Jolts, Cinders, and Beautiful Vistas
Quarterly Composition Compilation
May 2026
Hello friends!
This semester has been absolutely INSANE – I felt myself stretched well past my limits, but it was worth the price of admission. I have some very exciting news to share on multiple fronts, so without further ado let’s jump into things!
Tldr:
Creation Suite was amazing!
Terra Branta Canadensis got postponed
I graduated from BU
I conducted Lamb of God
I’ll be staying in Boston (for now…)
Creation Suite (previously Creation Symphony)
A ton of updates here!
This was my entire focus for the semester, and I am incredibly proud of how things turned out. However, trying to compress all that into a quick post has been challenging, to say the least (for perspective, I have a 5-page document on my computer where I tried to compile all the major things that happened, and I think I’m still missing some stuff). Maybe one day I’ll write a book about it…
But until then, here is my attempt at summarizing things:
As is becoming unfortunately typical for me, this piece kept growing in scope and length until I had written about 40 minutes of music for 30 musicians. Which sounds impressive on paper, but in reality was a terrible idea because of performance logistics (more on that below) and the sheer amount of copyediting required. I decided to tackle each movement separately and then stitch everything together at the end, and was incredibly lucky in that they all fit together nicely with minimal adjustments.
The logistics of getting this performed were an absolute nightmare – worth the price of admission, mind you, but still a pain. First it was the part extractions (8 movements for 21 individual parts), then it was lining up all the musicians (30 musicians total), then it was scheduling times to rehearse for everyone, then it was rehearsing with half the parts missing, then it was a lot of last-minute panicking trying to get all the parts covered. But the performance came together somehow, and I’m incredibly pleased with the result!
Speaking of which, I recorded video/audio of the performance and uploaded it to YouTube, so you should totally check it out! Of course, I recommend listening through the whole piece for context (esp. with headphones), but if you only have a few minutes I would recommend movements 3b and 5 as a “sample” of what I did.
I also had program notes online, so rather than put those here I’ll instead refer you to this link:
They do a pretty good job of concisely describing each movement, as well as including text/translations for the Hebrew and Aramaic.
Marsh Chapel, the space where we premiered Creation Suite. Note the organ pipes below the stained glass (and listen to the recording - the organ sounded amazing!).
I’m incredibly grateful everything came together, but the reality is that it took a lot out of me. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been in a funk the last month or so trying to mentally recover from the insane stress I put myself through. Regardless, the final product turned out amazing, and I’m grateful to have seen this come together.
As for the future? My original conceit was to write an oratorio for full symphony orchestra and chorus, and after doing a live demonstration with this version I am increasingly convinced that this would be amazing (just imagine movement 5 with 100+ musicians jamming out!). Obviously there are a few things that would need to happen prior to this – like finding an organization with that kind of capacity, convincing said organization to rehearse and perform it, arranging/adapting the piece, etc. – but the potential has me so excited that I think it’s just a matter of when.
I also have some other related ideas in the works, but I’ll save those for a later day once I have something more concrete. But stay tuned...
Status: Piece completed, premiered on April 30 (go watch the video – seriously!)
Terra Branta Canadensis (Version 2)
Some bad news here…after reviewing the concert schedule for the semester, the ensemble directors decided to cancel the concert this was supposed to be premiered on. This was due to a variety of factors, all of which were totally justified and understandable, but it was still a big disappointment to me. I was told that they would premiere the piece next Fall, so here’s hoping that it actually happens!
Status: Premiere delayed, hopefully not indefinitely
Other News
Compositionally, that was basically it – I hyperfocused on Creation Suite for the last 5 months, and it was a wonderful experience. However, I had several other significant events happen that are tangentially related to composition, so here they are (in no particular order):
I had the chance to study with Matt Aucoin this semester, and along the way discovered some things about the way I write music that will benefit me for the rest of my life. It’s hard to definitively point to anything specific, but perhaps a good way to express this is that I genuinely enjoy composing now, and learned how to structure my life in such a way that I can effectively write and workshop ideas. It’s a level of creative freedom that I’ve never felt before, having not just cool ideas but the skill to make them happen in interesting and unique ways. If there’s anything I came away with after this semester, it’s that I need to figure out a career in which I can get paid to write music like this.
