Symphony No. 2 "West"
I. DeclineAcknowledgments
I would like to thank Mrs. Dagmar Peňázová and Mr. Petr Peňáz for everything they helped me with to get this work to a level of depth that would not be possible without them.
Program note
Symphony No. 2 “West” is the largest work of mine lasting for well over two hours. The work is divided into seven movements and 14 parts in total (the third movement is in six parts, and the fourth movement is in three parts). The first two movements, movements five and six are purely orchestral, in the rest of the movements, a choir is also featured. The tonality of the piece is mainly A flat minor, going sometimes E flat major and E major.
This symphony (unlike many of my other works) took several months to finish. It required a lot of thought, not only compositional but also about the meaning behind the music. The work bears the name West, meaning the West on the map. I thought about the most remarkable achievements of Western Civilisation, its history and so much more. I have realized that there has been a significant and devastating decline in the culture, morale, religion and thinking in general. Of a strong man now only a weak child remains. Once you realize the tremendous loss the Western Civilization has suffered, you cannot unsee it and you have to think about it all the time.
I started working on the first movement of the symphony when I was thinking about this. This is why it is called Decline. The beginning quotes the introduction of the famous Organ Concerto by Francis Poulenc, a beautiful piece. Its first chord (originally G minor) has so much power when played on a strong organ. I had to imitate it in my piece. The movement opens with a bombastic Ab minor chord played by the brass. The movement also features a dissonant chromatic passage and a part for percussion only. It all together symbolizes the tragedy of a declining culture, of a dying civilization.
The second movement, Apocalypse, opens with a section based on early Schönberg chromaticism with an intensely chromatic solo for a string quartet. Right after this, hope comes with the main theme of the symphony, which interestingly appears here, in the second movement of the work rather than the first one (only one theme from the first movement is replayed in the finale). The main theme is then replayed in various instrument combinations. The main theme also is not in the main key of the symphony, it is in E major, the enharmonic major key of A flat minor. This is unstable and the A flat minor tonality returns.
The third and fourth movements are dedicated to my religion. It is meant to somehow capture the decline of religion in the modern age as well as my turn to God after years of denial. I have experienced a religious awakening while writing this work and I think music really helped during this time. The third movement features a prayer I wrote, with numerous corrections by Petr and Dagmar Peňázovi, in Latin:
Miserere mei, Domine, fidem meam debilitavi
Miserere mei, Domine,
fidem meam debilitavi,
lumen tuum non vidi,
nomen tuum non colui,
peccavi et in tentationem me dedi.
Miserere mei, Domine,
Pater caelestis,
Fili terrestris et aeterne Rex,
Spiritus sancte, amoris vinculum,
redde me ad lucem fidei
et fac me iterum audire vocem veritatis.
Miserere eorum, Domine,
qui lumen tuum non vident,
qui nomen tuum non colunt,
qui se cupiditatum voluptatibus tradunt.
Ipsi quoque misericordiam tuam merentur.
Miserere mei, Domine,
rex caelorum,
rex regum,
vinculum Patris et Filii,
creator omnium notorum et ignotorum.
Miserere mei, Domine.
Amen.
The prayer is sung in four parts. The first two are sung by the choir only, separated by an orchestral intermezzo. After another intermezzo, the remaining two verses are sung first by a soloist accompanied by the orchestra, then by the entire choir ending with a large sound. The mood of the Prayer changes drastically throughout the third movement.
The fourth movement features four psalms in total: De Profundis (no. 129), Confitebor Tibi, Domine, In Toto Corde Meo (no. 137) and a combination of two psalms (nos. 116 and 150) both called Laudate Dominum.
De Profundis was composed with a Ravelian spirit. The piece opens and closes with a dominant sound played by the entire orchestra with a modern French interlude in the middle.
Laudate Dominum is calmer than De Profundis and was composed second. The music gradually becomes lauder and the second Laudate Dominum is sung in a suspension of the entire orchestra holding one chord.
Confitebor Tibi, Domine, In Toto Corde Meo, was composed almost as the last part of the symphony. For a long time, I had a theme in my mind but did not know how to use it in this context. I later came up with a fanfare-like beginning, which opens and closes the piece. Right after this, an anthem-like theme begins the psalm first sung by the soloists, then by the entire choir. Other words of the psalm are sung by the choir and the soloists in a Richard Strauss fashion. The verses of the psalm are separated by large orchestral interludes, one of them almost romantic.
The fifth movement, Elegy, is a burial tune for Western Civilization. It opens with high strings holding a single chord the entire time with some warm and quiet brass on top. As the strings quiet down a solo viola enters with a tearful theme. As the viola repeats its theme, a call if you want, the strings cannot help but respond with an underlying harmony. To support the solo viola, violins double the theme. As the melody grows in power, suddenly the theme from the second movement is repeated in a much more epic scene. Bells start ringing, but the theme collapses and the orchestra quiets down. The solo viola reenters with its theme in a counterpoint with the brass melody (now also played by the winds) from the beginning, now only accompanied by the high strings.
Unending is the odd one out in the symphony. I contemplated whether to include it in the final work or not but I decided to leave it in. It is different than the rest, but then, most classical symphonies feature a movement that is very different from the rest (usually that is the third movement). It is in a more upbeat tempo compared to the rest of the symphony, which is rather slow.
Rise is the last movement. It does not feature much more new material, rather it takes from the other movements. The first melody of the piece comes from the first movement, then a more chromatic passage, inspired by the first half of the second movement. A gentle melody in the flutes then ends the first section of the movement. Then, a gradual rise of the whole orchestra to get to the finale and the final return of the main theme.