Symphony No.5

In keeping with long-established personal tradition, I will hasten to be the first and harshest critic of my own symphonic writing. During the 2-3 weeks spent creating the final two movements of this work, I occasionally reviewed the existing draft of the 2nd movement and solemnly promised myself that major revisions would be instituted prior to publishing. When push came to shove, however, it seems only minor cosmetic and pedestrian changes could be found. The tediously extended crescendo - with its two cacophonously yawping tutti passages, like the shrieks of hideously-wounded dinosaurs - remains intact.

Apart from all that, I will be the first to acknowledge that much of the timpani line in that same movement is obviously too impossibly complex for any one timpanist to realize. Insofar as Berlioz required no fewer than ten timpanists to perform his Requiem, Op.5, however, I trust that any ensemble temeritous enough to attempt this symphony will find a way. Call it a jobs program for indigent percussionists.