THE SYMPHONINA FOUNDATION, Symphonina Stories: New Horizons
While a great symphony can transport us across centuries, continents and entire emotional landscapes, Symphonina Stories: New Horizons—an all-star compendium of contemporary composers assembled under the visionary umbrella of the Symphonina Foundation—opens that same expansive journey in an extraordinarily compact way, unfolding eight vividly imagined worlds in roughly ten minutes apiece.
That is the fascinating premise behind this ambitious double album, which challenges each composer to create a fully realized, emotionally impactful three- or four-movement symphonic world within that brief timespan. The concept was developed by composer, producer, conductor and AI scientist Dr. David Fogel, who envisioned the Symphonina as a modern counterpart to the early symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, many of which originally ran only 10 to 20 minutes before the form expanded dramatically over the centuries.
Fogel and co-founder Gary Gray established the Symphonina Foundation to introduce the format to new generations, and this latest collection makes a persuasive case for its creative possibilities. Rather than feeling like abbreviated symphonies, these works are remarkably complete musical narratives, with each movement functioning almost like a chapter within a grander story.
What makes New Horizons particularly engaging is the remarkable variety packed into each individual work. While every Symphonina is tight timewise, the form gives composers room to move through contrasting moods, tempos, instrumental colors and dramatic settings, sometimes reinforced by evocative subtitles that function almost like chapter headings. A bold orchestral statement can give way to an intimate flute, piano, harp or string passage, while mystery can suddenly become exuberance, romance or adventure. The listener isn’t simply hearing several themes developed within a short span, but moving through a succession of musical landscapes that nevertheless belong to the same story.
Christopher Siu’s “Symphonina (Hope)” exemplifies that approach, moving from a brassy, percussion-driven opening of cinematic adventure into a more reflective second mvt. filled with graceful horns, piano, flute and swelling strings, before the third returns to dancing rhythms and buoyant orchestral color. Jordan Jinosko’s “Of Fire and Water” makes its contrasting narrative even more explicit through the mvts “Gold,” “Fire” and “Spirit,” progressing from mysterious low strings and shimmering percussion to blazing brass and finally a tender, meditative passage led by cello and violin. In both works, the individual movements have distinct identities while contributing to a greater emotional arc.
Alexander Unseth’s “Painted Cry” takes that variety in a more whimsical direction. Its four movements—“L’temps un Cirque,” “Church Mosaic,” “A Bluebird’s Dream” and “New York Halloween”—range from playful, carousel-like orchestral mvt. to sacred contemplation, childlike flight and darker fantastical mischief. Chris Prather’s “Tales from Spooky Town” similarly turns four movements into an entire supernatural universe, moving from the adventurous “Carriage Ride” to the unexpectedly tender “Skeleton’s Broken Heart,” the exuberant “Dance of Pumpkins” and the gentlelullaby of “Even Ghosts Ghouls and Goblin Sleep.” Both composers demonstrate how much storytelling can emerge from the contrast between movements.
David Arkenstone’s “Dreams Carried on Fire” brings his familiar cinematic imagination to a three-mvt. journey that alternates between orchestral grandeur, lyrical reflection and spirited adventure, while David Das’s “Lenny and George Walk into a Bar” draws on an entirely different palette. “Tin Pan Alley” evokes vintage popular music and smoky clubs; “Nadia” slows into bluesy, saxophone-like sensuality; and “Tanglewood” explodes into racing percussion, strings and horns. The result is almost like three scenes from an eccentric musical film.
David Fogel’s own “Flutissimo” offers an elegant demonstration of the form’s classical roots, with the flute serving as a connective voice through three contrasting movements that move from joyful orchestral dance to tender meditation and finally a spirited flute-and-string exchange. Daniel Fisher’s “Runaway Dream Days” closes the collection with an especially soulful perspective, using piano, cello, oboe, flute and lush strings to create a trio of movements that feel like successive recollections—romantic, atmospheric and ultimately uplifting.
Taken together, these eight Symphoninas reveal just how flexible Fogel’s short form can be. The individual passages may be playful, haunting, romantic, adventurous, whimsical, spiritual or film score-like, but each composer uses them to weave a complete narrative within a remarkably concise frame. That is the real achievement of New Horizons: it doesn’t make symphonic music smaller—it makes the possibilities within the form feel infinitely larger.
Across the album, full orchestral forces—including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Scoring Orchestra and International Symphonina Orchestra—give these works a scale that belies their running times. More than simply an innovative way to make classical music streaming-friendly, New Horizons demonstrates that brevity and ambition can coexist beautifully. Fogel’s Symphonina has opened a genuinely intriguing new horizon: a place where symphonic tradition, contemporary storytelling and modern listening habits meet without any of them having to surrender their identity.
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