Scenes From a Castle

Chamber orchestra
10 minutes
2021

I was reading Hamlet while I was writing this piece, and I liked the thought of an entire narrative taking place within a single setting, in Hamlet's case; a castle. Every musical idea in the piece grew out of the five note motive representing the castle introduced by the strings in the opening. This fragment arose into many sections of the piece, most notably as a full melody representing the daily happenings within the castle, both upstairs and downstairs.

The second motive, introduced by a clarinet solo, represents the conflict and intrigue within the castle. Listen for the hero's motive in the middle of the piece found in a trumpet solo accompanied by undulating eighth notes in the woodwinds and inner strings. After our hero has their moment, the scene shifts to the exterior of the castle where, for a brief minute, nature can take centre stage in the form of a birdsong duet featuring the clarinet and oboe. After this reprieve, the scene shifts back to the events within the castle walls, where the original melody returns building towards the conclusion of the piece; a final statement of the castle theme in the form of a grande orchestral tutti.