New Music: Call of Cthulu
Have time for a story?
This was written in 2008 for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra - it was a composition competition. I'd never written for symphony before. It was a huge undertaking and I was kinda proud of myself, regardless of not winning.
A couple years down the line, I arranged it for wind ensemble and the director of the University of Regina Wind Ensemble agreed to add it to their 2011 Spring concert. I went to a few rehearsals to listen and take notes, I rearranged parts based on feedback from the band, and maintained contact with the director all the way up to a couple weeks before the concert where he again confirmed that they were moving forward with my piece.
I was ecstatic! I told friends, family, coworkers, loose acquaintances, you name it.
On the night of the concert, my piece was not played. It wasn't in the program. No heads-up, no afterword. Nothing.
Family members who had come from out of town, pals... hell, even members of the band asked me why they didn't play my piece. I had no explanation. Honestly, I was devastated, humiliated. It's even frustrating writing about this now, all these years later!
So I shelved it. I put it away and eventually forgot about it.
Early this year, I decided to put a big focus on symphonic work in 2021 and thought I should give this one another shot, but on my own, like I've learned to do virtually everything that I do musically now.
So after the last two months of working on this rearrangement and recording, and a full decade after its would-be premiere, please allow me to introduce to you, Call of Cthulu.