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This piece for large brass ensemble and percussion is inspired by the military concept and painting The Two Thousand Yard Stare by Tom Lea. The painting depicts the experiences at the Battle of Peleliu in the South Pacific region and elaborates on the feeling experienced through combat.

The A sections depict the rush and adrenaline of various obstacles, sights, and battery effects that would appear throughout the battlefield. The B section packages the concept of the “fog of war” with the complex necessity of courage through uncertainty, all to end in a mysterious state similar to Lea’s famous painting.

Instrumentation is 5 B-flat trumpets (1st doubles on piccolo trumpet), 4 horns in F, 2 tenor trombones, 1 bass trombone, 1 euphonium, 1 tuba, keyboard percussion (vibraphone and xylophone), timpani, snare drum, bass drum (part includes air raid siren), cymbals (crash and suspended), and harp. Duration is around 5 minutes and 30 seconds.

Evan Middleton is a composer and arranger from Springfield, Virginia. While composing, Evan works as a member of “The Commandant’s Own,” the United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps in Washington, D.C., and has been a member for 6 years as a Baritone Bugler. He has written various brass arrangements for the ensemble in large and small configurations of the group. He is a graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance.