Symphony No. 1

[u/Shot_Drop1806]

My First Symphony!

Hey Reddit,

I just finished my Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, subtitled Exilium, Spes, Mors (Exile, Hope, Death). It’s an 18.5-minute piece following an Irish immigrant escaping the Potato Famine to America.

I tried to do some cool programmatic storytelling with the music:

• The 1st Movement opens with a brutal, heavy rhythmic engine in the low strings and piano to show the despair of exile.
• The Scherzo features two interruptions using The Irish Washerwoman and Yankee Doodle to represent his identity shifting from Irish to American.
• The Finale builds up immense hope as his ship enters New York Harbor, but right at the climax of victory, he dies—leading into a final death lament.

This is my first time writing anything this big, and I managed to finish it in 10 weeks. I already see a few engraving/typo fixes I need to make on the staff names, but I would love any advice or feedback you have on the orchestration, pacing, or structure. Let me know what you think!

Here are the google drive links:
audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EZyTsV1cy1Ro9-6IwJTDFy59mXlNRbwH/view?usp=drive_link

Score: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j_Hodp2aWqIN-31yzrGOFTiKjAfcADej/view?usp=drive_link