works
Romance for Strings
for string orchestra
Duration: ca. 11'30"
This was the very first piece I ever wrote for a large ensemble (in 2002, contrary to the copyright date), and the earliest piece you can see on this website. While it is clearly a work by an even less mature composer than the one I am now, there are still some redeeming qualities to it, including a number of fairly strong melodic ideas and a number of interesting textural choices (not to mention the rather ironic title).
In terms of the piece itself, it is unusually programmatic. As a piece called "romance" might suggest, it starts with a rather touching theme on the solo violin, expanded into a warm orchestral treatment. However, the music quickly degenerates into a smorgasbord of violence, leaving the solo violin and its occasional companion, the solo cello, floating in a sea of uncertainty and relatively rapid textural shifts. After an extended middle section, the main melody returns, happy as a clam, only to be quickly reminded of the turmoil of before, into which the music again sinks. The piece ends after a piercing orchestral shout, with the solo violin holding a single high note, only a shadow of its former self.