Concertante Symphony for Violoncello & Strings orchestra

‘Wartime concerto’ Concerto for L.-h. piano & Orchestra

Concerto for Piano & band ’destination West’

Piano Concerto ‘Imagine New york’

Concerto for Alto Saxophone ‘Springtime in Chicago’

Piano Toccata ‘Resolve and Pride’

Cantata ‘Tears of the Earth’

Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’

Melody ‘Come Ye Who Love’ for Soprano, piano & Horn

About hope for a kinder world for our children, a world in peace and with respect of nature

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A PRELIMINARY NOTE - My music is composed acoustically. None of it relies on AI or computer assist. I am purposely using an early version of FINALE software that limits the computer as a typewriter. The compositions derive thus from the generation of original ideas patiently developed according to classical music theory and counterpoint. The crucial concept of counterpoint used is based on the definition of Walter Piston, that is the elements constituting music (melody, harmony, rhythm, color…) relate independently with each other. The intent is to keep creativity and humanity in music. . ***

As a Belgian teenager, when I rode my bicycle through the crosses of Flanders’ World War One cemeteries. I was thinking of the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ written in WWI by the Canadian military Doctor, John McCrae.

Decades later, I composed the oratorio “Requiem for the Fallen” for soprano, choir and orchestra based on ‘In Flanders Fields’, as a tribute to the victims of wars and violence. As our children felled in wars, governments and business built the cannons that felled them.

Indeed, the first version of “Requiem” was played in 2018 in a French town for the Centennial of WWI. Most players of the youth orchestra had a relative who fought - and felled - in that war. . *** In 2019, the revised version of “Requiem for the Fallen” premiered in New York at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall) with the Consul of Belgium in attendance. Two performances followed in Moscow before the invasion of Ukraine: first, in 2020, the U.S. Embassy underwrote a concert in commemoration of the cooperation with USSR in WWII; then, in late 2021, a public concert for peace took place at the Tsereteli Art Gallery downtown, which we watched live from Washington on a laptop computer.

After the concert, some in the Moscow audience waved to us ‘heart’ and ‘I love you’ signs on a laptop linked to ours. A Bishop, pointing to the golden cross on his chest, said that the Oratorio was ‘Music for Peace’. I replied ‘Yes, music for peace.’ The Russian public was clearly opposed to a war. Still, ten weeks later, Ukraine was invaded, a war in its fifth year, that cost over a million lives.

The first piano concerto, “Imagine New York”, premiered at the 2021 concert for peace. The organizers had asked that I add a second work to the program. It became this Concerto evoking freedom: the view of the Statue of Liberty, the first time I landed in New York City. . *** The second piano concerto, “Wartime Concerto”, for the left hand is a reflection on the continued search for peace and respect. The left-hand piano play is a metaphor for the wounded and the Fallen. Also, near-percussive piano techniques are used to drive forcefully contrasting images of war, friendship, meditation about our Fallen - our children, and the search for peace always in peril...

These tumultuous times led me to compose the “Concertante Symphony” for Cello and String Ensemble - which dwells into reflection to bounce back and forth to joy.

Lastly, the cantata “Tears of the Earth” for soprano, tenor, choir and orchestra is composed on texts about mutual respect by Amerindian or West European poets - texts about the children and about nature. . *** .

Videos of the Oratorio “Requiem for the Fallen”, the Piano Concerto "Imagine New York” and other works are posted under VIDEOS. Since 2023, pandemic and wars have prevented additional events.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our places; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
in Flanders Fields.

by: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
MD (1872 – 1918)
Canadian Army