Valor - for Orchestra

"Valor" is one of my very early compositions, yet it remains one of my favorites I have composed to this day. When writing this, I was trying to capture this sense of emotional struggle that we all face at times. The title is a metaphor for the feeling of being intimidated and overwhelmed by the difficulties we face in life, and making the choice of accepting them and trying to work through them. Often times I think people tend to shy away from their problems rather than addressing them. This work is meant to reflect those emotions when we must have some courage.Like most of my works, this is not written intentionally to indicate a specific form, but it does follow an ABA form.The original instrumentation was for Alto Saxophone and Piano, but I always felt like this work would sound great in an orchestra. In the Summer of 2015, I finally decided to create an orchestral arrangement.