Welcome back! After so many months composing and then recording my third symphony, it was wonderful when last Friday finally brought the release of the album. Parma/Navona Recordings has a page about my album (click or tap HERE ) with links to all the streaming services that have it (including YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music and more). It also has complete program notes, biographies, etc. Amazon still sells the physical CD too, HERE, for those who prefer one – a lot of cars still have CD players – and the CD has a nice 12-page booklet with photos tucked inside the front cover.

The distributor had told my A&R Rep that a respectable number of people had pre-ordered it, at least respectable for classical. As you know, with apologies, I had shamelessly begged everyone I knew to pre-order it, in order to try to make a Billboard-chart premiere, like we managed with my The Sea Knows album at no. 1.  But when the chart for the release date week came out yesterday, no such luck this time! Wasn’t meant to be. But to have so many friends who tried to make that happen honestly feels just as meaningful to me. I am still so very grateful and owe my immense thanks to all of you. Mainly, I hope you do enjoy the album, and keep spreading the word, if you do. We gave it a try.

Incidentally, it may be enlightening to hear a bit of the album that actually did make no. 1 in Traditional Classical this week, called “Sleep.” It consists of some simple piano chords slowly played over and over and over and over and over and over again (think “sleep”). You can hear it HERE. I think this is what is being referred to in THIS ARTICLE about how classical music is being “simplified”!  

Meanwhile, since my last entry here I have had the temerity to compose nearly three minutes of music for the “Swan” movement of a new, fourth, symphony. I confess I worried my first draft was (not too simple, but) a bit too cinematic. However, I think it ended up being as much like Puccini as like a Romantic-style film composer such as John Barry (Out of Africa, Somewhere in Time). Both of them are tuneful and emotional. And John Barry did write some film-score melodies that could just as well have been used in a classical symphony, in the vein of a Rachmaninoff-ish style.

Genre (whether classical or film) sometimes ends up being less about the style of the theme than about what you do with the theme. If it is developed along with a couple of other themes and tells a musical story over a long, uninterrupted symphonic movement, as this symphony will be, then it’s more typical of classical. If it is just stated primarily as a stand-alone tune during certain scenes when there is no talking or scene changes to interrupt, it is more typical of a film score. (Kindly forgive the sweeping generalizations.) What matters to most listeners in both cases is simply whether the music is beautiful and their emotions are moved by it.

Below is my greatly revised version of the video (so listen again) that I posted on Facebook for a couple of days, but first, a short program note about it:

I. Dusk: The Swan. A lovely but mysterious white swan glides silently and gracefully across the enchanted lake, seeking the source of the sadly enchanted melody that seems to be coming from all directions. Perhaps he wonders if it could possibly be coming from his beloved, lost mate.

On to Hilltop news, I have always loved shellfish and decided to try to make “Linguine a la Vongole” (with clams). So, as usual, I watched several videos of trusted chefs making it. Linguine (often misspelled Linguini) noodles are not too wide but are flat, which is why the Italian word linguine means “little tongue.” I used the pasta brand I told you about last time, because Italians say that in Italy the real star of the show and the secret of great pasta should always be the pasta itself, which may be why they don’t use nearly as much sauce as Americans do, and they toss it all together rather than with a mound of sauce on top. Long story short, this dish turned out at least okay when first made, but less appealing as a leftover the next day. Probably won’t make it again. You win some, you lose some, just like in music.

Little hints of spring are coming to Hilltop! Some perennial bulbs have already sprouted their green leaves. On a rare warmer day I got the whole front of the house raked out and the shrubs all trimmed, and built up the earthen berm around the front porch to keep water out of the utility room that is directly underneath it. I trimmed the weeds between some stones on the back patio, but more remains to do in back. Just waiting for a few more warm, sunny days. And of course I’m already organizing and scanning a ton of 1099 forms (royalty and performance income) for our income tax preparer to use at this time of year. Nowadays, they have a site where you can upload everything as a PDF file.

Finally, I was invited by my book publisher, Ignatius Press, to contribute a chapter, which I did in a mere 3,700 words. It is for a new anthology they will be publishing on the arts, and I was happy to find that they liked my submission and will use it. The book might not be out till summer, I’m guessing, because they are also asking for contributions from painters, writers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, photographers, and more. Sounds like it will be an interestingly varied collection to read. They asked for title suggestions, so I suggested it be called Authors of Beauty. They were also nice enough to help advertise my new album, too! You can see their very cool “reel” with both the album and the book HERE.

Did you know that alligators can live up to a hundred years? That is why there is a good chance they’ll see ya’ later. So, while I may not live to 100, I do hope to see ya’ later here, too!