Symphony-thoughts, symphony-fear, symphony-joy.......... Its coming closer.....

I´m learning more than I ever did about music these days. 

I’ve been very focused on writing my new piece for symphony orchestra and trio.

The distance from “wauw…. I’m really an amazing creative person….” to “oh my god…. I SUCK… everyone hates this….. this sounds SO dumb” is surprisingly short…

I can leave my desk to go downstairs for coffee, content and happy about the melodies I just wrote…. Only to realize, while pouring the black drops of joy that I have no idea how a bassoon really REALLY works and slowly I´ll begin to imagine a whole orchestra laughing at me….

Fortunately, I’ve found myself in this situation before…. As a matter of fact, is pretty much a given, that everytime I embark on something new, I feel like a rookie….. but a trill-seeking, adventure-craving, music-loving rookie…. 

And by the end of it, I have some really valuable experiences and lessons that enables me to pursue bigger dreams in the future. 

That being said, this is the biggest task I ever had as a musician. Writing 25 minutes for an orchestra + a trio AND feature as a soloist…. But what a joy it is to have this as my profession. 

These days we are revising all the music, and I am so fortunate to work it over with the musical magician Thomas Bryla. Thomas is one of the prime orchestrators of Danish and Scandinavian film music, and his experience is a unique trove of knowledge for me to tap into. It’s such a big help, and an honour to be working with him.

The hardest part is the beginning………

When I write music I need to have an emotional attachement to it. For this one I wanted to write a 3 piece suite for our world.

Part 1: 

“Fanfare for a broken world” 

I want to shine a light on the fact that we don’t really seem to be able to unite, even though we all have a common enemy. It’s not the first time, and in general, the differences among us people are very obvious. Some people have it all, and some have nothing….. I could write a book about my views on equality, but being an ultra privileged white male from Scandinavia somehow puts me in a delicate situation when I want to address the weights of the world…..

So it’s better if I keep my mouth closed and let my music speak for me…..

I wanted a fanfare to ring throughout the piece. In different colours. Like a lot of countries sharing the same national anthem, but every time we hear it, it reflects the state of its origin. 

These thoughts were my original idea. 

Musically I imagined a mix of “The Rite of Spring” and “Jurassic Park”…… I know…. It’s not very sophisticated…. But it’s music I always liked, and that’s what popped up, when I thought of a multifaceted fanfare. 

It was important that it deviated from diatonic melodies…. (Because that’s my go-to. My danish folk song heritage always takes me there). So at least I can start somewhere else, and just let the sweet diatonic melodies colour my fanfare. 

The fanfare developed, and to me, it sounds like a full planet of people crying OR singing the same song….. be it an anthem or requiem…. 

Part 2: 

“The last moon”  

Now it gets sad…. We fucked it all up… The unknown enemy got the best of us, and we are heading straight towards doom. Yet on this very night, we get together and enjoy each other’s differences and company.

Of course, that’s what turns out to save us in the end, and in the very ending of the piece, the light shines through…. 

There is darkness and sadness to this piece. It is born in chaos and moves slowly away from it. 

Part 3: 

“A new dawn” 

A second chance… a new beginning after all the chaos, all the war, all the fighting and the hatred. The air is clean and we are moving towards a united world. 

The music in this piece is partly inspired by a choir piece I did for a poem by Robert Browning called “now”.

“Out of your whole life give but one moment! 

All of your life that has gone before, 

All to come after it, – so you ignore, 

So you make perfect the present, – condense, 

In a rapture of rage, for perfection’s endowment, 

Thought and feeling and soul and sense – 

Merged in a moment which gives me at last 

You around me for once, you beneath me, above me – 

Me – sure that despite of time future, time past, – 

This tick of our life-time’s one moment you love me! 

How long such suspension may linger? Ah, Sweet – 

The moment eternal – just that and no more – 

When ecstasy’s utmost we clutch at the core 

While cheeks burn, arms open, eyes shut and lips meet! “

These days I’m waiting to get the music back from Thomas Bryla and start rehearsing it with the trio. I’m trying to learn it all by heart, and this is also quite a challenge…. But I´ll get there…… I think:) 

If you made it this far, you are my hero. 

THANK YOU!