My fourth symphony, Immortal, was conceived as I viewed the busts of Roman Emperors on display at the University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Museum of Art. All of the figures are representative of people who are remembered and looked upon as legendary figures from history. The name of this exhibit of Roman Emperor busts, “Immortales” translates to “Immortals.” The idea of being an immortal hero or a legend is something that fascinates me, and led to the decision of writing a symphony based on the concept of forging an immortal legend.

This document is a symphony presented in the traditional four movement format. The first movement is written as a dual-binary form with an additional development section in the middle. The second movement is far slower, and focuses on the contour of the harp ostinato heard at the beginning of the movement. The third movement, written as a modern version of a classical scherzo, is fast-paced, playful, and serves as a break from the more serious nature of the rest of the work. The fourth and final movement begins with a brass fanfare derived from the fanfare in movement one, and is written as an amalgamation of the previous three movements, with some of the melodic content becoming more prominent than others as the movement progresses. The heart of the entire work is between rehearsals M1 and O1. In this section, there is an extended, slow-moving ostinato that slowly reveals the original source material from movement two, rehearsal Q. This brings the listener to a sense of closure. The brass fanfare is heard again, signaling the end of movement IV, as well as the entire work. Symphony 4 concludes with the sound of the anvil continuing to forge a vision of the future.