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Symphony No. 1, "After Tchaikovsky"

2018

Symphony No. 1, "After Tchaikovsky"
00:00 / 07:02

Concert Band

Difficulty: Advanced

My first symphony for concert band is inspired by Prokofiev and his Classical Symphony, a symphony in the style of Haydn, his favorite composer, as if he were alive in Prokofiev's day. I've written a symphony somewhat in the style of Tchaikovsky, my favorite composer, as if he were alive in our modern era. In conceiving the music for this, I asked myself two questions:

What would Tchaikovsky have done with twenty-first century harmonic and rhythmic freedom?
How would Tchaikovsky have orchestrated his music differently in a modern musical setting, especially if he were faced with a large ensemble without strings?

The music itself is, by and large, original. There are three quotes from Tchaikovsky's symphonies throughout: one in the first movement (a direct quote of the main theme from the first movement of his Fourth Symphony, used as a transitionary idea) and two in the third (both from his Fifth Symphony, the first being an approximation of a transitionary theme in his fourth movement, and the last being a direct quote from the coda of the finale).

Overall, I tried to create a work that was rooted in Tchaikovsky's style and language, but updated with a modern twist and seen through the lens of my own personal style. As for the ending? Well, I just couldn't resist!

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