Wow - I could not have expected such a thorough outpouring of support for what I am trying to do and I thank you all very much! I will heed the consistent message that I should go ahead and post my work. I do not mind you all being as brutal as possible with my work! I want to change it for the better, but I also don't really have the time to completely can a project and make a new one at this point, seeing as it is only a month between now and November. I truly appreciate all of the advice and stories I have read on here, and I wish I could muster up an equally well thought-out response to everyone.
Briefly, I will cover the stories behind each of the three works I have "completed" and am posting here. I picked these three out of the stack because I feel that they best showcase a few different facets of my inspiration.
First, I began the Suite in A Flat Major when I heard that my cousin was having a baby (named Andreas). At first, it was just one piece, but eventually it grew into a few little works, as I found inspiration in the sounds of French romantic composers (Debussy, Faure, Ravel, you know the drill). I don't love how these pieces came out, and this one I am posting here is the best out of the Suite.
Second, the Symphony was broadly inspired by the band Godspeed You! Black Emperor (my favorite post-rock band). Listening to my symphony and listening to Godspeed, it will probably be fairly difficult to pick out any parallels or even understand how their music inspired this, but in short order, somehow, it did. I was out for a drive very late at night near the beginning of lockdown, kicking around the local fare of abandoned buildings (woohoo, Kansas!), when I spotted some dry lightning in the distance. It was so beautiful. I knew I had to get home because I was kind of in the middle of nowhere, it was late, and the rain was clearly coming. I got in my car, and within minutes it was a downpour. But it was so pretty. I could see a train in the distance tearing through the darkness, and with that whole mental image and Godspeed playing as I raced home, I got to writing the Symphony. I only have this first movement done. I know, I started in so many months ago, so where are the other pieces? Well, over the summer, I started work full time and it caught up with me. Composing had to take a back seat, so I only recently finished this first movement and I am looking forward to getting started on more.
Third, the Requiem grew originally out of my discovery of Faure's Requiem - one of my favorite works of all time. I was enchanted by how haunting the Introit was, and how all of the vocal solos were so truly emotive. However, as I wrote it, I discovered that my technical skill is nowhere near Faure, and I eventually tried to bring in my own inspiration to spice things up. I had a significant illness last year which required surgery and months out of commission, and it was a traumatizing event for me, but many of the chord progressions and melodies present in the final product are directly pulled from the nonsense I wrote while my mental state was still raw from what it went through. I picked the Introit because, well, it is the only piece I have finished in the Requiem besides the Kyrie, which is too short and insignificant for my portfolio.
Fourth, lastly, and also not present, is the Brass Quintet Waltz I am still in the process of writing. I heard Danny Elfman's "Waltz to the Death" from the 1989 Batman score and thought, "damn, I want to write a piece like that!". Arguably what I am laying down is very different (intentionally), a lot brighter, and sounds a bit less like the music is teetering atop an abandoned gothic cathedral, but enough on that. I will post it here when it is "finished", likely within the next week.
Thank you all dearly for your wonderful advice and for sharing your storied experiences. I am humbled to be able to have my work looked at. Don't tear me a new one, but please critique the hell out of it! I hope you might get a moment of joy out of some of the work.
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