For more orchestral tracks please check out my full orchestral album here:
soundcloud.com/pianissimo/sets/orchestral-works-original

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Track Notes
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My goal with this track was to create a Hitchcock-esque retro thriller type of vibe. There are 4 particular things that are rather unique to this track as compared to my other orchestral works:

(1) This piece is a fair bit drier than most of the rest of my orchestral work as I preferred a strong sense of clarity over putting my listeners in a particularly reverberant space. The increased dryness I think adds to the immediacy of the sound and makes it feel therefore more menacing/threatening in a way. 
(2) I used quite a few non-traditional orchestral instruments (basset horn, cimbasso, etc) in unison parts in the track to create a rather unique sonic palette. 
(3) I use quite a few less common articulations (ricochets, marteles, rips, various trills) to add additional sonic interest and engagement.
(4) I added some intentional dissonance in spots to further lend to the creepy vibe. 

Hopefully my little experiment has been successful. Please put on a good pair of headphones and enjoy!

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Instruments:
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Brass: horn, tuba, bass trombone, cimbasso, euphonium
String: violin ensemble, viola ensemble, cello ensemble, double bass ensemble
Woodwinds: flute, piccolo, oboe, bass oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, basset horn, saxophone, contrabassoon
Percussion: timpani, marimba, xylophone, tom ensemble, bass drums, piano (used percussively)
Vocals: female choir, male choir

War of the Worlds

https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/product/our-duty-to-care-song-cycle-for-soprano-piano-trio

Our Duty to Care is a cross-disciplinary music composition based on the legal case Sharma v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560, where eight Australian teenagers (namely Anjali Sharma and Isolde Raj-Seppings, Ambrose Hayes, Tomas Arbizu, Bella Burgemeister, Laura Kirwan, Ava Princi & Luca Saunders) represented by an octogenarian nun (Sister Marie Brigid Arthur) as their litigation guardian, sued the Minister for the Environment (Cth) and Vickery Coal Pty Ltd.
They successfully argued that the Minister owed them and other Australian children a duty of care, which was supposedly breached when the Minister approved the extraction of coal from a coal mine.

Whilst this decision was later successfully appealed by the Minister, this case monumentally established that climate change is legally real – with all submitted scientific evidence un-refuted. This denotes a significant shift, as we are no longer fighting to prove our climate crisis, but rather urging all to fight the crisis itself.

This work sets newly commissioned text by poet, close friend & regular collaborator Savanna Wegman, who has re-interpreted my own legal research about the case into a 3-part poem, which has in turn structured the song cycle. It embodies climate anxiety, the nervous excitement of the trial and its success, and the melancholic yet hopeful transference of ideology: how far we’ve come & how far we still have left to go.
Composed as part of and made possible by a 2022/23 University of Melbourne Wattle Fellowship.

Timing: ~ 18 minutes 
1: Robed in Apocalypse (~6min)
2: they will rise, as birds fall (~5min)
3: The Changing Wilds (~7min)

Written for Bridgette Kelsey and Solstice Trio. Dedicated to all current and future generations of Australians who inherit a climate crisis. 

Bridgette Kelsey, soprano
SOLSTICE
Isabel Hede, violin (guest)
Stephanie Arnold, cello 
Georgina Lewis, piano

Commissioned Cover Art Illustration © by Lucinda McIntyre.

Commissioned Sext Text: ‘Prophecy, as a fire comes’ by Savanna Wegman © 2022 
Text used for 1: Robed in Apocalypse:
No more prophecy 
until the sky begets a softer 
Everlasting sun 
or
the youth unravel 
braided darkness
rushing innocence
all over Earth 

Shadows designed 
for our tired birth places
ghosting the new life 
upon babbling breaths  
 
And so the young are born 
New guardians 
Robed in 
Apocalypse

Text used for 2: they will rise, as birds fall:
Know they will rise
As disappearance is written  
on ancient weather 
become beast
She watches above 
as birds fall 
out of the mother sky 

