Composer: McMillan, Benjamin

Instrumentation: Solo and Piano Instruments: Piano, Tuba

Genre: Contemporary

with Piano; The word "brumous" is used for describing gray, sunless, and overall depressing winter weather. The winter of 2015 was particularly brutal for me in multiple ways, leading to a prolonged state of depression. This piece became dedicated to the idea of escaping that depression through various fantasies. My fantasies and daydreams tend to arise rather spontaneously, often without any seeming connection to my previous thoughts. I tried to recreate this spontaneous (or erratic) nature in the music. A series of three fantasies unfolds from a stark, wintry atmosphere represented by three chords in the upper octaves of the piano. These chords return again at the end of the piece, this time resolved with an additional major chord, a kind of hopefulness gained from the fantasies.

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