've extended a bridge passage in the second. I've completely re-recorded the demo files, using Garritan Personal Orchestra. They are now the first 80 seconds only, rather than the whole movements, which should help listeners in a hurry.
Full movements are available in Ogg Vorbis format here:I'll happily send interested players a PDF of the solo part.
- 28 September 2005
I've added links on the compositions page to publishers.
- 22 August 2005
I have removed the guestbook, as it was just attracting spammers.
- 20 August 2005
There are new audio files for Maelstrom, and Magnificat.
