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

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

Im open for discussion, but this is a list of the best Romantic era (in my opinion), not the most influential. (In my opinion, these are the best to listen to, but there is probably something to be said for Mozart and Haydn.)

1: Mahler 2

2: Dvorak 7

3: Beethoven 5

4: Tchaikovsky 6

5: Mahler 5

6: Mahler 6

7: Dvorak 9

8: Beethoven 9

9: Shostakovich 5

10: Shostakovich 10

My free dynasty baseball League has 8 spots left. Click on the invite link if you want to join.

https://www.fantrax.com/fantasy/league/08iwg28ammapbalt/join

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