Op. 14 - Symphony No. 1 in D Minor "Pandemic"
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- čas přidán 22. 07. 2024
- Score video uploaded due to the unreliability of playback of MuseScore.com.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00:00 | I. Vivace "Outbreak" -
0:15:40 | II. Lento e isolato "Lockdown"
0:26:45 | III. Scherzo: Allegrissimo "Restart Plan"
0:35:34 | IV. Tema con variazioni "Variants of Concern" - Theme
0:36:35 | Var. I
0:37:56 | Var. II - Fuga a11 "Beta"
0:40:19 | Var. III - Marcia funebre "Gamma"
0:41:52 | Var. IV - Marcia militare "Alpha"
0:44:34 | Var. V - Corale d'ottoni "Epsilon"
0:45:50 | Var. VI - Cantabile "Eta"
0:46:43 | Var. VII - Pesante "Delta"
0:48:30 | V. Vivace "Vaccine"
1:07:33 | Finale
Camilo Aybar - Symphony No. 1 in D Minor "Pandemic"
Published 2021-12-05
"Performed" by MuseSounds
This is my most substantial and ambitious work yet. It is undoubtedly my most emotional as well, a piece of wide scope which captures the entirety of the COVID-19 global pandemic from start to finish.
I began the symphony on 17 March 2020, the day the Victoria Conservatory of Music announced indefinite closures due to a provincial state of emergency being declared. I was dumbstruck and had begun to realize the severity of the situation, having heard on the news of a highly transmissible virus wreaking havoc on Wuhan, China. To express my disappointment and uneasiness about the future, as I was looking forward to participating in the local music festival, I began composing what is now the “Lockdown” movement of the symphony.
At first, I was only planning to make this work a short overture, and I doubted if I would actually publish it, and instead save the material for a future composition. I was in this mindframe because I was completely unaware of how significant of a mark the pandemic would make in history, as I figured it would end and lose relevance a few months later. This optimism disintegrated as the weeks spent in absolute boredom and isolation turned into months. The days felt as though they were merging into each other, as no distinction could be made from “yesterday” to “today”, and “tomorrow”. Such terms became utterly irrelevant, and I would never have thought that having zero commitments, zero activities, and zero work would be so draining.
In May of 2020, I realized that this pandemic would not be over for a long time, and that it would have a profound impact on all 7 billion lives of the world, including my own, for years to come. I did not wish for my teenagehood, what some would call the start of our “prime years” to be squandered. Subsequently, I set out to find a purpose during the pandemic, and turn my little overture into an entire five-movement symphony, each one representing a stage of the pandemic.
After all, a significant historical event of this scale should have an orchestral work of similar magnitude to accompany it, and I decided to undertake such an endeavour.
View the program notes for the symphony here:
www.aybar.ca/music/op/14/notes
If you would like a PDF including usable indivudual parts, please email camilo@aybar.ca stating your intentions. - Hudba
I’d compare you to Mahler but I like this more than I like anything Mahler ever wrote. I’m getting into composition myself so I will study this. This is art. It conveys the panic of the beginning of one of the most traumatic events in our younger generations’ lives.
Como médico veterinario-que no dejó de atender emergencias animales e incluso humanas ocasionales-en plena pandemia,sólo Die Musik me conservó la cordura,gracias Camilo,una obra que merece ya una versión en vivo,el Finale es glorioso,la verdad quiero más obras así,apasionadas y que dan un sentido condenado Bueno a la Humanidad en este Lost BluePlanet en medio de la nada cósmica,super abrazo desde Argentina!!
holy shit, i would love to see this performed live one day! this sounds fantastic, and im only in the first couple minutes. this will be the first symphony i listen through all the way, and i cannot wait to hear the rest
edit: finished it, was an amazing experience, would also wish to play it one day. i felt a lot of emotions while listening, definitely shed a couple tears.
I am honoured to have written the first symphony you listen all the way, especially considering its length, and all of the competition I would have from the romantic era (Brahms, Dvořák, Mahler!), and the fact you shed tears, something that only happens to me when listening to the most profound works.
This is actually amazing. Needs more appreciation, I hereby call on every person who has seen this video to give this video a like, that way more people will see this amazing symphony!
Cathartic. Wonderful. Refreshing. Relevant. Genius and unpretentious. Masterful.
This feels very much like Mahler, but at the same time contemporary like Joe Hisaishi. Beautiful motifs and brilliant orchestration.
Just listened to the entire thing and this is wonderful. I really admire the hard work and dedication that obviously went into this work. I hope to see it performed live someday. Please continue composing :)
The entire symphony is amazing, but I'm especially hooked on the scherzo! The entire reasoning behind everything is so beautiful, and the entire movement has an underlying sense of comedy to it. I really enjoy it!
Yes, it was one of my most exciting and fun movements to write, thank you!
This was an amazing symphony. I usually don't listen to modern symphonies on youtube, but I decided to listen to this whole symphony, and I think that this whole symphony NEEDS to be premiered by an actual orchestra. The theme and variations in the fourth movement was personally my favourite movement in this work. This definitely gives me Mahler vibes, which is great. This is easily one of the best 21st century classical pieces of music I have ever heard. Bravo! I'll check out some of your other music as well.
