Concerto in C for Flute and Orchestra

Greetings!  Haven't stopped by in a while, thought I'd take the occasion of winning the 20 Year Membership badge (!) to drop in and share a big something I finished recently.  

This is one of those pieces I have worked with, off and on, for many years - I began composing it in 2001 and just finished it this summer.  I cannot account for exactly why it took me so long to bring this to completion, except that for much of that time I didn't feel worthy of the material I had sketched, and couldn't readily come up with ideas to match it in quality.  

This piece is in my usual Classical style, unusual mainly in that I have employed an exceptionally large orchestra, including three trombones.  Ostensibly, it is written for instruments of the period, roughly 1800 to 1810, though I have it on good authority that the flute part is in places nearly unplayable on a flute of that time - not impossible, but extremely difficult in such places as the frightful two-octave ascending chromatic scale in the first movement, and the mortifying cadenza in the third.  Ordinarily I would have edited the piece on such advice, but there comes a time when artistic vision must prevail, and this was one of those times.  

The opening movement is a standard Sonata-Allegro as typically modified for concerti in the Classical period.  The second movement (Andante) is broad and expressive.  The third movement is a Polonaise (Vivace alla Polacca) in the form of a Rondo.  

I hope you enjoy the piece, and as always I look forward to any comments you may have.  Thanks!  

A lively interesting work ... in a classic classical style. Quite enjoyable ..... with a very clean/precise orchestration. 🙂

Mark

I enjoyed so many moments in this! Your music is mature and elegant, this was very fun and enjoyable to listen to (even twice 😄)

I love that B theme in the 1st movement, and you end this around the 21 minute mark brilliantly with the vi bVI I chords, it was my favorite part. I always admired how Beethoven saved the best part of his music for just the right moments, and yours gave me a similar feeling. 

Thanks for sharing and popping by! Keep writing, I love your music

Nice work!

Just have one notational point. 
The staff for the soloists part in a concerto, should always be positioned directly above the 1st violins (see attached image). 
 

Not much to say in critique of this work. Very Neo-Classical and elegant 🙂

Awesome work. I'd love to see this performed live!

Hello @J. Lee Graham and welcome back to the forum!

Wow!  What a wonderfully accomplished work!  I am glad that despite feeling "unworthy of the material" that you managed to finish it after more than 20 years!!!  I also have had such an experience.  I started my Variations on "Deck the Halls" for Piano and Orchestra back in the 2000's as well, over a decade before when I ended up finishing it.  And it was only thanks to the fact that I learned to write music on paper that I managed to have the discipline to finish it.

On 9/23/2025 at 4:47 PM, J. Lee Graham said:

Ostensibly, it is written for instruments of the period, roughly 1800 to 1810, though I have it on good authority that the flute part is in places nearly unplayable on a flute of that time - not impossible, but extremely difficult in such places as the frightful two-octave ascending chromatic scale in the first movement, and the mortifying cadenza in the third.  Ordinarily I would have edited the piece on such advice, but there comes a time when artistic vision must prevail, and this was one of those times.

I totally understand the sentiment!  It is hard to limit yourself when writing for period instruments when you know that superior versions of the instruments would in fact have capabilities that would very much facilitate the music in question for the composer.  I think I would also leave the piece as-is knowing that there do in fact exist versions of the instruments with the capability to actually perform the piece live, which is ultimately all that I would care about.

I have to say that my favorite movement is the Polonaise!  What a delight to hear someone include this stately Polish dance in a concerto!  I am Polish myself and have danced the Polonaise as a youth in a Polish Folk Dance Ensemble.  The dance has all the pomp and nobility of the spirit of Poland!  I think it was also you who remarked that your favorite National Anthem is the Mazurek Dabrowskiego in an old thread I read somewhere.  I actually have always dreamed of creating a mash-up of the Mazurek with the American National Anthem to create a kind of "Polish-American Heritage Anthem".  We'll see if that ever comes to fruition!  Thanks for sharing this wonderfully bright piece!  I thoroughly enjoyed it!

WOW!! That was incredible -- wonderfully done 

Your writing for the ensemble was just lovely. I would love to know what originally inspired you to write this piece. 

Also, do you have any books on orchestration you'd recommend?

