Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra

Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra is a large scale work, written as a final year project at university. The purpose of the project was to explore ways in which Japanese music theory could be combined with a Western style composition for orchestra. In the finished piece, the Japanese influences are largely pitch and rhythm based, while the harmony and structural theories mainly follow Western concepts.

A web version of the full project dissertation is available below:

Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra - Dissertation

The piece begins by introducing a number of Japanese scales, before a short piano solo imitates the playing styles of the Japanese koto (ancient zither). The first of the two main themes, again using Japanese scales, is then heard on the bassoon, and subsequently on the piano and brass section. A flowing accompaniment pattern provides a backbone to the music.

The central episodes consist of a lyrical second theme, first heard on the piano. In addition to its use of Japanese scales, the theme experiments with rhythms used in Japanese theatre music (Nō/Kabuki). These rhythms range from gentle and graceful, to angry and dramatic. The composition then returns to the main theme, and sees development of the Japanese influences of pitch and rhythm. Japanese harmony, in the form of sho (an early mouth organ) chords, is heard for the first time in the woodwinds.

A virtuosic piano cadenza gradually leads back to a richly orchestrated repeat of the first theme, followed by both main themes being played simultaneously in a triumphant fashion. Finally, the Fantasia concludes with a majestic flourish of orchestral textures and colour, recapitulating the Japanese scales from the introduction.

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