It is my pleasure to release my latest piano composition.  Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy.

Blue Waves

I am delighted to release this recent piano composition performed by the extremely talented pianist Arlette Ri. I am very grateful to Arlette whose instincts and glaring skill delivers a powerful yet sensitive and beautiful interpretation of the piece. She recorded the piece on her wonderful FAZIOLI Concert Piano.

I also have to thank Liz Dicker who connected me with Arlette. Liz has also released her own wonderful performance of the piece which can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/liz-dicker/winter-rain-by-christopher-larskin

Winter Rain was inspired by the delight one day of receiving winter rain here in Southern California. It typically only rains here in the winter, and even then, it can be a rare event. This winter rain was particularly sparse, so it was very welcome to see and hear the rain one day.

I hope you enjoy listening and thank you once again to Arlette!

CPJL

Winter Rain performed by Arlette Ri

When I was child growing up in the UK, I attempted to sing a fairly well known children's hymn "When a Knight Won His Spurs".  I say attempted, because I cannot sing in tune.  Needless-to-say, the melody, or at least my memory of that melody has stayed with me all these years and I felt inspired to try to capture that memory and childhood enthusiasm in this piece.

Hope you enjoy and thank you for listening.

Stories of Old - The Memory of a Childhood Hymn

This is part 2 of 3 of my Trumpet and Wind ensemble piece.  I had originally composed the work as a single section, but after the kind and wise advise of John Hopkins @john-hopkins-941786350 I composed this central section to hopefully bring contrast and balance to the work.  I especially enjoyed composing this music and hopefully that emanates when you listen.

As always, thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy.

Trumpet And Wind Ensemble - Part 2

This is the third and final part to the piece.

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy.

Trumpet And Wind Ensemble - Part 3

Hope you enjoy my latest piano piece.  Thank you for listening.

Now We're Here

I am very pleased after a relatively long break to release this new piano piece.  Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy.

Return To New Beginnings

This is a re-releasee of my work for Trumpet and Woodwind Ensemble.  In this version all parts are combined into a single track with brief pauses between each part.    I have reworked the audio on the whole piece as well.  Hopefully you enjoy listening.  Thank you.

Trumpet And Woodwind Ensemble - Complete Version Remastered

This is the first release of the original version of Evie's Song that I dedicate to my beautiful wife.

This version is a relatively simple piano piece that I developed and played on the piano.  From this music I composed a more complicated piano work that Liz Dicker (https://soundcloud.com/liz-dicker) so kindly performed.  You can hear that wonderful rendition by clicking this link https://soundcloud.com/liz-dicker/evie-by-christopher-larkins.

I also used this music as the main theme for the last movement of my 4th Symphony.  https://soundcloud.com/cpjl/larkins-symphony-no-4-movement-4

I hope you enjoy listening.

Evie's Song

A new piece for String Orchestra.  Thank you for listening and hope you enjoy.

For String Orchestra

Hope you enjoy this piano piece recorded on a Bosendorfer.

Now I Know

This is a new piece for string orchestra.  I would like to thank John Hopkins @john-hopkins-941786350 who very kindly productively challenged me regarding this work.  Hope you enjoy listening.  Thank you.

Never Forget

Here is my latest piano work.  Hope you enjoy listening.  Thank you.

Morgan Falls

I started writing this piece on 'Boxing Day' 2023, which in the UK (and other parts of the world too) is the day after Christmas.  Hope you enjoy and thank you for listening.

Boxing Day

Please enjoy this latest composition.  The picture is from an early morning walk looking back across the hilltops to where I live in Bell Canyon, CA.  Thank you for listening.

Horizons

Symphony No. 2, Movement 2

Note from Nov. 9, 2017: Flight was long in the making.  The basis of sections of this piece were originally composed on the piano almost 20 years ago and the opening chord is from 30 years ago!   I usually do not connect a specific part of my life to any of my music, but late one night while working on this piece and wondering what it was all about, I had an experience that revealed the music is perhaps unwittingly very autobiographical.  Flight is the first piece that I attempted to orchestrate with a full orchestra.  It lacks some of the technical refinement (listening to it again for the first time in a long time, I can hear the poorer quliaty more than ever) of later pieces (no MIR PRO for those who know).  Needless-to-say, it was a true labor of love, and is one of my proudest accomplishments in music.  From this work have spawned a few other pieces including my most popular; Farewell - An Adagio for Strings.   Amusingly, it has been my least liked and commented track as of writing, with only one comment.   Regardless, if you listen - and there is a lot to listen to - I hope there's something there that is worth your patience.  Thanks you as always.

Flight

Symphony No. 1, Movement 1

I did not know what to call this piece.  So, I kindly got some help from Franck Douvin and Mike Summerhays.   Thank you gentlemen.  Thank you so much for listening.

Reflecting Shade to Light

Open Field

Piece is for Piano and Chamber String Orchestra

Know Hope

Hope you enjoy the final movement of my 2nd Symphony.  Thank you for listening.

