Neptune (2010-12)
For Images and Large Orchestra
Neptune was originally written in Fall 2010. It came out of me wanting to write a film score for a movie concept I had come up with. Because of course the movie didn't actually exist, I had to create it as best I could. Something I was good at that proved to be helpful was creating pictures using Microsoft Paint. The first one I drew was of the Neptunian landscape, and then of a press conference, and from there the images, story, and score took off. Here's the plot I wrote for it:
A Russian astronomer (Vladimir Ivlonsky) and his American rocket-designer colleague (Ronald Grier)
discover the existence of life and a surface on the planet Neptune. They embark on a journey to
become the first humans to step on another planet, and they succeed.
Upon their arrival, the Neptunians show them around their colorful world. But suddenly the natives become
very hostile and banish the two scientists to the forest. After much contemplation, Ivlonsky realizes that the
Neptunians are under attack from an unknown adversary. Horrified, Ivlonsky and Grier watch from their
hiding place as these Hostile newcomers defeat the Neptunians in a terrible battle and then proceed to carry out
genocide against the survivors. Scared, Ivlonsky and Grier run for their lives, determined to make it back to
their ship which lies unattended on the beach. Before they make it, however, the Hostiles catch up with them
and shoot them down. And then, having nearly destroyed an entire planet, the Hostiles fly away into the sky in their
great Space Ships.
Once I had finished the piece, and written a sequel (called "Mars"), I let the whole project be for about a year. I would look at it every now and then, think about how I should do something with it, and then put it away again.
Then, one day in February 2012, I finally decided to reorchestrate it and make it printable. I stayed up all night just fixing the orchestration, before realizing that the development needed some major work too. It was at an LPO concert (Prokofiev Symphony 1 and Rach Piano Concerto 1) that I got my big idea for the Neptune Symphony: Images and Music. Paintings, drawings, computer-generated animations. Projected over the orchestra while they play the score.
At this point, you're probably wondering why this didn't occur to me earlier. In truth, it did, but it wasn't until that night that I thought of it as a collaboration. Before, I had assumed I would use my own art work in such a concert, but now I wanted to use other's interpretations of my work.
So I started messing with Neptune again. I was on a constant composer's high for about three days, working away furiously at my desk. It wasn't hard; I already had my four musical ideas, and I had just recently figured out what my teacher had been trying to get me to figure out for a whole year: development.
Here's a sample image from Neptune, drawn by myself:
A Russian astronomer (Vladimir Ivlonsky) and his American rocket-designer colleague (Ronald Grier)
discover the existence of life and a surface on the planet Neptune. They embark on a journey to
become the first humans to step on another planet, and they succeed.
Upon their arrival, the Neptunians show them around their colorful world. But suddenly the natives become
very hostile and banish the two scientists to the forest. After much contemplation, Ivlonsky realizes that the
Neptunians are under attack from an unknown adversary. Horrified, Ivlonsky and Grier watch from their
hiding place as these Hostile newcomers defeat the Neptunians in a terrible battle and then proceed to carry out
genocide against the survivors. Scared, Ivlonsky and Grier run for their lives, determined to make it back to
their ship which lies unattended on the beach. Before they make it, however, the Hostiles catch up with them
and shoot them down. And then, having nearly destroyed an entire planet, the Hostiles fly away into the sky in their
great Space Ships.
Once I had finished the piece, and written a sequel (called "Mars"), I let the whole project be for about a year. I would look at it every now and then, think about how I should do something with it, and then put it away again.
Then, one day in February 2012, I finally decided to reorchestrate it and make it printable. I stayed up all night just fixing the orchestration, before realizing that the development needed some major work too. It was at an LPO concert (Prokofiev Symphony 1 and Rach Piano Concerto 1) that I got my big idea for the Neptune Symphony: Images and Music. Paintings, drawings, computer-generated animations. Projected over the orchestra while they play the score.
At this point, you're probably wondering why this didn't occur to me earlier. In truth, it did, but it wasn't until that night that I thought of it as a collaboration. Before, I had assumed I would use my own art work in such a concert, but now I wanted to use other's interpretations of my work.
So I started messing with Neptune again. I was on a constant composer's high for about three days, working away furiously at my desk. It wasn't hard; I already had my four musical ideas, and I had just recently figured out what my teacher had been trying to get me to figure out for a whole year: development.
Here's a sample image from Neptune, drawn by myself:
This work has yet to be premiered, though it may be premiered by the New Orleans Volunteer Orchestra (NOVO) in their 2013-14 season.
Coming Soon:
Buy the full score of "Neptune"
Published by Kohler Music Publishing
For performance permission requests, contact my manager at: rob@kohlermusic.com
To request the score, contact my publisher at: kate@kohlermusic.com
Published by Kohler Music Publishing
For performance permission requests, contact my manager at: rob@kohlermusic.com
To request the score, contact my publisher at: kate@kohlermusic.com