Piano then Orchestra Again

[M G Jacobs (mgj32)]

The scherzo movement of this symphony, like the finale Allegro, began as a piano piece. It is called "The Echos" for a reason. Most of the themes take Scottish folk songs as starting points, though the songs probably are no longer identifiable.

In the orchestral version, which will follow in a few days, the themes are used pretty much whole. There are two additional themes there, and one theme here, in the piano piece, didn't get into the symphonic movement. That is the more lyrical middle theme, and the reason I didn't use it is that I am plagued by a sense of familiarity, yet I can't identify the source. Hence, I am afraid I am duplicating someone else's work. A bad situation, this, because if I can't identify it, then I can use it, but I might have to go through all music I've heard in the last half century to identify it. So it will remain in limbo, I suspect, though I like it very much and see a place for it in the triple concerto for soprano, tenor and bass on quatrains from the Rubaiyat, that I'm about to start work on.

If anyone can place anything like the middle theme (with the left hand cross-over accompaniment), I'd sure love to know about it.

<center><table border=1><tr><td>http://www.notation.com/discus/icons/attachment_icon.gifEchos
The Echos MIDI.mid (http://www.notation.com/discus/messages/35939/The_Echos_MIDI-28050.mid) (28.2 k)</td></tr></table></center>

[M G Jacobs (mgj32)]

This is either the second or third movement, which makes the Largo either the second or third movement. I guess I will decide after I finish the first movement, which has a lot of re-working ahead.

The problem I saw with this movement was that the binary A and B themes were repeated many times. In order to get around this, I made some cuts, and relied on instrumentation and changes in the overall sound by working with the accompaniment. There are no repetitions where exactly the instruments are the same, but more important is, I hope, the frequent use of counter-melodies in the accompaniment, mostly in the background, as it were, but at times coming forward--to the point that one of these melodies vies with the main theme, near the end.

Whether the seond or third movement, this is marked "Spirited."

<center><table border=1><tr><td>http://www.notation.com/discus/icons/attachment_icon.gifspirited
3 Energetic MID.mid (http://www.notation.com/discus/messages/35939/3_Energetic_MID-28052.mid) (140.2 k)</td></tr></table></center>