I liked the idea of a piece of music that represented the idea of a "loose cannon." Cannons are pieces of machinery with a specific and directional function. Another piece I had been working on got me thinking about instruments as pieces of machinery - as complete machines themselves and as components of a larger whole, namely an ensemble. In this case, however, the projectile is sound.
Idiomatically, a loose cannon is someone whose behavior is uncontrollable or unpredictable. As a horn player, I've spent many frustrating hours contemplating the apparent futility of attempting to bend such an unwieldy piece of metal to my will. This piece sets out to describe (in musical terms) that feeling of unease that can come with operating an unpredictable machine, and perhaps even some of the triumph that comes with doing so successfully.
Unable to resist the pun, I've structured this piece as a series of canons (where two or more instruments - or voices - play the same music starting at different times), all based on the same material, "loosely" assembled together in contrasting scenarios. Often, the players are assigned musical material in pairs, playing the same music at the same time, but at different pitch levels. The music unfolds in a traditional fast-slow-fast structure, albeit in a way that aims to keep the listener guessing until the end.