Symphony #2 - Movement I - March
I started this piece about 1.5 years ago and have worked with it off and on since then. It's complete in this form, but I am actually going to re-work a bit of it, inserting a contrasting section at measure 124, just to break up the repetition. I'll post that as well when it's complete. This movement is 7'15" and is the first of a five movement suite. The
score (.pdf file) is 2MB and the
mp3 file is 7MB.
The instrumentation is:
Piccolo
1st Flute (2) (doubling Alto Flute in G)
2nd Flute (2) (doubling Alto Flute in G)
1st Oboe
2nd Oboe
English Horn
1st Bassoon
2nd Bassoon
Eb Clarinet
1st Bb Clarinets (4)
2nd Bb Clarinets (4)
3rd Bb Clarinets (4)
Eb Alto Clarinet
Bb Bass Clarinet
EEb Contra-alto Clarinet
BBb Contrabass Clarinet
1st Eb Alto Saxophone (doubling Bb Soprano Saxophone)
2nd Eb Alto Saxophone
Bb Tenor Saxophone
Eb Baritone Saxophone
1st Bb Trumpets (2)
2nd Bb Trumpets (2)
3rd Bb Trumpets (2)
1st Horn in F
2nd Horn in F
3rd Horn in F
4th Horn in F
1st Trombones (2)
2nd Trombones (2)
3rd Trombones (2)
Euphoniums (2)
Tubas (3)
Harp
Timpani
Percussion (6)
SSAATTBB Chorus with Tenor and Bass-Baritone solo
1. Techniques used - There is a lot of quartal/quintal harmony in this piece, and I use extended sections where the harmony is in non-resolving suspended chords. I wanted the piece to be "on edge" and tried to stay out of defined tonality by using pedal points.
2. How long it took to compose the piece – I've been working on this off and on for about 1.5 years.
3. Structure of your piece – There is a long-ish prelude with fanfares in the brass moving towards the tutti main theme. The piece picks up tempo and moves from 2/4 to 6/8 for development. The excitement builds, climaxes, and then fades to a slithering flute/harp duet, builds slightly, then moves to a mournful double reed soli. A closely intertwined saxophone duet fades to a harp solo. Form would be Prelude-A-B-A-A-C. I'm currently re-writing this movement, adding a section between the two A's (Prelude-A-B-A-C-A-D).
4. Obstacles when composing - keeping momentum in composing and keeping the music driving, moving forward.
5. Summary of overall piece – dramatic and driving with an unsettled tonality, transitioning towards a mysterioso end. Since this is just the first movement, it does not have an end per se, but transitions to the second movement.