Arthur Breur
Composer
/ Portland, Oregon, USA
Member since May 2022
Composer living in Portland, Oregon. Composer in Residence for both a concert band and an orchestra.
Commissioned by the Tualatin Valley Community Band in 2017 to compose a work for their 30th anniversary celebration.
Commissioned by the Honorary Colonel of the US Army's 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment to compose the regiment's official march.
Composed the Tualatin Overture, which is the official overture of the City of Tualatin, Oregon.
My Style
I usually say that I have three musical foundations:
First, I grew up right at the same time that Sesame Street, The Muppets, and School House Rock were big.
Second, I grew up in a church that had a VERY good choral and handbell program, and had an organist who was also an amazing piano teacher.
Third, I saw the original Star Wars movie in the theater, and immediately became a film score fan.
My music is melodic, memorable, and (I hope) meaningful.
Featured Compositions
Listen to works by Arthur Breur
now playing
Mastodons and Megafauna
Full Orchestra - Grade 3
DESCRIPTION
(This standalone piece is an excerpt from the Tualatin Overture.) We step back into ancient history, and the footprints here are not made by humans. We hear the tread of the giant mammals of the Ice Age: mammoths, sloths, bison, horses… and mastodons.
This lighthearted music—representing extinct mastodons and other megafauna, and composed using the letters of those words and others—starts with the slow step of an adult mastodon played by the timpani, followed by the quicker beat of a young mastodon represented by low pizzicato strings. Soon we hear that it is an entire family of mastodons, and the French Horns make the calls of the adult mastodons as the trumpets represent the answers of their offspring.
INSTRUMENTATION
Piccolo
Flute 1 & 2
Oboe 1 & 2 Bassoon 1 & 2
A Clarinet 1 & 2
F Horn 1-4
C Trumpet 1, 2 & 3
Trombone 1 & 2 Bass Trombone
Tuba
Timpani
Triangle
Suspended Cymbal
Bass Drum
Violin 1 & 2
Viola
Cello
Contrabass
DURATION
2:00m