The following musical works are derived from David Colin Freeman's very own sketchbook of compositions from the period of 1995-2009. Here, they are released as the full-length album Symphonic Allusions. In the composers words... Stormy musical punctuations make it easy to imagine a rainy day when listening to Autumn Umbrella. The melody in Autumn Umbrella flows seamlessly throughout the entire piece like a torrent of runoff swirling down a storm drain. In contrast, By The Fountain sounds more like respite from a warm summer day. Although watery, the melody ebbs, flows, and springs forth with a more refreshing affect. The centerpiece of this collection of works is the Japanese-influenced, Sankyoku Suite, which was originally released as a flute solo with harp accompaniment entitled Sankyoku. It was first performed in 2004 in Los Angeles, California for a large audience. Since its original performance, I have reworked the piece on a grand scale to create the Sankyoku Suite for large orchestra. Although the adaptation found in this book is another version on the subject, it combines many of the orchestral countermelodies and rhythmic qualities of its two predecessors. Each movement describes its own subtitle: Sekitei describes the simplicity, yet the depth of a traditional Japanese rock garden where the rocks you see are not necessarily all that are there – just the tip of the iceberg. Tombo can be seen as an illustration of a fire-breathing dragonfly that is wreaking havoc upon a village of Samurai ants – you can almost see the ants printed in the cluster chords! Mizuumi completes the picture with watery images of marshland, lakes, and blue herons. It is the longest of the three movements and has the ability to lull the listener into a trancelike peace. Could this be classical trance? Country Lane was originally composed for the documentary Pedaling a Dream: The Mark Blum Story which earned the American Motion Picture Society’s Best of Competition award in 2001. My mother calls this “the bicycle song” because in the film, this piece was set to footage of people riding bicycles down a mountain trail… or could it be a country lane? Wishing Well is influenced by my years as flutist in the Los Angeles area wedding duo, Heaven’s Harp. Originally, the opening melody was meant to be included in a custom music box. Although the music box has yet to find a creator, I’ve included it in the album because of its black and white contrasts: it is but a lonely music box at first, but once the box opens it is like a wedding gift that springs out into a joyous occasion, combining all the emotions that two people would feel as they recite their wedding vows. Preceded by this is Waterlilly’s Dream, which might describe a mystical being, a forest nymph, who falls asleep and dreams of a journey filled with even more magic and mystery as the dream gradually becomes deeper and more complex. It contains hints of Erik Satie’s Trois Gymnopédie, and Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, which are two musical works I feel are some of the most sublime pieces ever written. In my opinion, Into The Unknown is like a journey in an airplane. There are subtle hints of Arabia as the metaphorical aircraft flies over the desert, inspired by my relocation from Los Angeles, California to Las Vegas, Nevada, and subsequent visits to the Mojave Desert. The original orchestral score was influenced by my years performing with the Los Angeles Pierce Symphonic Winds where I was principal flutist. I created Into The Unknown as an hommage to my time with the LA Winds and to the music we performed together. Bonny Springs is a direct allusion to the hamlet of Bonnie Springs, located just outside of Las Vegas. In this piece, I imagine a thespian festival with overt Celtic influence. Given my preference of Romantic music, and my interest with the styling of the late Victorian era, I composed Gymnopédie is an hommage to Erik Satie who composed three of such pieces in the late nineteenth century. Gymnopédie was to be a continuation of Satie’s Trois Gymnopédie, whose actual intent was to create three pieces of classical Greek antiquity with this traditional slow dance of youth. You may feel inclined to ask the question, “What other allusions make up Symphonic Allusions?” You might imagine the voyage of a ship, the many sea creatures in the depths below, the sparkle of the sun reflecting on the waves, a torrential storm from which you cannot escape, but ultimately, you find yourself safely returning home. I wish you well in your search for more buried treasure deep within Symphonic Allusions! -David Colin Freeman