UMFK professor composes symphony Piece is both traditional, modern

While he was writing it, Scott Brickman didn’t know what his Symphony No. 1 would be about. He just wrote, and let the images and ideas flow through his mind as he composed his first full symphonic piece.

“I later realized that, to me, the music tells the story of a struggle. There’s a lot of turbulence in it,” said the University of Maine at Fort Kent music professor. “I can’t help but think of the global protests against World Trade Organization, the conflict in the Middle East. It might be a stretch to say it’s a comment on the first decade of the 21st century, but that was going through my mind while I wrote it.”

Brickman’s first symphony, composed over the course of five months in 2006, was recently recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic and released on the CD “Masterworks of the New Era Vol. 12,” out on ERM Media. It took him a lot longer than that, however, to be ready to commit his composition to paper.

“A lot of times my students here will ask me how long it takes me to write something. I always say, it either takes me 30 years or a weekend,” said Brickman, who teaches music theory, piano performance and music technology at UMFK. “All the different movements that eventually became the symphony I’ve been tinkering with for, in some cases, ten years. It’s been a work in progress.”

Brickman’s symphony walks a line between the traditional and the modern. In many ways it’s a traditional symphony in four movements, starting with a sonata and ending with a rollicking, tumultuous finale. But he also incorporates contemporary folk elements, lending it an accessible, neoclassical feel.

A Chicago native, Brickman has spent the last 10 years in Fort Kent, immersing himself both in the university and in the greater St. John Valley community. He volunteers at Fort Kent Community High School, offering his services as a pianist to the school’s drama department for their musical theater productions.

“Things like that are just a great way for me to interact with the greater community,” said Brickman.

At UMFK, he’s known as “Mr. Music,” and is a driving cultural force on campus, lending his expertise and passion for all music – classical, jazz, pop, even new wave and punk – to his students. In 2004, Brickman and fellow professor Charles Closser collaborated on a musical titled “UMFK 125: The Musical,” celebrating the school’s 125th anniversary.

Currently, he’s working on a duet for double bass and piano that will be given its debut in New York City later this year. He continues to work with his symphony, the largest piece he has ever composed, and is aiming for another performance in the Czech Republic for the winter.

To order “Masterworks of the New Era Vol. 12,” on which Brickman’s Symphony No. 1 appears, visit www.numusicdirect.com. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.