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All music and noises © Copyright Paul A. Williams aka Elwood Herring - Please read these notes before downloading
NOTE ON PLAYING MIDI FILES: All my MIDI works are meant to be played using the standard Microsoft GS Wavetable. Usage of any other wavetable will give unintended results. By all means experiment if you have the capability, but please be aware that what you end up with will not be what I intended!
Also, some MIDI files played on Winamp before version 5.3 (and it appears, after 5.541) will not play correctly. If you use Winamp, please up/downgrade to a version between 5.3 and 5.541 (incl), or alternatively, download this version or go here where you can download ANY version of Winamp.
| Symphony no.4 | MIDI | Mins | Description & comments |
 | A full-blown symphony based on orchestral sounds rather than electronics. Classical enthusiasts may be able to spot some famous composers' styles and motifs that have influenced me in writing this; I myself can pick out small references to Sibelius, Berlioz, Haydn, Vaughan Williams, Nielsen and Shostakovich, but most notably Tchaikovsky and Mahler. Despite this however, the entire symphony is 100% my own work. Download the whole albumwrapped album free from MegaUpload. |
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| 1st movement Andante - Allegro - Andante |
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14:05 | A languid opening on strings in 9/8, introducing several themes which announce themselves in turn, until the main theme emerges in 4/4 (my "Pavanne" theme). For the first 8 minutes or so the strings play alone, then the rest of the orchestra appears in a big crescendo where all the minor themes are heard simultaneously. The Pavanne theme fractures into several parts in different keys played on the woodwind, and the movement ends with a violin duet reminiscent of the finale of Haydn's Farewell symphony. |
| 2nd movement Andante - Adagio |
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08:10 | A slow movement mostly played in triple time on woodwind & harp with a four part string fugue in the middle. The theme is a combination of two of the sub-themes from the first movement, both inverted. |
| 3rd movement: Scherzo Allegro - Andante - Allegro - Andante - Presto |
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07:35 | This is basically a reworking of my pizzicato string piece "The Pizza Car Toe-Rag" with some percussion added and a few minor alterations to the score, including a spoof of the scherzo of Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony that it superficially resembles. Note that I have turned tradition on its head by making the scherzo predominantly in 4/4 time as opposed to the other movements which are all multiples of 3 (9/8, 6/8 etc.) |
| 4th movement Presto - Adagio - Allegro - Andante - Adagio molto |
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11:50 | The finale is episodic in nature with about 6 distinct sections. It opens in 15/16 time with themes dividing the 15 beats into threes and fives simultaneously. Then there is an abrupt halt followed by a "funeral drum" similar to the finale of Mahler's 10th. The slow theme from the scherzo is played harshly on the brass mocking the original theme; then the funeral drum returns which instigates an exotic percussion solo, again in 15/16 time. After that a woodwind quartet contemplates some past themes which are combined in various ways, then the first wisps of the Pavanne theme appear as if the orchestra is trying to recall a long-forgotten memory. Then after a triumphant chorale on the Pavanne tune, the strings suddenly twist the music in an unexpected direction, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with a tritone chord and a distinctly Mahlerian "hammer blow". This brings us right back to the initial 9/8 theme from the opening of the whole symphony, which dies away to the sound of the funeral drum. Well who said symphonies have to have a happy ending? |
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