Perhaps no other area of my Web Site displays my own personal feelings the best than this location, my original works. If you come to this area of my site, what will you find? No doubt, the deepest thoughts in my mind, heart and my spirit.
You will see how music leads me in my life, how shortcomings and saddness act as a windows to the works that come to my mind. Music is the communications portal to my soul. Music allows me to see, feel and experience things that most cannot. I believe it is an inspired Blessing from God.
There will be many types of music found here. But, I can assure you that all of them come from the deepest recesses of my heart.
I hope and pray that you learn a little about me as you listen to the many pieces found here.
God Bless and Love Always
Al
A new Work
LE Margurite Suite
Loving Dedicated to one that is a surrogate Grandchild.....
Margaret
Giving me light and joy on even the worst days
I love ya kiddo !!!
BETRAYED
When you think that love is on your side, that the person in your life is dedicated to you, ans then, she is gone.
My very first works
My early work on Symphony Music came totally by accident. It came from a day dream of when I was just a young kid. I thought of my best friends, who are still around, and some that have left us. One of my best, Dr. Michael Weiss is a close and dear friend and was, in his own way, a key inspiration to my first work, and to my interest in writing music in general.
When we were children, his brother, Andre' was an aspiring musician. We lived in a small garden apartment complex, with rooms barely able to accomodate a bed and dresser, let alone a baby concert grand piano. During the summer, Andre' would come home from study at Juliard and would play on the piano for hours. He would start at six or so in the morning, playing right through to sundown, with a break or two for something to eat. I could remember some mornings, getting up a little after six, then going beneath his window, during the times of the day he played softly. I would close my eyes and let my mind wander as he played, hoping someday I could create music. These were bad times in my life, with two parents who were alcoholics, looked down upon by the other families in the neighborhood. But, those morning encounters. It didn't matter who I was then....
All during the relationship I had with Mike and his family, I felt secure. He was a brace for my sanity, something he never knew. His parents went through the terrors and hell of the nazi occupation of Hungry, but, their strength helped them to be what they were then, people giving their all for their children. God, I so deeply admire that family, and that friend who allowed me to share his life when we were young.
Thanks Mike.....
The Children's Suite in C
1st Movement-Children Playing at the Forest's edge in Spring
4th Movement-Growing up Childhood Lost -A Reflection
These were really the early days. These were times when I was searching for my own identity for there were just so many voids in my existiance. The Children's suite is a mosaic of my younger life. It depicts how fast things moved. It depicts the feeling I had for my best friend. The fourth movement, was indeed a reflection for my childhood ended at a very early age, and responsibility set in. It was hard to be looked upon as a child when you became the backbone of a family existance at age twelve. It was funny though, for even during these times, I can remember humming tunes in my head, trying to block out the things that were going on around me.
When I had written this, my thoughts drifted to my granddaughter, Ariel, and her love for the playground. What would it be like with her and her friends to put together a little parade all to themselves. Well, this was my idea.
When I feel alone, sad, thinking of someone who was dear to me who is now gone, I write a song.
Thinking of a long lost love gone by...
I think of my kids, who are grown
I Think of Jesus, and his Angels
I think of a quiet place all to myself
I fear War and write Songs of Peace
Symphonic Development is something I began to really enjoy, trying to attain my own sense of style, and at the same time, tried to bring about my own personal "trademarks." These ideas ranged from Movie theme wannabe's to things that deeply touched my heart. Please let me give you a small sample.
Symphony #2 - The Symphony of Sorrows
A piece I wrote to welcome in the New Millenium, looking at the past, present and the future of our world
The Movie Symphony-Symphony #3
Symphony #8 The Prayer for Peace
Symphony 9 -The Sea of Tranquility
Symphony 10 - A crying out for World Understanding
Symphony 13- The Mystery of Life
Overture-Life in all it's Glory
As of late, my personal health has not been very well. I took on Symphony 13 as a means of trying to help others to understan what I have been feeling in the deepest recesses of my heart and spirit.
Symphony #2 is extremely meaningful for me, in that it is my own way of trying to face the horrors of the Holocaust, I humbly dedicate this moving work to those who suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis and to the Simon Weisenthal Foundation.
How things can touch your life
The more music I wrote, the more ideas came. During the time frame between late 1996 and 1999, I was wrestling with many severe health problems and saw my 22 year marriage come to an end, mostly because of these problems. By September of 1997, I had suffered nine strokes, the one in September leaving me in a wheelchair. I almost began believing the doctors who said I would never walk again. Almost, but, not quite. I began to dream about places I always wanted to see. I thought of the hustle, bustle of the Orient, the solitude of the Rain Forests, a warm day on the beaches of Jamaica. Then, the Columbine High School tragedy occurred. I was moved to write a piece, one that I finished in several hours. E-mailing it to the town hall, I was surprised that on the following Saturday, during the memorial service, I heard the piece played.
As the holidays came closer in 1999, the loneliness set in. My children were all grown and personally, I did not want to be a burden on them. I decided to spend the holidays alone. I longed for the touch of a person who cared, someone who could share their love with me. But that never happened. It was two days before Christmas that I wrote "Lonely Holidays". Loneliness turned to depression, and once again, I began to think of ideas. In February of 2000, I felt that moving out of the general area would make it easier for me, you know, new faces and the like, but, again, that didn't work. In March 2000, I wrote, "You can never move far enough away to escape depression."
Something a little new, and still continuing...
Personal Musical Impressions
Have you ever seen something and got a mucial idea about what you had seen? I do, and I do it alot. This little area, if you become a frequent visitor shall be growing. It first started by looking at people, people whose presence brought thoughts to one's mind. I will be sharing some of these a little later. The one that really got me started, however, was from a book I had read, which had become a motion picture.
My rendition of what I thought the opening of the film "Hannibal"
may be like. When I first posted it, many people, including several people from Warner Brothers, thought that it was appropriate. Well, as the ideas come, you will see them here.
My Personal Musical Inspirations
and my Work in their Honor...
Nearly every composer has looked back and has told who inspired them, I am no different. There are actually three who have moved me to a point of attempting to mould my music composing around their styles.
The
One and Only George Gershwin
When one listens to his work, like Porgy and Bess, or Rhapsody in Blue, one sees perfection in music. I listen to his work in awe. I have composed two pieces that reflect my admiration of his style. One, is a completely original piece called the "Inner-city Rhapsody", a piece where I have tried to capture all of the glamour and glory of his time period in music, and the second, "A Tribute to Gershwin", takes a look at some of his more memorable pieces in a medley.
The
Father of Impressionism-Claude DeBussy
What can a person say about someone who has done so much is impressionistic music. I must honestly admit that all I have done is try to expound on his work, taking what he has done a step further. I direct you to the Classical Music Section as well as the Isao Tomita Section, another True Master of Modern Music Impression.
John
Williams-The Greatest Living Composer
No one, and I mean NO ONE can bring out absolute excitement and enthrallment in any audience than John Williams. The holder of 10+ Academy Awards for such greats as Jaws, Close Enounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, ET, Amistad and of course Schindler's List, makes me sit on the very edge of my seat. The piece, "Symphony #3, the Movie Symphony" was in some small way of me trying to even come close to his incredible style.
The Empty Saddness of my heart
No one left to turn their backs...
My Work is by no means finished here. I have so much more to do, so much more feelings I need to express into music. I just hope that my site brings a small degree of joy to my listeners.
God Bless and Love,
Al
