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Symphonic Music
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Symphony No.4 "For the Soul" contains five movements, subtitled The Race Before Us, Of Times and Seasons, Hope and a Future, Sacrifice, and In Golden Light. Recorded by the Czech Republic's Janacek Philharmonic, all 5 movements are now part of the broadcast libraries of leading classical radio stations from Los Angeles to New York and around the world. The entire symphony or individual movements have been streamed over 6,000 times, broadcast over 400 times, included on several Spotify playlists as well as an "Ultimate Playlist," and reached either the winners' circle or finalist designation for The American Prize.
Symphony No.3 "The Four Winds" was chosen for a premiere by the University of California at Irvine Symphony. The four-movement piece portrays the power of the Creator over the vast forces of nature, with a language derived from American symphonic masters, film composers, and contemporary song. Individual movements were also named finalists for The American Prize, and each has been premiered separately in various forms by a number of organizations including the Bellflower Symphony, the ECLA Chamber Orchestra, and Chicago's American Wind Band. The following links connect to excerpts:
I. The Dawn Wind (also at IMSLP)
II. The Island Wind (aka Santa Cruz Island)
III. The Free Wind (virtual recording)
Symphony No.2 (subtitled "Freedom Crossing") is scored for symphonic wind ensemble, and was written for and premiered by Chicago's American Wind Band. In one continuous movement and drawing upon fragments of an American spiritual, it expresses a longing for freedom.
Symphony No.1 includes vocalists, and uses texts from the Book of Revelation. Cast in an abstract, nontonal idiom, its three movements depict cataclysmic scenes and eventual triumph. The score is located in the USC Library (type "Mumford").
Other orchestral works include several published Fantasias (available at Sheet Music Plus) on African-American melodies, whose premieres included members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Sinfonietta, premiered by members of the USC Symphony and included on the CD From Everlasting to Everlasting (recording below); Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra, written for Bravo! L.A. and premiered by the Vanguard Chamber Orchestra; lighter orchestral overtures including A Western Christmas, premiered by both the Carson City Symphony and the Vanguard Symphony; and arrangements for orchestras at large Los Angeles-area churches.
Symphonic wind ensemble pieces include Just For Today, premiered by the Elyria (greater Cleveland) Symphonic Band; Divine Mystery, premiered by the Warner Pacific (Portland) Symphonic Band; Range of Light, a portrait of the Sierra Nevada, premiered by the American Wind Band; and Set Free, also premiered by the American Wind Band.