Seems many of us have had significant life changes during the pandemic. It spurred me to begin composing. The sound world of this music feels both to be late romantic but perhaps also it owes to some film composers perhaps? I like the control and restraint you use in the orchestration, the contrapuntal movement is very free and quite accomplished. I like that you change textures in the orchestration very frequently. It's curious the opening movement which is a waltz should be marked vivace. The 2nd movement starts well too. I'm unable to listen to all of this in one sitting, but It's pretty impressive because you have easily recognizable themes, well-developed and orchestrated and so far it doesn't drag or appear unneccesarily bloated. Usually young composers are not good at filling out content. Strong start. Impressive work. I hope to return to it to complete my listening.
I am glad you've been enjoying it! Yes, my inspiration does come from both late romantic and soundtrack music. I am actually surprised you mention my orchestration as being "restrained", as I thought I was going too over the top right from the start with the first cymbal crash, but I am glad to hear I haven't overdone it. I do suppose the first movement could be felt in one. I may change the tempo markings in future revisions.
You must be a great admirer of Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis.
Me too ;) Fantastic Symphony! Congratulations for this amazing work! I can imagine your feelings during the pandemic; it was the same for many Composers like us, but this work shows perfectly your feelings during that bad period! here there is one more fan!
Thank you for your kind words! Yes, music composition was a lifeline for me during the pandemic, especially without any musical performances to look forward to then.
Congratulations! This is brilliant work! I am astounded. Please keep on composing for the sake of music. I am definitely subscribing to your channel.
Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed! You can expect a short orchestral work and chamber work coming this month, and my second symphony early next year!
I love this, very exciting!
Glad you enjoyed!
i just loved it am also from 2005 and it kinda made me sad but in a good way since now i know that there will be some new promising composers from this age i really have to try harder to be able to make something like this but i hopefully will get there one day but gives a lot off inspiration keep it up :)
I'm glad that this symphony has brought you some inspiration! Composing a work of this scope was definitely not easy, and what helped me was not trying feeling discouraged from making even the smallest progress on the work, chipping away at even maybe just a bar per day.
wow... wtf... this is amazing...
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.
I really enjoyed most of the symphony, the orchestration was great, nice themes and its clear that this took a lot of hard work and effort to compose, I would like to share some tips for future compositions of yours.
The Piccolo part is almost impossible to play if not impossible, on the piccolo high notes and large jumps can be VERY difficult, a good friend of mine is a Piccolo player and I've written a concert for her to play with a concert band before so that's where my experience with Piccolo writing comes from.
Another note I have is that sometimes when you have many instruments in the same register they can sound like they are fighting for that register and it can sometimes result in uncertain passages, that is if the instruments have different melodies. Somrtimes in your work it doesn't bother me but sometimes it bothered me a little bit, I did that a lot in my first symphony and it bothered me quite much.
I also have to point out that on every instrument playing quietly in a high register can be very difficult and can sound forced during a performance, it's often used in horror films because of this which may fit in some instances in your composition but I'm not sure about every instance.
The chord layering can also be a bit weird with many thirds in them, thirds are not bad necessarily but to many thirds in a chord can make the chord sound muddy and take away from its sound. To also prevent some muddy passages I would recommend to have more space between chord notes the lower register you are in and the louder the music is, the same goes for the upper register, especially after the high C to not have notes close together because then its very easy to sound out of tune.
To everything I'm saying there are exceptions and you did a splendid job with this symphony, I hope these tips help you with future compositions. Keep composing and congratulations with this enormous composition! :)
Really interesting tips and largely good advice that I will consider myself when writing, though I'm not sure about the thirds thing you are talking about. Perfect thirds are luminous and resonant, not muddy. I think if you stack enough 3rds you end up at a 9th or 11th chord which is going to then become congested. But then any large cluster chord is going to sound that way. That might be desired at given moments, particularly in contemporary music. I only listened in entirety to the 1st two movements of this so I can't really say much beyond that. I think there is great value in what you say about spacing avoiding the same octave in fully orchestrated passages gives a more 3 dimensional sound. While as you say it's important to consider if leaps in register for a given instrument are playable or not...I would make a distinction between register and octave..let's not confuse them when it comes to spacing instruments from different groups of the orchestra...it is the octave spacing that creates that broad spectrum of sound that resonates...too much played in the same octave range does make things muddy and flat. This is very true with string quartets where you have only string textures...you create color in part by spanning several octaves. However, there are exposed situations where you may want instruments to blend then using the same octave makes them blend better. So it's really a matter of context..there are no hard fast rules.
Well, that surely is an impressive achievement, and it's hard for me to fathom that it's the work of a 15 or 16 years old teenager when I see that you're born in 2005 and wrote the symphony in 2000 and 2001. It's not only full with good ideas, you're also already impressively capable of working them out to a convincing dramaturgy, carried by an already high level of harmonic, contrapuntal and orchestrating skills. There is nothing cringy in it like there is in most of the symphonic tryouts of other beginning composers of your age. The feeling is that I'm listening to the music of a skilled film composer.
