“Symphony for Chamber Orchestra - 4th Movt: Finale” was completed in January 2025 in Fairview, TX. Performance time is about 10.5 minutes. Printed and electronic copies of the score and parts will be available soon from www.CreativeSpiritOnline.com.

About this recording:
The present virtual recording was produced using Finale 27.4.1 and the Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 virtual instrument library. Mastering was done by EMastered. For the best listening experience, high quality headphones are recommended. 

Instrumentation:
Flute. Oboe, Bb Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn in F, Trumpet in C, and Strings

Performance notes:
• Tempo, expression, and dynamic markings should be strictly observed.
• There is no key signature. Accidentals apply to the end of the measure or to the note or notes tied over the measure, and only to notes of the same pitch class, in the same octave.
• Hairpin pairs indicate a temporary volume change of one dynamic level.
• Passages marked fff or ppp indicate playing as loudly and as quietly as possible, respectively.
• Double-bass “C-extension” is required.

Contact information:
Robert John Brooks, Fairview, Texas USA
Email: robtjbrooks@yahoo.com
Web: www.CreativeSpiritOnline.com
Web: eMastered.com/profile/robtjbrooks

Engraving by the composer
Artwork by the composer
Copyright 2025

Symphony for Chamber Orchestra - 4th Movt: Finale

Our first attempt at a folk-rock epic. This was a lot of fun to write and record - it represents the warm front where our musical influences and what we individually bring to songwriting meet straight down the middle.
Influences for this one include: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Low, Fleetwood Mac, American Analog Set and others. Hope you enjoy! 🎸🎻🤘🏽

Eclipse

Take it easy!

only one track birdsinging uncut. 5 starlings on the rooftop imitating other birds fieldrecording...

now and then I thought to myself, since I don't like Starlink and environmental destruction like ozone layer destruction: how can so few people be so powerful and ignorant and take life-threatening risks and recklessly destroy the livelihoods of all people so carelessly and sustainably??? 

Every human being needs clean air to breathe, for example. We can't pretend we're not living beings and independent of a healthy environment.






sky full of starlink

RPR09_72

This tune began with just the upright bass (played on keyboard) & flute part (played with real flute), that were inspired by an old song that Mark liked a lot by an English Jazz trio called The Herbaliser.  Once he had it in progress, he asked me & Chris to see if we could contribute.

I added the trippy high pitch reverse guitar effect, and the bluesy lead guitar in the middle section (thus the title, Blue In The Middle). And Chris added some delightful atmospheric guitar and effects, as well as the Portishead influenced drum track. Mark was then inspired to add the background echo guitar sound in the middle section, and a bit of percussion and minor sound effects. 

Then Mark laid a really fine mix on it and I did the final mastering.  I'm glad Mark brought me in on this one, I really enjoy the ambience of it.

Blues in the Middle - w/ Mistermark and CGManess

Hey… Thanks for dropping by. As a young boy, around sixty years ago, I used to like to listen to old people as they rambled on with stories about their lives. I really enjoyed those stories. I am an old man now, and I tend to ramble on, as well. This song is about that…. as I wake up to a chilly autumn morning. I have been busy ‘buttoning things up’ for winter. Collecting seeds, preparing garden beds, raking leaves, moving stuff inside, winterizing my home, getting winter gear ready, and other such sundry tasks, some of which I had forgotten about, like filling a tub with gardening soil and compost for planting seeds next spring. So I put the tub right by my front door. Ha. I have mixed feelings about heading into another long mountain winter. Throw old age into the mix and boy, am I having fun. I have also been sitting outside quietly, as flocks of birds fly by. Some flocks temporarily stop here to rest and feed, before winging off. It is fascinating to watch the dynamics of the flocks and how different kinds of birds interact. There are high flying geese, cranes and ducks overhead as well. All those birds are vocal, and when I am outside working, I tend to whistle along with them. They don’t seem to mind. The relative harmonious balance of it all is so refreshing to watch. Although a robin, or two, in the mountain ash always seems to be chasing other robins away from the berry laden tree. There are more berries in that tree than all those robins could ever eat, and I watch as the chased away robins sneak back into the tree. Some older birds die here in the yard, as they are no longer up for the long migration ahead. Sad to see. I often find one or two of them, dead each year, huddled peacefully in the deep grass, or hidden elsewhere. It has also snowed several times here in October… Hope you’re doing well. Mark  

Autumnal Ramblings Of An Old Man

Story
Mananjary
In ancient times, when baobabs whispered secrets to the wind and the spirits of the Sambirano River still walked among the living, a sovereign named Ranavalona Voa reigned in Mananjary, known for her wisdom and her fear of omens.

One night of eclipse, two shooting stars streaked across the sky above the palace. At dawn, twins were born in a nearby village. But the elders, seeing the darkened sky and the two identical bodies, murmured: “Antananarivo trembles. Two births, two destinies. One will bring light, the other shadow.”

The queen, influenced by the oracles and by an ancestral prophecy that spoke of “two mirrors that would break the balance of the world,” decreed that all multiple births would be considered a bad omen. The twins were to be given to the sacred forest, where the spirits would decide their fate. Some were abandoned, others given to the rivers, and a few were hidden by their mothers in secret caves.

Over time, multiple births became rare. Women feared conceiving twins, and lullabies avoided mentioning duality. But deep in the Vohibola forest, it was said that the surviving twins had formed a secret community: the Zana-Mirindra, “children of balance.” They communicated with animals, healed with plants, and dreamed of the day the curse would be broken.

Many years later, a girl named Fara, a descendant of the hidden twins, found an ancient drum buried beneath a baobab tree. When she played it, the sky lit up with two moons. The current queen, seeing the phenomenon, understood that duality was not a curse, but a strength. She revoked the decree, and the twins once again walked Mananjary without fear.

🎶 Listen 💫 Share 💬 Comment ➕📃🎧 Add to your playlists... Because this journey is meaningless without you... Thank you for being here... J. Bilbao

Sonic Universe

Mananjary

snowflakes... memories...

Country Drive

This song was composed for piano by Hitoshi Yasui, chairhouse of Tokyo, who was generous in allowing me to arrange and record it for guitars. It is a song from his "Piano Ten Thousand Leaves" project. His mission “is to create gentle, calm, peaceful, beautiful, relaxing piano music and share it with all human beings." He writes, records and posts one beautiful piano composition each day. This song is number 1990 from May 27, 2019. 

Thanks to Hitoshi for his daily musical watercolors and thanks for allowing me to adapt this. The original piano version by chairhouse can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/chairhouse/if-she-talked-to-him-one-more-time-1990-by-chair-house-05272019

image is Jean Seberg from Godard's  "À Bout De Souffle"

if she talked to him

No AI tools were used!

The bottom line is that the older we get and the more we experience, the less certain we are about things we once thought we knew for sure.

So life has taught me that all I know is that I know nothing!

And I look with sadness and horror at the present state of the human world!

But - 'Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, excessive grief the enemy to the living.'

Take it easy!

Seelensack