A Winter Rhapsody, opus 7 (2002-14, rev. 2021)

INSTRUMENTATION: solo piano, or piano and orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (b-flat), 2 bassoons, 2 horns in F, 2 (or 3) trumpets in B-flat, timp., 2 percussionists, strings (approx. 66442)

  1. Prelude

  2. Ambient Snowfall (Scenes of the Snow and Winter)

  3. Scherzo

  4. Tarantella

  5. Toccata

  6. Finale

A set of six works which exists in two version, one for solo piano (2014), and for piano and orchestra (2021). The 2014 version represents my first attempt at creating a true instrumental suite.

I began to write the work in 2002 at age 14, having only barely learned to notate music on paper, and with but a year of piano proficiency. Over the next eleven winters (and only in the winters) I continued to add to my composition, little by little, and as it grew more sophisticated, so too did my abilities as a composer and pianist. In this way, it is an intensely personal work. The warmth it contains – thoughts of family, memories of snowfall, and rich holiday experiences -- is contrasted by a great deal of fear, loneliness, and anxiety, sparked by the great ice storm that hit North Carolina in 2002. In its pages, the piece chronicles the progression of that ice storm, from the delicate snowfall to the dangerously glistening ice, the howling winds, the darkness, and the damage and devastation that they wrought. In a very literal since, however, the piece chronicles my life as a musician, even to the present day.

In 2021, Symphony d'Oro commissioned me to create a version of my piece for piano and orchestra, and this recording is the premiere performance of the work in its newest form.