Nearing the end.
Well, not the end, but the end of primary composition. The transfer to Dorico (after I post here) will be a singular effort in itself. The fact that Music XML is even available as a universal standard is a blessing, but dynamics and balance just do not transfer with much fidelity.
The first movement (the last worked on) has been as much a battlefield at times as the third (the first worked on). Both forced me into similar-but-different stressful states. The third was exhausting; this was frustrating.
A couple of weeks into the movement, I had decided on the Classical sonata form common with traditional symphonies, especially the first movement. I abandoned that for a binary form: AABBAB. The more I thought about sonata form, the more I disliked the idea of a development section returning to its origins; that ternary-adjacent, basic ABA. For lack of a better whatever, it felt cheap and stodgy.
Adding to stress was the extended failure of finding the music for the B section. The A section came fairly easily, but the B produced a lot of wasted paper and deleted MuseScore notes before it coalesced.
I’m still happy with the mood evoked–it matches my intent (which can be an elusive accomplishment and often just approximating)–but I haven’t yet listened to the entire piece from start-to-finish. Will it cohere?