Colorful, Inspirational
Orchestral Music

Inspiration can come from anywhere… love, hate, fear, a visa bill… The mystery of inspiration is timeless. When an artist is hit with it that is where the magic begins.

Although it is difficult for a composer to get one of their orchestral compositions performed by a symphony or chamber orchestra, it is still worthwhile persisting. The power, color and contrast in sound that is available from a modern day orchestra make the orchestral debut or world orchestral premiere of a composer’s work a milestone experience.

A list of top-notch orchestral composers would be exhaustive, but here are some of the top composers in this genre:

• Haydn

• Mozart

• Beethoven

• Schubert

• Schumann

• Mendelssohn

• Brahms

• Berlioz

• Bruckner

• Sibelius

• Tchaikovsky

• Mahler

• Shostakovich

There are others from all eras including C.P.E. Bach, Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky… the list is huge. Well, if that many composers felt strongly about orchestral, and especially symphonic material, it is impossible to dismiss writing for this massive force.

There are practical pros and cons in pursuing orchestral compositions. Here are the pros:

• Gained knowledge of individual instruments.

• Gained knowledge of orchestration.

• Increased opportunities in meeting new contacts and musicians.

• Increased opportunities of gaining a commissioned work, with the potential of monetary gain through private or government grants.

• Fairly decent royalty benefits per performance, depending on the orchestra and the concert attendance.

Here are the dreaded cons:

• Time consuming composing due to the complexities of composing for a large number of instruments.

• Limited amount of repeat performances.

• Increased chance of a less than average performance, depending on the difficulty of your composed work.

With respect to the last bullet point, amateur and/or semi-professional orchestras often request newly composed orchestral works. This is a mixed blessing in that an ambitious composer is actually getting a performance, but it is often under rehearsed, or too difficult for the quality and experience of the players involved. To remedy this, I would suggest presenting these types of orchestras with slightly easier material.

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