You Are My Sunshine (Chase Shorter)

Melodies evoking the quiet beauty of Darkside, an entire half of the world of Efruumani that never sees the sun, trapped in eternal night and eternal winter. The environment is often harsh, but it knows moments of serene peace and wonder.

Interested in the story that goes along with the music? Visit spencerrussell.com/short-fiction for a free short story and novella!

Darkside's Peace

The Redeemed, known as "Lightforged" to most of the Imaia, are the God King's most devoted servants, and the Imaia's most dangerous weapons. Given a second chance at life by the God King himself, and led by Othaashle, the Imaia's Champion, they fight so that others need not. Each one is endowed with the powers of an Auroramancer, able to summon fire and lightning and move at incredible speeds.

Interested in the story that goes along with the music? Visit spencerrussell.com/short-fiction for a free short story and novella!

March Of The Lightforged (Dymbajat's Sketches)

Copyright © Spencer Russell Smith 2015

The first movement of my first Symphony "The Rose," performed by the Boston University Symphony Orchestra, Conducted by Qingqing Qian-Hilkert.

This piece was first conceived three years ago, and since has been heavily revised to fit the sonata form, as is typical for the first movement of a symphony. The piece starts out with a slow, building introduction, which moves into a mysterious atmosphere as the first theme introduces itself. The sparse orchestration becomes thicker as the music moves toward the second theme, and immediately becomes twice as fast for the second theme. This path is repeated once with different instrumentation and a journey to a new key area before moving to the development, where the entire orchestra highlights a motif that was hinted at in the introduction, and then slowly decreases in volume as that motif is repeated until the piece comes to a stop. A chorus of horns take over, playing the second theme by themselves, and just as they end their chorale, the rest of the orchestra joins in to signal the final section of the piece. Although the piece has returned to the first theme, it has picked up a bit more motion this time. A fanfare signals its final iteration before building to the second theme’s return. This time, however, the two melodies of the second theme entwine themselves, and before the piece ends with a bang, the motif hinted at in the introduction mixes with material from the first theme, ending the movement with the same material that began it.

Symphony No. 1  The Rose,  I  Mysterioso - Presto

Copyright © Spencer Russell Smith 2015

The Second Movement of my First Symphony, "The Rose,"
Performed by the Boston University All-Campus Orchestra, and Conducted by Mark Miller.

This piece was conceived three years ago, as the slow movement, second movement of the symphony using the second movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony as a structural model. 
After a short chorale by the winds to begin the movement, the a solo clarinet introduces the first theme, followed by a second iteration of the theme, which builds to a large blast by the brass. The horns then take over the main theme to end the first section of the piece, and a trumpet call heralds the entrance of the second theme.
The piece changes from minor to major, and the second theme is much more spritely and joyous than its predecessor. From here, many different instruments take over playing the second theme, building until the piece switches back to minor with a melody made from a mixture of the two themes. The piece then suddenly switches back to major once more, and the entire orchestra comes in with a huge fanfare that appears in each movement of the symphony.
After the dust clears from the fanfares, the first theme comes back in the flute and a solo violin, bringing the piece back to minor once and for all, before a final horn chorale, and a nice high, quiet chord of flutes and strings to end the piece.

Symphony No. 1  The Rose,  II  Largo

The third of a set of Nocturnes inspired by those in the classical Cannon, and one of four in my upcoming album.

Nocturne No. 3 In G Minor

The fourth of a set of Nocturnes inspired by those in the classical cannon, and one of four in my upcoming album

Nocturne No. 4 In E Minor

This is my first attempt at producing and composing House music or any Electronic music. I know I have a lot of room to improve on this. Looking for any feedback--mostly, I just want to make sure the track is fitting the genre.

Fountains (House)

This piece was inspired by the plight of the endangered Philippine Eagle, and the release of eagle back into the wild after being injured by hunters.

The Philippine Eagle is considered to be one of the largest and most powerful eagles in the world, found only in the Philippines. Unfortunately, it is also one of the rarest, with an estimated population of less than 1000. 

If you feel moved to do something to help keep this majestic creature from extinction, please donate to the foundation.
http://www.philippineeaglefoundation.org/donate

Journey And Hope

This cue was composed as part of a film-scoring class. I have left the audio in because I think it goes well with the music to give a bit of context.

If you wish to watch the cue, click the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh96Sg5xr7k

Scary Stairs (Cue No. 2)

This was the first of three cues given to students to score during a film scoring program.

This is the music of the first clip, which was often referred to in the class as "cupcake." It was an exercise in basic "elbowing." (hitting/highlighting certain points with the music). The ensemble we were given to work with was as follows: WW I: Flute/Clarinet, WW II: Clarinet/Bassoon, Violin, Viola, Cello.

Link to the Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pyZedpypOk

Cupcake (Cue No. 1)

Locrian Mirror is a piece I wrote using a cantus firmus written in the Locrian Mode. It would likely either be considered a “New Age,” “Minimalist,” or “Neo-Romantic” piece of music. The main melodic material is based solely off of the cantus, and the piece itself--or rather the mechanism it follows--is based on the piece “Spiegel Im Spiegel” (Mirror in Mirror) by Arvo Part.

The reason I chose to emulate “Spiegel Im Spiegel” as a practice piece is because I see it as a great example of a puzzle. It uses simple material and techniques as its pieces, but the way in which the composer put those together is what makes this piece (Arvo Part’s, though I hope mine as well) so captivating.

Link to Arvo Part's Piece: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ6Mzvh3XCc

Locrian Mirror

Composer, Orchestrator, Arranger, Songwriter, Producer

Spencer Russell Smith

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