I began with one small idea: I wanted to move from the diminished chord to the augmented chord and back to the diminished chord in some key. That was all I had in mind. From there I began to explore some of the other ways to morph that I am already familiar with, and I wanted something that could rise and reach an emotional peak.
This formed a central section, and as I ended on a dominant 7 chord.
I wanted to make that dominant 7 chord flat the 5th in a way that I have heard so many times and then expand to a minor chord. I have heard many composers do this but no one has been better at at this than Peter Tchaikovsky. At that point I suddenly realized that I had a lot of the Tchaikovsky sound. No one can get all of it, because Tchaikovsky was one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived, and no one can fully duplicate his magic. But I felt I was getting close.
I realized that I had created a very dark sound, and once again this was exactly the mood I was in.
So rather than try to create a beginning and end section that would contrast with something lighter, I simply kept the darkness. Composing it is a mysterious process. I started with a very intellectual idea, but soon my emotions were fully engaged. By the end of this, my new composition became intensely personal to the point that I am almost embarrassed to even write about it.
This is for all of my friends who have a really dark side, like I do. I picked pictures that I found for another composition before that was also very dark. I fear that most people will not want to play this because it is too much of a downer, but I really hope I’m wrong wrong. I would love to teach it.