Sydney composer Solomon John Frank won the 2015 Willoughby Symphony Orchestra/Fine Music 102.5 Young Composer Award. His piece Spectre, inspired by film composer John Barry, was performed by the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra as part of its Myths and Legends concert. Frank says: “It felt pretty fantastic. It makes you feel privileged to have the opportunity to do something like that. New orchestral pieces don’t get played very often, so it felt really good”. Frank is studying composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Silence. Solomon John Frank, words by Judith Wright from poem Silence. Score and parts for SATB choir and Bb clarinet.[purchase_link id=”2535″ style=”button” color=”red” text=”Add to Cart”]Dorian Gray (score and recording bundle). Solomon John Frank. Solo piano. “When they entered, they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart…It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was” -Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.[purchase_link id=”2525″ style=”button” color=”red” text=”Add to Cart”]Fingerspitzentanz (‘Finger tip dance’) (score and recording bundle). Solomon John Frank. Score and parts for Bb clarinet and two flutes. From the composer: “This piece takes the form of a chromatic study with an extended clarinet cadenza opening. The augmented triad plays an important role in this piece, wherein many of the patterns and melodies move in parallel augmented chords”.[purchase_link id=”2528″ style=”button” color=”red” text=”Add to Cart”]Kakophonieknockenbruch. Solomon John Frank. Score and parts for clarinet sextet. From the composer: “‘The immense pain and frustration felt over small injuries inflicted by one’s self’ (German). Translates literally as ‘cacophony knock break'”.[purchase_link id=”2531″ style=”button” color=”red” text=”Add to Cart”]
Crash Landing on a Foreign World. Solomon John Frank. Score for Bb clarinet and bassoon, with drawing. From the composer: “This particular shape was a pattern I drew. I had no intention to realize this shape in music when I drew it. I came to realize my pattern looked vaguely like a planet, hence the title. The duo starts in the top left corner of the drawing and then takes separate paths across the surface of the planet. The clarinet realizes the contoured shapes on the edge of the circle through a single multiphonic. The bassoon takes the jagged path through the middle of the circle. I followed no steadfast rules in realizing this shape through melody; I simply directed the melody where I felt the line was moving”.[purchase_link id=”2512″ style=”button” color=”red” text=”Add to Cart”]Spectre (score and recording bundle). Solomon John Frank. Full score and parts for symphony orchestra. Composed for the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra as part of the Fine Music FM Young Composer Award 2015. From the composer: “Spectre is a reference to the infamous James Bond villain and this world of intrigue and suspense from which I have taken influence. Spectre is a secret evil international entity and one of Bond’s most formidable foes throughout the series. John Barry wrote the score for most of the classic Bond films…stimuli I have been inspired by in writing this work. It revolves around the minor Major 7 chord, the classic spy chord, giving it a distinct tonal atmosphere of tension, fear and intrigue”.[purchase_link id=”2538″ style=”button” color=”red” text=”Add to Cart”]