Of course, the musical language is not your own yet, it's mainly pastiche, which is not bad, that's the way most of composers have learned. But, unfortunately, it means that there most likely wount be opportunities to get the work performed in a professional setting. But you're really showing fantasy and craftsmenship, and if you continue to improve your writing and sharpen your own voice you surely can find your way in the music world.
Just some examples: The main theme of the first movement is too similar to the Russian national anthem to be seen as your own invention.
You're relying a little too much in the regularity of 4 or 8 bar phrases. Your music gets more unforeseeable when you manage to free yourself to some extend from the thinking in too classical theme structures.
And, following the score, I recognized that there is a need to become more careful with the use of enharmonically correct sharps and flats to enhance the logic of harmonic progressions in the score.
But these observations and recommendations should not be understood as discouraging or over the top critical. I see your talent and your ability to really convey musical excitement and story telling. Keep on! I wish you all the best and am looking forward to making acquaintance with new works of yours in the future.
Thank you for all of your kind and eloquent words. I will be exploring more of my own unique voice, beyond an imitation of the Late Romantic era in my second symphony, which will include more irregular phrases. Yes, I have had mentions of the "outbreak" theme being similar to the Russian national anthem. I am curious to what degree you feel derivate themes (intentional or unintentional) can be passed off as an original idea? For example, the first theme of Mahler's third symphony (used both in the first and last movements) is extremely similar to that of the theme used in the finale of Brahms' first symphony, however it is developed in Mahler's own unique voice, and is completely strays from Brahms. Are you suggesting, that until I develop a more original voice, that I should refrain from using derivate themes, or that I should avoid them altogether? Yes, looking at the score today I do cringe at some of the blatantly wrong enharmonic spellings I wrote back then, but I've been too preoccupied with my next symphony to go back and correct them yet.
HOW DO YOU HAVE 53 SUBS you need millions you are so underrated
Great symphony!
Thank you for such kind words! Yes, I hope that an upcoming documentary by a local producer who discovered this symphony online would eventually bring it more publicity.
love this so much! it has the vibes of madoka magica ost, esp of rebellion. I suggest u hear "sth is wrong" and "Symposium Magarum". The vibes r so heavy i wouldnt be surprised if u get inspiration from these tracks. Wonderful!
Thank you! I will check those pieces out.
nice
Thank you!
Mahler called.. they want their symphony back
Haha! It's always an honour to be compared to der meister Mahler :)
Good😊
in the variations, var II the fuga the 1st answer comes in only a 3rd higher than the subject, should be a 5th. tonic to dominant. It's nice contrapuntal writing but not a fugue as far as I can see.
Thank you for your note. I think I made some enharmonic spelling errors and used the wrong key signature, as the subject was meant to be heard as being in E-flat minor (since there is a D-natural leading tone in m. 111) and the response is in B-flat minor, though the first note is altered to be in a different inversion of the key. While it is the dominant, I am not sure if it is acceptable for the entry notes to be a third apart in this instance, even if they are technically in the keys that are supposed to be a fifth apart?
@@camiloaybar Not sure I understand about the D natural, the only natural in E flat minor is F. It's a small matter really. I hope to return to the rest of your symphony and continue listening. Keep up the good work.
Very talented. More great things to come from you. But none of us should whine about the pandemic. You're alive and apparently healthy. Except for those poor sick and dead millions and those directly affected by their losses, who deserve our sympathy, the rest of us should stop complaining about inconveniences and delayed plans. Life is hard, but being kept from school or friends for a while is nothing; especially when we still have technology to keep us close.
That note you left for strings to switch to pizz. isn’t needed, there was time. In fact, for example, Beethoven’s 9th 2nd movement (around the 3 bar phrase section) has nearly impossible switches to pizz, if you listen it’s pretty effective as is, even though it is small challenge. You must know an awesome Oboist! Great piece overall I loved the fugue at the end of the first movement and the scherzo was a fun listen. Have you had anyone look at the orchestration? you a few quite interesting choices.
Thank you for your comment! Yes, as I have studying more orchestral works online, I can see that my switches do not always need to be staggered, but I thought I would do this one nice thing for the strings, since I already do not go easy with them writing in such stratospheric ranges. Thank you for your kind words, and no, I have not had anyone look at the orchestration yet (my only training comes from studying scores online), so if have any suggestions, let me know.
@@camiloaybarlet’s exchange emails.
PLZ TELL ME YOU ARE GETTING THIS PREMIERED
I wish I could tell you that! The Boulder Symphony (Colorado) was going to premiere it as a part of their 2022/23 season, but then they had a change of board members, who were more stuffy and wanted to "put the pandemic behind them." But I am still hopeful that someone else will eventually pick it up. You can view updates here: www.aybar.ca/performances/upcoming/op14
You were…15…then?
I don’t want to live anymore (x
I loved this symphony and to be honest it's really impressive that someone who's even younger than me is composing like the greatest composers. I would love to see it being premiered by a professional orchestra and it surely will, it's just a matter of time. Good job!