Fantasie, opus 9 (2004)
INSTRUMENTATION: solo piano
A single-movement fantasia.
It was 2004, I was 16 and a student at the North Carolina Governor's School West for choral music, and had only been formally composing pieces for about two years when I created this work. I premiered the "Fantasie in D-flat major" (originally spelled "Fantaisie") before I'd even committed the last few pages to manuscript paper at my very first solo recital for a group of my fellow scholars. The very positive response from my peers encouraged me to continue a journey that has led me to today.
Steeped with the flavors of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Brahms (but before I knew any Scriabin or Ravel!), this was one of my first sincere attempts at finding my own voice and the longest single-movement composition I'd written. Today it is still one of my very favorite original works.
I dedicated the work to my mother, Angela McMillan Cousin.
Performed by the composer. Recorded at BCB Recording Studio in Greensboro, North Carolina. The score in the video is the handwritten original manuscript, from when I used to create all of my scores by hand. Nowadays I exclusively use Finale for everything but the roughest of drafts. The score will soon be available for distribution (in computer typeset)! Program notes: It was 2004, I was 16 and a student at the North Carolina Governor's School West for choral music, and had only been formally composing pieces for about two years when I created this work. I premiered the "Fantasie in D-flat major" (originally spelled "Fantaisie") before I'd even committed the last few pages to manuscript paper at my very first solo recital for a group of my fellow scholars. The very positive response from my peers encouraged me to continue a journey that has led me to today. Steeped with the flavors of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Brahms (but before I knew any Scriabin or Ravel!), this was one of my first sincere attempts at finding my own voice and the longest single-movement composition I'd written. Today it is still one of my very favorite original works. I dedicated the work to my mother, Angela McMillan Cousin. © 2015. All Rights Reserved. Don't steal my music, just ask me for permission if you'd like to use it. I'll probably say yes!