Sherlock Holmes – A Symphonic Suite for Chamber Symphony

Movement I: Sherlock Holmes 10:00

Basic sonata-allegro form – the outer sections aim to capture his eccentric nature, a “bohemian” inhabit and style with no regard for contemporary tidiness and good order standards. Except in his methods! Section B reveals his inner mind, his unusual ability that merited detection as an “exact science” his primary occupation – his method, his precise accumulation of facts, before we are thrust back into the movement’s recapitulation where Holmes solves the case with his ego at times bordering on arrogance, albeit with justification. 3’09

Movement II: Irena Adler 4:30

I chose to compose a romantic lullaby for Irena. The “well-known adventurous” followed a career in opera as a contralto having sung professionally at La Scala in Milan and for a term as prima donna at the Imperial Opera of Warsaw. According to local papers, “Irena had the face of the most beautiful of women, and in the mind of the most resolute of men.” She outwitted Holmes, and he admired her for it. The melody that permeated the entire composed movement was inspired by Dr. Watson’s diary, where he says: “To Sherlock Holmes, she is always the woman.”

Movement III: Dr. John Watson 7:35

Holme’s best friend, assistant, flatmate, and first-person narrator was the recipient of Holme’s enigmatic remarks, a consciousness that’s privy to facts in the case without being in on the conclusions drawn from them until the proper time. I focused the joyful spirit of this movement on Watson’s first encounter with the famous detective. Can you imagine being a witness to watching Holme’s amazing skills at deduction as they embarked on their first case together?

The music also serves a biographical nature incorporating this archetypal late Victorian/Edwardian gentleman’s strong sense of honor, discretion in character, and tenure with the British forces in India against the brilliant, emotionally-detached analytical machine of Sherlock Holmes. Here, the musical landscape is continental, pedestrian, and filled with English national pride.

Movement IV: Professor Moriarty – 7:30

The archenemy of Sherlock, a criminal mastermind who threatens Holmes not to meddle in his plans. Here the music attempts to capture the intellectual threat they exchanged, the independence of Moriarty – a man of good birth and excellent education. The middle section of this movement was inspired by Holme’s own description of his arch-enemy to Watson: “He is the organizer of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected in this great city.”

The inner mental workings of this “Napoleon of crime” cogitate and build before the main animated theme returns capitulating us to the symphony’s percussive conclusion and Conan Doyle’s literary goal in creating Moriarty’s character – to kill off Holmes. I will leave it to you, the greatest advocates of music, the ticket-buying public, to tell me if he succeeds!