A Rondo of Nostalgic Memories is a composition in one movement written for Nordiska
Kammarorkestern. The piece has a duration of approximately eleven minutes, and the
instrumentation is 2222 2200 percussion and strings. In this piece I knew from the start that I
wanted the macroform to be a rondo consisting of an A, B, A1, C, A2 form, but in the
returning A sections the mesoform would be different so when listening to the piece, the
rondo in the macroform would be kind of masked. Another important aspect of the idea
behind this composition is that the orchestration would be greatly varied, especially in the
returning A sections.
In the finished composition I did not change my original idea of a rondo in the macroform.
Each section of the rondo has its own character, but the A1 section differs and changes
character once, which none of the other A sections does, nor the B or C section.
Figure 5.18: A Rondo of Nostalgic Memories overall form.
The returning A sections differs in length, and that is a result of the mesoform being altered.
The first A section and the last are most similar in the mesoform. They differ in that the first
section has a short intro that the last section does not have, but the last section has a new part
in the mesoform labelled H with new melodic material, which acts as a transition but gives
freshness and interest to the music. The A1 section starts on the B part of the mesoform and
that is different to the other A sections. From there it follows the same mesoform as the first A
section with the exception that the ending A part is repeated and a crossfade is created
between the A1 and C section.
Figure 5.19: Crossfade in A Rondo of Nostalgic Memories, transposed score.
The crossfade is created by making a reverb and delay effect with the woodwinds doubling
specific notes in the trumpet melody. In this case the reverb and delay effect build a C minor
chord with Flute 1 doubling one octave higher to even more enhance the spectral coloring of
the trumpet. That is one component of the crossfade, the other being an orchestrated
crescendo in the strings, starting only with celli and adding another section of the strings for
each bar, thus making them more and more prominent in the soundscape.
In this piece I didn’t use Freeform when I was composing, I had the macroform as mentioned
already decided from the start and worked a lot with intuition with the mesoform and the
musical material. Many of the melodies were created on the piano, in tandem with notating
them in Sibelius, and getting feedback from the playback inside of the program.