I also had the opportunity to conduct a full production of Rob Gardner’s Lamb of God for the Cambridge Stake, and that was such an inspiring experience. Stressful, to be sure, but the impact it had on people was significant. This was the first time the Stake had done this since pre-Covid, so we had to spend a lot of time getting systems in place and figuring out how to get the organization running smoothly, but once things got going it was incredible to see everything come together. I was in a unique position to hear the many ways people were inspired by this, and hope that this will continue to be an annual tradition in Boston.
I graduated with a masters degree from Boston University! Despite some last-minute drama I was able to attend the ceremonies and get cleared for graduating. Although my thesis recital was a bigger culmination in many aspects, it was nice to have an official ceremony to celebrate completing my degree.
After much contemplation, I decided to remain in Boston to try and “make it” in my music career. This doesn’t come without many stresses and downsides – the current stress is finding a job – but I’ve felt very strongly that my career and life will be greatly benefitted by remaining in the community here for a while longer. So here’s hoping that I don’t “fall on my face”!
Listening List
Absolum, Gareth Coker (YouTube, Spotify)
Shout-out to my sister for recommending this soundtrack, but this is Gareth at his finest. It has a lot of his trademark techniques (catchy electronic grooves, excellent orchestral music, and of course his trademark “Misty ” track using the whole-tone scale) but also a lot of fun explorations into other soundscapes. My favorite track (The Underking) was actually a collaboration with Mick Gordon (composer for the Doom franchise), and is a wild mix of corny Golden-age Hollywood villain music with heavy-metal-infused textures. Let me emphasize wild – it’s all over the place, and definitely not the kind of thing you typically hear on Gareth’s albums (indeed, the following track feels relatively tame, despite the overt Wagnerian influences and aggressive textures).
A lot of the textures in Absolum directly inspired Creation Suite, especially the organ-heavy ones. While Gareth stuck with a generic organ patch in all the tracks (which was the right choice), I really wanted to lean into the different colors the organ can generate. Some of his electronic textures also inspired some ideas that made their way into my piece, especially as I thought about how I would “render” them using live musicians.
Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad”, Dmitri Shostakovich (YouTube, Spotify)
Admittedly, this was partially for an assignment in my conducting class, but I actually quite enjoyed this piece on its own merits. A lot of the textures felt reminiscent of other film scores I enjoy, and even a few wind ensemble pieces (David Maslanka seems to have been inspired by this for his Symphony No. 4). Contrary to other pieces I’ve become familiar with due to being forced to study them in school, this is one I think will stick with me.
Also, the backstory to this one is absolutely insane – written during the siege of Leningrad (in WWII) while Shostakovich was living in the city, completed after he was evacuated, but then sent back covertly so they could premiere the piece on the radio while the Germans were pounding the city. And the American premiere was pretty crazy too, involving some covert handoffs and a high level of secrecy. If you’re interested, read the Wikipedia article – it’s a wild story.
I know it’s not Leningrad, but we still got a bunch of snow in Boston this winter…
Musings
Can you get whiplash from a semester’s worth of stress suddenly vanishing? If so, then I have definitely felt that. This semester was magical in so many ways, despite also being challenging in just as many ways; perhaps one way to describe it would be to say it was an emotional roller coaster that tested my soul to the very core. The relative tranquility I’ve had since then has been most welcome, but also challenging in its own way – I miss having a regular schedule, and I miss the sense of purpose I felt in pursuing a masters degree. I don’t miss the drama, the stress, the red tape, the lack of sleep, nor the last-minute panicking as I tried to get all the parts covered, but I don’t think it was possible to have the good without the bad, as much as I wish it was otherwise.
So what’s next? I have some ideas, but if there’s anything I’ve learned over the years it’s that a career in music will take you to places you didn’t expect to do things that you never thought possible. As Gordon B. Hinckley once said, “Life is like an old-time rail journey – delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.”* This semester was one of those thrilling bursts of speed, accompanied by plenty of smoke and cinders of course, but with a beautiful vista at the end.
Until next time,
-JW
* I would be remiss if I didn’t include the final part of this quote: “The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” I’m still working on this part – while I am incredibly grateful for the good that happened, I’m still having trouble with being grateful for the not-so-good.
