Symphony in E-flat

[Tokkemon]

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a classical composer. My most recent large-scale work is my second attempt at a symphony called Symphony in E-flat. This is my second attempt at the Symphonic medium and has been a blast from beginning to end. Unlike the last symphony, I think this one was much more fun to write as the music flowed more naturally from my mind. I hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

 

The orchestra is a standard sized one with tripled winds and a bit of extra percussion, with harp and celesta. This is the first orchestra piece that I've really used Celesta, a very cool color to work with. I also used a few percussion instruments that I haven't really taken advantage of before like finger cymbals, vibraphone, and crotales.

 

The Symphony is divided into three movements (unlike the usual four). Their forms are as follows:

 

Mov 1: Intro - Fast - Slow - Fast - Coda - 16 min.

Essentially a large ABCBA form. There are three principle themes: A "waltz" theme, a "tone-row esque" theme, and a "romantic" theme. The first two dominate the B sections; the third dominates the A's and C's. There is no true Sonata form in here though the principles of exposition, development, and recapitulation have been used, just not in the traditional mode.

 

Mov 2: Slow - 8 min.

This is a slow movement that takes the theme of the horn quartet and expands on it. Actually, the theme isn't heard in its true form until the large tutti statement at the end. Elsewhere in the movement, the theme is treated to many shifting colors and settings. This was the first movement to be completed and, as such, is probably the most "conservative" of them all. But I find that works as a good foil to the first movement's sometimes raucous nature.

 

Mov 3: Scherzo - Finale - 7 min.

The final two movements in the traditional mold are smashed together into one movement here, the shortest of them all. The main scherzo themes, a minor and a major one, work against the original romantic theme of the 1st movement. The movement outlines a sort of conflict between the music of the two with neither really able to get to full fruition until the end. The romantic theme takes over and becomes the grand triumphant finale. A coda acting as a homage to the original coda of the first movement concludes the symphony in an almost serene setting. That wasn't my original plan, but it worked out so well that I decided to keep it. Initially, this coda material was slated to end the first movement, but I removed it in favor of a more ambiguous ending that sits there now.

 

On the whole the symphony is 32 minutes, just over half of my previous symphony, which, ironically, I consider a major triumph. A major problem with my last symphony was the utter lack of succinctness. I tried my best to keep excessive repetition to a minimum and have every note carry meaning. Also, the orchestration in this work is miles ahead of the last one and far more complex. As I've matured as a composer, I've been able to adjust my arsenal of techniques to things that work better for the orchestra; basically, this whole thing has been a big learning process.

 

It's been a long year of amazing writing, but this thing is done and I'm glad of it! Please let me know of your thoughts and critiques. Also, if you see any errors in the score, please point them out; I love proofreaders! Keep in mind this is only a first draft (the first complete one, that is), so everything is subject to change at this point, though I believe the piece is pretty much "set in hard clay", if you will.

 

Thanks for listening and enjoy!

 

The scores and recordings of all three movements are on mediafire here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?3l8bplpw5vnn3