Finally, I've completed my second symphony.
The first movement in A minor envisions a sailing ship racing gracefully and purposefully over initially calm seas in the first lengthy section. After a short energy-charged introductory passage in the strings, the first theme is introduced by the oboe, then repeated with a fuller treatment from the orchestra. The second theme answers, and is followed by a new theme on trombone, which is in turn answered by the orchestra. What begins as a restatement of the movement's opening is interrupted by a crescendoing roll on timpani, and the ship is buffeted and tossed cruelly by a sudden and raging storm, signified by discord and jagged variations on preceding themes depicting high winds and crashing waves. The storm eventually subsides and the ship reels and rallies before continuing resolutely on its way with recapitulation of earlier themes. The movement ends as it started, driving forward on the strings.
The second movement, in C major, opens with arpeggios in the strings and introduces the first theme. Eventually, it arrives and pauses on an A minor chord, whereupon a short descending passage leads into gentle variations of the original theme in the relative minor key on woodwind and brass underpinned by much reduced strings. This gentle passage is disrupted by the sudden introduction of a new plaintiff theme carried by the brass. The gentler ways of the woodwind return only to be interrupted again by the brass. The woodwind re-invokes the first theme, returning to C major and restating the movement's initial development until the A minor chord once more leads into the descending theme and introduces different variations in the woodwind and horns. Once more, the brass interrupts with it plaintiff theme, this time with impatience and more insistence, with a short passage using everything except the strings followed by the plaintiff theme once more. The woodwind slows the pace for the coda which reintroduces the first theme in C major and brings the movement to a gentle close.
The third movement in A major, an orchestrated version of my earlier piano piece Machinations, is a scherzo with playful themes and crashing discords. The main theme reasserts itself throughout the piece while other motifs try their best to subvert it. A not-quite ostinato bass motif runs throughout the movement, mostly in the bassoons.
The fourth movement opens in D major, and two themes alternate. The first is based largely in strings and brass, the second in strings and woodwind. The first occurrence of the second ends by modulating to D minor which the returning first theme retains and goes through a series of tense, textural variations. A short section restores the major key before the second theme steps in once more. A lengthy section based on a repeated fragment of the first theme crescendos to reintroduce a full-blooded restatement of the first theme followed by the second. The crescendo repeats but this time introduces a frenzied coda based on the first theme and with every instrument in play. The movement, and the symphony, ends in a final, ear-splitting crescendo.
| 1st Movement | SCORE | PLAY |
| 2nd Movement | SCORE | PLAY |
| 3rd Movement | SCORE | PLAY |
| 4th Movement | SCORE | PLAY |