Nah, this is GREAT. Thank you, it's so great to come back to this forum and stumble upon such a magnificent work. I agree with Peter in that you should leave the flutes as they are. This live would probably be great!

I am not really a fan of concertos. For some reason they don't really stick to me, it just must be that I have not listened to them enough and with enough attention. But here, listening to this, I feel right at home. What a delightful first movement! It was light, gentle, sweet and very enjoyable in summary, although it was not bland or boring, I loved the tenser moments with lots of timpani and the passage right after the introduction. You clearly know your craft and I think that shows in the equilibrium between the orchestra and the soloist! 

The andante was also lovable. It did even gain a bit of sweetness but it didn't become overwhelming, pompous... No, again I find equilibrium, and I cannot really stop the piece so here I come again. Some resolutions of certain passages remind me a lot of the second movement of Haydn's Trio No. 39, and probably of lots of other pieces written by him but this one came to mind. 

Third movement was a tiny tiny bit darker or more serious, those minor passages preceded by the striking brass+timpani tuttis (or tuttis overall, didn't see the score at that point) were something I 200% enjoyed. And the last fanfares and finally, the coda... Damn. Impressive, hats off. I feel almost like if I had attended to a premiere of some great musical work (and at my place that's not very common, it's either ultrahyperdissonant  or conceptual stuff or already established music by our grand masters of the past).

What a great job, many many thanks and congratulations. I have already shared it with my friends.


 

On 10/19/2025 at 3:27 PM, BlackkBeethoven said:

Also, do you have any books on orchestration you'd recommend?

Hi man. Since the OP did not reply yet let me just throw two very well known references that you may know as well, but just in case:
♫ The study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler
♫ Principles of Orchestration by Nikolai Rimsky-Kosarkov

In the rare case you haven't heard of them, here you go. 


Best regards,
Daniel–Ø.

How do you capture the score? 

Wow!  I drop this here and look away for a moment (or several weeks), and y'all bless me with an embarrassment of riches in your comments!  

I'm so sorry I'm just now getting around to replying, but I've been a bit unwell.  I suffer from Bipolar Disorder Type 2, which causes dramatic mood swings fairly frequently (I also have ADHD, but that's another story), and over the last couple of months I've been having a lot more bad days than good...some days I have trouble even getting out of bed, which is a pretty serious depression.  I saw my physician recently, and he adjusted my medications, so I'm hoping to feel better more often soon.  Today happens to be an exceptionally good day by recent standards, thank God.  

Thank you very kindly to all who listened and commented.  I'm going to try to reply to various points and specific questions in these posts in the order they came below.  

On 9/24/2025 at 2:56 PM, MJFOBOE said:

A lively interesting work ... in a classic classical style. Quite enjoyable ..... with a very clean/precise orchestration. 🙂

I appreciate your complimenting the orchestration.  I've never studied orchestration formally, I just put down what I hear in my head pretty much.  

Are you an oboist?  Just guessing from your user name.  I should probably post my oboe concerto and see what you (and others) think.  

On 9/28/2025 at 12:12 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I love that B theme in the 1st movement, and you end this around the 21 minute mark brilliantly with the vi bVI I chords, it was my favorite part. I always admired how Beethoven saved the best part of his music for just the right moments, and yours gave me a similar feeling. 

Ah yes!  That secondary theme is one of my favourite moments in the whole movement too...and you mentioning it gave you a similar feeling to Beethoven makes my heart flutter!  🙂 

On 10/3/2025 at 7:30 AM, Alex Weidmann said:

The staff for the soloists part in a concerto, should always be positioned directly above the 1st violins (see attached image). 

Oh my God!  😞  I had no idea!  I suppose I've never actually looked at a score for a concerto.  Thanks for bringing this to my attention.  

On 10/3/2025 at 10:24 AM, UncleRed99 said:

Awesome work. I'd love to see this performed live!

Thanks!  I'd love that too.  There is a chamber orchestra in Wichita that performed my 9th Symphony a couple of years ago, I've thought of showing the score to their director to see what he thinks of it, and if he'd like to program.  It of course calls for a first-rate flautist, but maybe he's got one in his back pocket.  

