Why do I write symphonies in the 21st century?
The great Gustav Mahler once said: "A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything". This is a quote I've kept in mind my entire compositional career while creating a special focus as a symphonist. It was in 2007 when I was 11 that I decided most of my compositional efforts would be focusing on perfecting the complex art that is writing for the orchestra.
But even way back then I had huge stories to tell. The initial drafts of my first symphony date from 2006 to 2007. It was set in C Minor and was intended to be homage to Bruckner, whose second symphony I first heard around that time. It blew me away and I was determined to create something of that stature, even though I had not composed much at the time. Most of the drafts are now lost, but I remember them clearly. The work was intended to be in a late romantic style with a large orchestra and dark harmonic language. Remember, I was 11 so some of the works from this period sounded innocent and Mozartian. I also remember having an infatuation with the contrabassoon, which (sort of) continues to this day. I ended up completing Symphony No. 1 in 2014, utilizing some of the sketches from back then, and of course, it is completely different than what I had intended.
As I got older and I composed more symphonic works, I began to question exactly why I was writing them and what I was trying to say. Recently, I looked at some of the subjects these works were based on: homages to styles past, the thrill and disappointment of high school love, the struggle of the artist, dreams and the inner mind, and life from the point of view of a creator.
That's when it hit me: my symphonies are autobiographical. Here I was creating these works that vividly describe my life experience, that world put a listener in my shoes without ever having met me. That brought me back to the Mahler quote: most of my symphonies contain their own worlds, and everything is in these worlds.
That is exactly why I consider myself a symphonist in 21st century. To me, a symphony is the pinnacle of human creation, much like a novel is. There is the composer's true self, and their souls are contained in the very scores they create. It is also where one's knowledge of theory and orchestration is put to the real test. They're unique as well; one can tell a Bruckner symphony from a Mahler one, a Tchaikovsky symphony from a Glazunov and so on. I have one dear friend in the UK whose symphonies span from 1989 to recently. One can hear the gradual maturing of his style and eclecticism in subjects he chooses to write about. If one listens carefully, one can hear his entire life in his works.
As of the writing this blog post (June 2018), I have written 18 works from 2011 to 2018 that I have classified a 'Symphony', totaling over 10 hours of music. Each one contains a different world of its own. There are two sub-categories that I file these works into: Private and Public. Private symphonies were written for my own practice/enjoyment and public symphonies were intended to be heard by other people.
With most of them being written for my own enjoyment, they have not been performed live or heard by other people. One of them, a work called 'The Bridges of Dallas', was commissioned and is set to be premièred on June 24, 2018 by the New Texas Symphony Orchestra.
So let's look at each of these worlds I have created.
How NOT To Write a Symphony (2011)
This piece was completed in April 2011 and totals about 26 minutes. It was a exercise in classical period form and orchestration, but as the title suggests I was not satisfied with the outcome (except the 4th movement) and was renamed it from 'Symphony in D Major' to make an example of it.
Excerpt from the fourth movement.
Tragic Symphony in B Minor (2011)
This work, which dates from the same month as the work above, was written under the influence of the late romantic masters. Here I experimented with a slightly larger orchestra and a more romantic harmonic language. It is called 'Tragic', mostly because of the first movement.
Excerpt from the first movement
Excerpt from the second movement
Symphony in G Major 'Classical' (2011)
During June through August 2011, I decided to try my hand again at another classical symphony. This time around, I wasn't focused on strict form and orchestration (for example, I include three trombones in this work), but trying my hand at developing new and unique idioms and uses of limited resources while still looking back to the old times.
