Seraphonic Medley

For one final orchestral conversation, the melodies of A Matter of Class are invited to share the same stage. Comic phrases answer reflective themes, triumphant refrains borrow melancholy harmonies, and familiar motifs acquire new colors by dwelling in one another’s company.

The piece is not merely a procession of remembered tunes. It reveals the relationships that had been present throughout the album, allowing each theme to change—and to be changed by—the music surrounding it. Seraphino conducts the orchestra himself, regarding the gesture as composition continued beyond the page.

Every worthy album eventually revealeth that its melodies have been speaking to one another all along. Having allowed each theme upon A Matter of Class to stand proudly upon its own, I found great pleasure in inviting them together for one final orchestral conversation. A phrase once born in laughter answereth another steeped in quiet reflection. A triumphant refrain borroweth a melancholy harmony before yielding once more to mischief. I sought not merely to revisit familiar melodies, but to allow them to reveal new colors by dwelling in one another’s company. A fine tune should withstand such treatment. A great one should emerge richer for it.

Some amongst my audience have expressed mild astonishment that I should conduct the orchestra myself. I confess I find this reaction faintly insulting. Did they imagine I simply hurled notes upon parchment and hoped they landed in agreeable order? A composer who cannot guide his own musicians resembleth an architect who requireth directions to enter his own cathedral. Conducting is but composition continuing through gesture rather than ink. Every entrance, every pause, every swelling phrase remaineth part of the same conversation I began when first I placed quill to paper. Besides, after directing singers, instrumentalists, and an orchestra of this size, I found the ensemble delightfully cooperative. Unlike adventurers, musicians generally possess the good sense to watch the fellow holding the baton.