March into the high courts 
of creators and destroyers
Anjali Sharma and the army 
                  Future keepers
Enter this laced arena 
burning horizons in their bellies 

The Minister surveys the gravity
how deep we may breathe
how quickly we will fall
when the Earth veins split 
and the sanctuary howls 
at its open flesh  

The weather sounds like a whisper 
in these walls that stand for justice 
Lay down a pocketful 
of bird bones
of poison oceans

Text used for 3: The Changing Wilds
They speak for the
forgotten
Their ancestral home-body
Their drowning, burning worlds
for their lands that have lost hope 
together their voices are louder
Becoming suns
Becoming rains 
Becoming rivers multiplied 
Becoming the skyward call 
of protection 

this call
Is honoured
the duty of care rewritten
A first for acknowledging
the changing wilds

Evidence now held
in palms that believe in
collapse
and might begin to
listen
Blessing the horror 
with a soft breath of courage 

Remember how
young sacred tears 
are greeting Earth 
like miracle seeds

Our Duty to Care (LIVE)(song cycle for soprano & piano trio)(2023)(Bridgette Kelsey & Solstice Trio)

Sonidos de Madrid Buscando Palabras is a sonic journey in the city.

Field recording taken in August 2023 at:
Reina Sofia Museum
Mercadillo de El Rastro
Centro de Arte Flamenco y Danza Española
Teatro Flamenco
Mercado San Miguel
Mercado Antonio Martin

Sonidos De Madrid Buscando Palabras

Till You Appeared

In the name of Peace.

Thanks once again to Voice Of Logan for providing music and inspiration.
Lyrics and Vocals MrMules.


War in the name of peace 

Freedom comes at a terrible price
Broadcast lies taking innocent lifes
Greedy men wage a proxy war
Check their bank account, watch the total soar.

War in the name of peace .

The Presidents men god fearin n’all.
Bible belt phonies united to the call.
Middle class America along for the ride
Now the whole fuckin planet is paying the price.

War in the name of peace 
War in the name of peace .

Men with no faces pullin the stings.
Black gold baby, d'you know what I mean?
Blow it sky high then build it again.
We have the technology we are your friends.... 

We are your friends
Yeah we are your friends
We are your friends.

Boots for bombs, it’s gotta be wrong.
The record’s stuck, playin the same old song.
Another lie hear the people cry.
Why walk the ground when drones can fly? 
When drones can fly
Why walk the ground when drones can fly? 

It's war in the name of peace .

Fake reasons change like the seasons.
Don’t doubt the word it might be treason.
Got your orders for the greater good.
Like a mirror image Robin Hood.

War in the name of peace 
War in the name of peace.

In The Name Of Peace. Collab with Voice Of Logan.

The colors of the autumn...when leaves start falling, scents arise from the ground, and colors appear like an expressive painting....that makes the autumn a beautiful time of the year.

Colorful Autumn

Copyright 2023 Brian James McDonald (ASCAP)
Copyright Hoon Toons Publishing (ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Alchemy

Aerial View

“Triumphant Crescendo” is an emotional and cinematic piece that blends orchestral grandeur with subtle electronic ambience. Built around swelling strings, deep brass layers, and evolving synth textures, it captures the feeling of victory born from struggle — majestic yet introspective. Perfect for film trailers, dramatic storytelling, emotional finales, or inspiring visuals that evoke strength and transformation.

Triumphant Crescendo

Silent Cities is the name given to the war cemetaries in France by Rudyard Kipling. Solo Horn and Solo Trombone combine with Symphonic Band to convey the tragedy of mans greatest failiure... War. This work is ideal for Remembrance  Church services (ingoing volentary) and remembrance concerts,  parades.  My tribute to the fallen.

Silent Cities For Wind Band

From the composer: Imagining a bouquet of roses as an expression of gratitude for a gift so divine it can't be put into words.

Alchemy

Brian J McDonald