Symphony No. 2, Movement 4 - Finale

This is a new version of a piece that has had a long histroy and means a great deal to me too.  It is taken from a much longer orchestrated piece called Flight which is posted.  If any of my pieces are autobiographic Flight is that piece and, if it is about me, it is the journey of me growing up and coming to America only to discover that we can not run-away from our past.  The adagio section (which is just orchestrated for string orchestra in this version) represents the mourning of the untimely loss of my beautiful mum.  It occurred just as my first child had been born in the States.  I dedicate this work to her.

I would also like to share Mariza Costa-Cabral comment at 6:09 as I think she has described it the best "Beautiful. It seems to be a person overwhelmed with emotion, as when they lose one of their most beloved and important persons in life. Painful and poignant. Of course, it is impossible to represent this kind of pain without beauty, because the pain is all about the beauty and the precious value of what is lost. And it is in fact a piece filled with beauty."

Thank you again Mariza so much.  Your comment goes beyond music.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

P.S. Please let me know if anyone is interested in performing this work, the score is available.

Farewell Revisited - An Adagio for Strings (Score available)

This piece was conceived on the piano but is realized as a virtual performance with string quintet - 2 violin, viola, cello, double bass - and piano.

I have spent a lot of time reworking how I can use my virtual instruments, including allowing cross-fading between different articulations on the same note.  This piece is the first time I have used my "new" instruments (Solo strings only - still working slowly to convert the whole orchestra).   Perhaps you can hear much wider and more engaging use of articulations in this work compared to earlier ones?


Thanks you for listening and I hope you enjoy!

Nothing More - String Quintet with Piano

Thankfully its finally Friday and here's its Song. This is the penultimate song in the series of Songs of the Week. This is a relatively mellow and relaxing piece which I hope you enjoy. Thank you as always for listening and your comments are always appreciated.

Friday's Song

After taking a long break last summer and fall from composing, I started again in earnest at the end of the year.  Rather than rush a piece out, I decided to take time and really invest in a work.  This first movement of my 4th Symphony is the result - and other movements are well underway too.  I hope that the end result will be a Symphony that I can finally be proud of.  Time will tell.

During the development of this movement, I had the good fortune to receive the very generous and insightful guidance from the marvelous and rightfully accomplished composer John Hopkins @john-hopkins-941786350, particularly with regard to the movement's structure.
 
I am very thankful to John.  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the other people that have helped me along the way.  Starting with my wonderful twin sister Catherine who showed me how to start playing the piano.  My dear and kind friend Jonathon Chappell who wrote out my first score.  The wonderful person and composer Rob Wilsmore who gave me great encouragement. Nerissa Dando, the violaist who so kindly was first to play a piece of mine.  The violinist Claire Sharpe and the composer John Webb @webb-john who played my piano and violin piece, and also especially to Claire who introduced me to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.  It was watching the CBSO and Simon Rattle's face from student seats behind the orchestra that taught me so much about symphonic music.

From more recent years I will like to thank Tom Foley who gave me my first DAW software so I could finally start writing what I could not play.  Then I would very much like to thank all the SoundCloud community for their generous support and wonderful feedback.  I would particularly like to mention the very talented composer Joseph Haspel @joseph-haspel who has so generously performed a piano work of mine and has helped clean up several piano scores.  Finally, I would like to thank the superb composer Paul Max Edlin @paulmaxedlin who has given great advice and encouragement, has so generously worked on scores of mine and was planning to have a piece of mine performed until Covid19 came along.

Given that I have never studied music, nor was ever taught to play an instrument, I greatly appreciate  everyone who has helped and encouraged me along my musical journey. Thank you.

Finally, I would like to especially thank my amazing and beautiful wife, and my lovely sons and stepsons.

Hope you enjoy the work.  And as always, thank you so much for listening.

Be well.
Christopher

Larkins | Symphony No. 4, Movement 1

A LIVE PERFORMANCE !!!

It is with great pleasure that I make a joint release of this performance of Monday's Song by the very talented Liz Dicker @liz-dicker.

Monday's Song is one of the songs in the "Days of the Week" song series that I have released over the last few years.  Sadly, all those releases are of virtual performances.  This is my first live performance release.  

I feel that I have come along way improving my virtual piano performances over the last many years.  I have even very occasionally lulled an unsuspecting listener into thinking it was me playing (if only).  However, there is nothing like a live performance as most clearly demonstrated by this wonderful rendition of the work by Liz.
 
Liz's playing brings the piece to life!  She delivers subtleties and nuances that I could not even imagine.  So I would like to thank Liz again, this time publicly, for this generous gift and for all the delightful compositions and performances of her own that she has posted on soundcloud.  Please go take a listen https://soundcloud.com/liz-dicker.

As always, thank you for listening and hope you enjoy.

Be safe and stay or get healthy!
Christopher

Monday's Song

Monday's Song Performed By Elisabeth Dicker

It is with great pleasure that I release my second movement of my Fourth Symphony. As with the first movement, I have had the luxury of extra time during these troubling COVID months to invest in the music.