On 10/3/2025 at 10:39 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I totally understand the sentiment!  It is hard to limit yourself when writing for period instruments when you know that superior versions of the instruments would in fact have capabilities that would very much facilitate the music in question for the composer.  I think I would also leave the piece as-is knowing that there do in fact exist versions of the instruments with the capability to actually perform the piece live, which is ultimately all that I would care about.

I have to say that my favorite movement is the Polonaise!  What a delight to hear someone include this stately Polish dance in a concerto!  I am Polish myself and have danced the Polonaise as a youth in a Polish Folk Dance Ensemble.  The dance has all the pomp and nobility of the spirit of Poland!  I think it was also you who remarked that your favorite National Anthem is the Mazurek Dabrowskiego in an old thread I read somewhere.  I actually have always dreamed of creating a mash-up of the Mazurek with the American National Anthem to create a kind of "Polish-American Heritage Anthem".  We'll see if that ever comes to fruition!  Thanks for sharing this wonderfully bright piece!  I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I'm going to take your suggestion and leave this piece just as is.  Was it Beethoven who retorted, "it wasn't written for you" when someone complained that his work was unplayable?  Everything is unplayable until some intrepid soul plays it.  

So, you liked my Polonaise eh!  I'm very gratified.  It still brings up the hairs on the back of my neck, especially the ending.  I've written a number of Polonaise insertions in various movements of my work, but this is the first time, I'm pretty sure, that I made a whole movement out of one.  It's so grand and expansive.  I did some research online to see how the dance was actually done, and it's wonderful!  I read somewhere that in Europe, and especially in Russia (and Poland I'm sure), the Polonaise was the first dance played, to give everyone the opportunity to show off their fabulous clothes.  And yes, it was me who wrote that my favourite National Anthem is that of Poland, which amazingly enough is a Mazurka.  I've written a stand-alone Mazurka as well, for strings, as part of my Sundry Dances collection.  By all means, give your vision of blending the US and Polish National Anthems a try.  They share the same metre, which is part of the puzzle solved already.  

On 10/19/2025 at 8:27 AM, BlackkBeethoven said:

Your writing for the ensemble was just lovely. I would love to know what originally inspired you to write this piece. 

Also, do you have any books on orchestration you'd recommend?

Thank you!  What inspired the piece?  Nothing in particular.  I was driving to my friend's house one day, and I came up with the idea for the opening theme out of thin air.  it happens a lot like that to me.  When I got home, I plugged it into Finale, and in a few hours, I had the orchestra introduction finished.

I'm almost ashamed to say that I've never read an orchestration book.  I taught myself orchestration, basically by writing down what I hear in my head...if I don't hear something in my head, but Finale playback sounds like something is missing, it's trial and error to find it out, but most of the time I hear things more or less fully formed in my head.  I'm more like Mozart and less like Beethoven that way, though these days I'm trying to emulate early Beethoven more.  Someone else here recommended Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's book, which I have been told is excellent.  Hector Berlioz also wrote a "Treatise on Instrumentation" that I gather may even go even further afield, being that he was an extremely experimental composer for his time.  Good luck! 

On 11/3/2025 at 9:13 PM, Omicronrg9 said:

I am not really a fan of concertos. For some reason they don't really stick to me, it just must be that I have not listened to them enough and with enough attention. But here, listening to this, I feel right at home. What a delightful first movement! It was light, gentle, sweet and very enjoyable in summary, although it was not bland or boring, I loved the tenser moments with lots of timpani and the passage right after the introduction. You clearly know your craft and I think that shows in the equilibrium between the orchestra and the soloist! 

The andante was also lovable. It did even gain a bit of sweetness but it didn't become overwhelming, pompous... No, again I find equilibrium, and I cannot really stop the piece so here I come again. Some resolutions of certain passages remind me a lot of the second movement of Haydn's Trio No. 39, and probably of lots of other pieces written by him but this one came to mind. 

Third movement was a tiny tiny bit darker or more serious, those minor passages preceded by the striking brass+timpani tuttis (or tuttis overall, didn't see the score at that point) were something I 200% enjoyed. And the last fanfares and finally, the coda... Damn. Impressive, hats off. I feel almost like if I had attended to a premiere of some great musical work (and at my place that's not very common, it's either ultrahyperdissonant  or conceptual stuff or already established music by our grand masters of the past).

