Wallace: Rhapsody

Description

Rhapsody is a piece that means so many things. Musically it's a simple piece that moves from one thematic area to the next with no repetition. However, I asked myself many questions that lead up to the creation of each thematic area: what emotions should I portray? How do these emotions translate to musical gestures? How do these emotions affect the relationship of the solo cello to the orchestra? Answering these questions laid the foundation for the piece and allowed me to create a work that is tranquil, exciting, cohesive, jarring, lonely, supported, and full of color and life.

Although a compositional challenge, writing Rhapsody was introspective and liberating. On display are my own musical values picked up from countless rehearsals, and cello and composition lessons. I also made the choice to quote the very first piece I'd ever written. It's a sort of symbol of where I started, where I am, and hopefully where my music is headed in the future. Since playing my first notes on a cello and writing my first piece to now, I have grown so much musically, artistically, and as a person and this piece is an outpouring of that.