I am also very pleased that the whole Symphony is nearing completion. In total there are four movements totaling just over an hour. I plan to release the third movement on August 1st.   Here's a link to the first movement https://soundcloud.com/cpjl/larkins-symphony-no-4-movement-1

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking John Hopkins @john-hopkins-941786350 and Joseph Haspel @joseph-haspel for their feedback on this movement. Although most of the time I compose in a complete vacuum, I do find it helpful to get insight from others.

I also need to thank Philip aka "Classical Glass" @classicalglass-1. I accidently released as public rather than a private version of the third movement. He immediately commented on it before I deleted it. So, I decided to send him a note of explanation along with a private version of the movement. He very kindly and correctly pointed out that the balance was not right as the 1st violins and sometimes the brass were often drowning out too much in the louder sections. In listening to this movement, I realized that advice was apt and I adjusted the balance on this movement. So thank you Philip again, and it's funny how sometimes the path to help travels through inadvertent ways.



I do hope you enjoy listening. Thank you.

Larkins Symphony No. 4, Movement 2

It is with great pleasure that I release my penultimate movement of my Fourth Symphony.  I do hope you enjoy listening.

I would just like to thank again everyone that has helped me along my musical journey.  Also, a special thank you to John Hopkins @john-hopkins-941786350 who has helped provide guidance and feedback on the entire symphony.  Also, thanks to Philip, aka Classical Glass @classicalglass-1 for advice on the mix/balance of the work.

The picture is taken within my neighborhood with the intent of avoiding any housing, but perhaps surprisingly to many is only a mile from the edge of the City of Los Angeles, so its nowhere near as remote as it looks.  It was taken about a month after wildfire had raged through the area as part of the Woolsey fire in November 2018.   Very sadly many homes were destroyed in my community including my neighbors.  Fortunately no lives were lost in my community, by as a whole the fire destroy over 1,500 homes and tragically killed three people.  

Thank you in advance for listening and your comments are always appreciated.

Christopher

Larkins | Symphony No. 4, Movement 3

This track revisits an older piece that I posted  few years ago.  It is based on a midi recording of me trying to play the piano, but was heavily edited to cover up all the mistakes I tend to make.  I was never fully happy with the piece, even after the editing as the original sound quality, although full, perhaps had too much reverb that tended to lose some of the details.  

I have both edited the track at an individual note level as well as increasing the tempo in quite a few sections.  I have also experimented with a way of trying to give a greater spatial sense to the sound,  including the thought that the listener is also the player, or sitting right behind them.  

Any comments on the music itself or the sound production would be appreciated as always,  And as always, thank you for listening.

Behind a Cloud Revisited

Accompanied by a strange mix of relief and sadness, it is with great pleasure that I am finally letting go and releasing my fourth and final movement to my Symphony No. 4. 

It is also my pleasure to announce that Liz Dicker @Liz-Dicker is simultaneously  releasing her beautiful and moving performance of a piano piece I wrote based in part on this final movement.  If you would like to listen to it, please click on this link: https://soundcloud.com/liz-dicker/evie-by-christopher-larkins

I wish it was not the case, but as a result of COVID19, I have been able to invest more time into writing this Symphony than any prior composition. Thus, I think it is only fitting that I dedicate the whole work to the recognition of how much suffering people throughout the world has had to endure as a result of this terrible virus.  

Within the journey of this movement and the Symphony as a whole, there are numerous twists and turns, and just like life, it is far from all smooth sailing. I hope though, that you feel as I do, that there are many passages throughout the Symphony that celebrate life.  But to me, even though this last movement does lament what is lost, it is within the last few bars where the journey finally releases an unequivocal affirmation of the beauty and majesty of life.  

Whatever you glean from the work, I hope its was worth listening to.

The picture for this movement is taken from the exact same place that the picture for the 3rd movement was taken.   The 3rd movement's picture was taken shortly after my neighborhood had been ravaged by wildfire.  This picture was taken a few months later after we had rejuvenating winter rains in Southern California.  As you can see, the hillsides came rushing back to life.  Hopefully, the world will rejuvenate and recover very soon from the ravages of COVID.

As always, thank you for listening and do stay healthy.  
Christopher

Larkins | Symphony No. 4, Movement 4

This piece is based on a theme I wrote many years ago.   Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy.

Solitary Oaks

When I write music, I try to go on a journey to feel emotions, whatever they may be.  To me, music is a celebration of life; for all the pain and suffering we may endure, it is a gift to be alive. 

I hope music can take you on journeys of your own to places where you may want to be.  Thank you for listening.

 *** If you'd like To REPOST a Classical Music Track, submit it to Classical Music Repost: soundcloud.com/classical_music_repost ***

If anyone is interested in performing any of my works, please let me know.  I have scores available for some pieces and would gladly create the score for other works.

Christopher Larkins | Composer

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