Excerpts from my recently completed seventh symphony (No. 6)

Started by relm1, September 23, 2022, 03:56:31 PM

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relm1

I'm working on my seventh symphony (confusingly numbered as No. 6 because there is an unnumbered one too).   This work is in three movements played without pause.  The first and third being adagios with a percussive and combative prestissimo central movement. 

This excerpt is from the prestissimo second movement as it is most finished.  The first and third movements are planned and sketched out but unfinished.  At around three minutes into this excerpt, there is a brief reprieve from the tumult as we're led into a false sense of peace before the storm begins even more intensely than before!

1st movement: https://clyp.it/03javo4c
2nd movement: https://clyp.it/odmxyzpk

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

relm1


Karl Henning

Quote from: relm1 on September 23, 2022, 03:56:31 PM
I'm working on my seventh symphony (confusingly numbered as No. 6 because there is an unnumbered one too).   This work is in three movements played without pause.  The first and third being adagios with a percussive and combative prestissimo central movement. 

This excerpt is from the prestissimo second movement as it is most finished.  The first and third movements are planned and sketched out but unfinished.  At around three minutes into this excerpt, there is a brief reprieve from the tumult as we're led into a false sense of peace before the storm begins even more intensely than before!

https://clyp.it/odmxyzpk


Excellent work! I like it a great deal!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

relm1


vandermolen

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

relm1

#6
Quote from: vandermolen on September 27, 2022, 12:17:47 AM
+1
I commented on 'Clyp'

Thanks so much, Jeffrey!  There isa moment in the third movement that reminds me a lot of RVW's Sancta Civitas.  I'll post that clip later but am working on the third movement quite a bit now.

My apologies to the poor percussion section!

relm1

As I approach the completion of my Symphony No. 6, I wanted to give more insights to it.  It is in three movements of roughly equal duration: first a moody moderato, then a vulgar and percussive prestissimo, followed by a meditative adagio all played without pause.  My original thought was to structurally follow Shostakovich's Sixth where it goes from slow, to faster, to very fast but I altered mine to make the fast movement the central section and make it extremely bombastic and aggressive.  It became more like Shostakovich's Eleventh Allegro during the massacre sequence.  This paved the way for a more meditative and ultimately cathartic ending not unlike how Mahler ended "Das Lied von der Erde" with catharsis rather than turmoil. 

I'm still fine tuning the first movement but here are the first few minutes for those interested.  Everyday I fine tune it further addressing issues that drive me crazy but probably in ways no one else notices.

Link: https://clyp.it/03javo4c

Details about my symphonies to date:
1.   "Ruins" Symphony (2000-2, rev. 2022)   35'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+5/hp/pno/organ/str
2.   Symphony No. 1 (2003-4, rev. 2021)      25'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+3/hp/pno/str
3.   Symphony No. 2 (2014-5)                 52'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+5/hp/str
4.   Symphony No. 3 "Universe" (2019)      32'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+5/hp/cel/audio/str
5.   Symphony No. 4 "Dresden" (2021)      45'   4.4.4.4/6.4.4.2/2timp+7/2 hp/pno/cel/organ/str
6.   Symphony No. 5 (2022)                 35'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+5/hp/pno/str
7.   Symphony No. 6 "Dreams may come"(2022)32'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+6/hp/pno/str

It will probably be some while before another symphony as there are other works planned to include chamber music and commercial projects. 

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: relm1 on September 23, 2022, 03:56:31 PM
I'm working on my seventh symphony (confusingly numbered as No. 6 because there is an unnumbered one too).   This work is in three movements played without pause.  The first and third being adagios with a percussive and combative prestissimo central movement. 

This excerpt is from the prestissimo second movement as it is most finished.  The first and third movements are planned and sketched out but unfinished.  At around three minutes into this excerpt, there is a brief reprieve from the tumult as we're led into a false sense of peace before the storm begins even more intensely than before!

https://clyp.it/odmxyzpk

Sophisticated and yet accessible. Well-done. I like it!


Quote from: relm1 on October 14, 2022, 04:14:05 PM
As I approach the completion of my Symphony No. 6, I wanted to give more insights to it.  It is in three movements of roughly equal duration: first a moody moderato, then a vulgar and percussive prestissimo, followed by a meditative adagio all played without pause.  My original thought was to structurally follow Shostakovich's Sixth where it goes from slow, to faster, to very fast but I altered mine to make the fast movement the central section and make it extremely bombastic and aggressive.  It became more like Shostakovich's Eleventh Allegro during the massacre sequence.  This paved the way for a more meditative and ultimately cathartic ending not unlike how Mahler ended "Das Lied von der Erde" with catharsis rather than turmoil. 

I'm still fine tuning the first movement but here are the first few minutes for those interested.  Everyday I fine tune it further addressing issues that drive me crazy but probably in ways no one else notices.

Link: https://clyp.it/03javo4c

Details about my symphonies to date:
1.   "Ruins" Symphony (2000-2, rev. 2022)   35'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+5/hp/pno/organ/str
2.   Symphony No. 1 (2003-4, rev. 2021)      25'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+3/hp/pno/str
3.   Symphony No. 2 (2014-5)                 52'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+5/hp/str
4.   Symphony No. 3 "Universe" (2019)      32'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+5/hp/cel/audio/str
5.   Symphony No. 4 "Dresden" (2021)      45'   4.4.4.4/6.4.4.2/2timp+7/2 hp/pno/cel/organ/str
6.   Symphony No. 5 (2022)                 35'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+5/hp/pno/str
7.   Symphony No. 6 "Dreams may come"(2022)32'   3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp+6/hp/pno/str

It will probably be some while before another symphony as there are other works planned to include chamber music and commercial projects.

Thank you for the link.  Sounds excellent!

relm1

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 15, 2022, 02:11:51 PM
Sophisticated and yet accessible. Well-done. I like it!


Thank you for the link.  Sounds excellent!

Thank you!  I appreciate it. :)

vandermolen

I left a note on clyp - really enjoyed it.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

relm1

Quote from: vandermolen on October 16, 2022, 12:37:51 PM
I left a note on clyp - really enjoyed it.

Thanks so much!  A little easter egg.  The opening fanfare is a nod to Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony opening fanfare.  He opens with a bold fanfare in B flat minor that initially resolves to D major.  Mine is D minor over F# major (polytonal) that initially resolves to B flat major.  It appears a few times throughout as a sort of "fate" motif and reappears at the very end, though finally subdued.