What a great job, many many thanks and congratulations. I have already shared it with my friends.

I didn't used to be a big fan of concerti either.  It took me a long time to finally write a whole one (my Horn Concerto in E-flat of 2014).  There are so many really great concerti that for a long time i just didn't feel like I had anything in particular to add to the pile.  But my feelings have changed, and now I have several other concerti planned, though not started yet.  I really want to write concerti for piano, violin, and 'cello.  

Thanks for your compliments and comments on all three of the movements.  I'm so glad this piece made you feel "right at home!"  

And thanks for sharing this piece with your friends!  By all means, if you'd like, subscribe to my YouTube page...I have literally hundreds of scrolling-score videos of almost all of my music that I consider worth sharing there.  I can always use more subscribers.  🙂 

On 11/11/2025 at 3:52 PM, Kvothe said:

How do you capture the score? 

I use an application call Bandicam.  It's pretty easy to use.  I recommend paying a few bucks to buy the full version of the software, or you'll have watermarks all over your music.  Just set the area of the screen containing your score (in scrolling mode, preferably, if available on your notation software...I use Finale, for now anyway), hit F12 to start recording, then hit play in your notation software, and voila!  When the piece is done, hit F12 again, and recording stops.  The output is an MP4 file, uploadable to YouTube, and a WAV file.  Hope that helps.

Dear God, it's 4:17AM Central Daylight Time and I'm just now wrapping this up.  Thanks again all of your for you kindness and generosity of spirit!  All best!   

I WILL listen to the whole thing, but some notes on the first movement, reactions...someone brought up that the solo instrument should be not on top but on top of the first violins:  sometimes, depending on the type of manuscript paper you have, or the notation software you are using, the high first violin notes can get "tied up" with the lower soloist notes!  I myself don't care about that particular convention, unless I had a concerto performed or published.

I would consider myself a Neoclassical composer, but I could never be this authentic!  I'll throw in a semi-atonal couple measures, just for fun.  This is truly in style, and would have certainly made waves in late Eighteenth Century Vienna!  In fact, it might have been seen as a groundbreaking flute concerto.  Your counterpoint is very nice, but you keep things simple and direct.  

Wish I knew how to do a scrolling-score video on YouTube!  I am absolutely helpless at anything like that:  the only thing I can do well on a computer is finding practically anything (decent) on the internet.  Keep up the good work!

3 hours ago, Churchcantor said:

I WILL listen to the whole thing, but some notes on the first movement, reactions...someone brought up that the solo instrument should be not on top but on top of the first violins:  sometimes, depending on the type of manuscript paper you have, or the notation software you are using, the high first violin notes can get "tied up" with the lower soloist notes!  I myself don't care about that particular convention, unless I had a concerto performed or published.

I would consider myself a Neoclassical composer, but I could never be this authentic!  I'll throw in a semi-atonal couple measures, just for fun.  This is truly in style, and would have certainly made waves in late Eighteenth Century Vienna!  In fact, it might have been seen as a groundbreaking flute concerto.  Your counterpoint is very nice, but you keep things simple and direct.  

Wish I knew how to do a scrolling-score video on YouTube!  I am absolutely helpless at anything like that:  the only thing I can do well on a computer is finding practically anything (decent) on the internet.  Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks for your comments.  I honestly don't know why I wrote this with the flute part on top.  I suddenly was worried that all my other concerti were written this way as well, but I checked, and all the others were written correctly.  So who knows?  

I consider myself a Classical Revivalist mostly, though I can and do write in other styles occasionally.  As such, it has always been extremely important for me to be as authentic as possible, and I'm very glad that comes to the fore.  I have my own personal style within Classicism, but my stuff is always going to smack a little of Mozart, Haydn, and early Beethoven (the latter of which I'm particularly attempting to emulate lately, with varying degrees of success).  I was shooting for 1800 to 1810 as the specific pinpoint for much of this work, so it might not have seemed that groundbreaking during that later time frame, especially considering what Beethoven was doing, though I realize the 2nd movement especially sounds a bit earlier.   

As for scrolling score videos, Google an application called Bandicam.  Shell out a few bucks for the full version, or your music might get covered with watermarks...it's not that expensive if I recall rightly.  It's pretty easy to use.