Melrose Overture

Melrose Overture ~ Symphony Orchestra
Upon completion of his formal musical training in 1987, Johnson's orchestral “Melrose Overture” marked a new, exciting level of maturity and creativity in his journey as a composer. Resurrected from forgotten manuscripts in 2021, this Premiere recording brings the “Melrose Overture” into the light of day with the gifted players of the DNP Studio Orchestra. The recording’s cover graphic highlights the work’s rhythmic motif.

This energetic orchestral piece wraps different melodic “movements” into a singular work. The music opens with an explosive high-A from all three trumpets. A bombastic timpani solo takes over, followed by a single trumpet’s presentation of the melodic motif, which is answered by the full orchestra. Solos are plentiful throughout, including a virtuosic cadenza by the concertmaster. Slower lyrical themes are balanced with those featuring more rhythmical challenges. The conclusion builds harmonic dissonance between the instruments, until a unifying final chord.

The Rest of the Story…from Matt: "I wrote this during the summer of 1987, having just completed my Master’s degree from New England Conservatory in Boston. I lived just across the street from Memorial Hall, where the Melrose Symphony Orchestra performed. The conductor and I met and it was agreed I would create a work dedicated to the orchestra. The premiere performance by the MSO was scheduled for Spring, 1988. Unfortunately, the work was removed from the program one week before its premiere.

The piece laid dormant for many years. Eventually, enough time had passed that the computer files for the Conductor Score and all the parts became inaccessible. I resigned myself to the work being lost.

Decades later, a chance remembrance of the work encouraged me to try to recover the files once more. I successfully located a source—halfway around the world—that was able to access and convert the files. With renewed energy, I began to re-engrave the entire Conductor score and all the players parts. I assembled the best players, formed the DNP Studio Orchestra and recorded the Premiere during the summer of 2021."

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