A delightful work Victor.  I am enjoying listening to this fine recording.

Very pleasant and enjoyable music. How good the guitar sounds! Very good performance.

By Vince Guaraldi
Arr. Bob Driggs/Reimund

Linus And Lucy Tuba Style

Buddy and I wrote this some years ago, but it sure does apply now.... From the album "Breaking Silence".

GUESS YOU HAD TO BE THERE
(Janis Ian/Buddy Mondlock)

Back in nineteen sixty three, we walked a fine line
We were taking to the streets, skating on a thin dime
We were searching after truth and beauty
Now they turn it into late night movies
How can I explain that it’s not the same

	Guess you had to be there to be where
	love belonged to everyone
	Flowers in the long hair, we stood there
	singing “We shall overcome”
	Knowing the eyes of the world were on us
	Knowing the whole world cared
	Guess you had to be there

In the summer of our youth. we came together
and we knew that our truth would live forever
We were gonna make the whole world honest
when a bullet got the bravest of us
Somehow nothing else was sacred
and we all stood naked

	Guess you had to be there to be where
	love belonged to everyone
	Flowers in the long hair, we stood there
	singing “We shall overcome”
	Knowing the eyes of the world were on us
	Knowing the whole world cared
	Guess you had to be there

Now we listen to the news, and it seems all hope is gone
Everybody feeling used, and there’s nowhere left to run
Sometimes it feels like the memory
is all that’s left of our used-to-be
but what can never be denied
is the way we changed inside

	Guess you had to be there to be where
	Love belonged to everyone
	Flowers in the long hair, we stood there
	singing “We shall overcome”
	Knowing the eyes of the world were on us
	Knowing the whole world cared
	Guess you had to be there

Breaking Silence

Guess You Had to Be There (Ian-Mondlock)

Short works for piano solo, suitable for intermediate students.

Etudes for Piano

Sorina Aust-Ioan - piano

Recording from the conecert on 24. November 2019,
"Nuevas Tribus 1.0"
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico-City

Klaviersonate in Form einer Fantasie op. 24 mit Sorina Aust-Ioan - Klavier

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

Strings, Marimba, Toy Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Bandoneon

Mozart - Fugue in C minor, K.426 arranged for Chamber Ensemble

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

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

Prelude 20 for organ

Davide Sciacca, guitar
Lydian Ensemble
Andrea Amici, cond.

Riccardo Samperi, engineer
TRP Music
Tremestieri, Italy
October, 2020

Concertino for guitar and chamber orchestra, op. 17 (studio)

Scores are available for study or performance for the asking, in pdf form or as hard copy.

VFrost2468@gmail.com

Concertino for guitar and chamber orchestra, op. 17 (studio)

Victor Frost — composer

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Ramon Capsada Blanch

WalkingEars

Christopher Larkins | Composer

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