Sheet Music & Scores
Music written to be performed
These entries present a selection of works from the catalog, organized by ensemble. The complete catalog, including all available scores, is in the Store.
Orchestra & Large Ensemble
Symphony No. 1
FUll Orchestra · 45 minutes · Advanced
A four-movement work that moves from the nervous uncertainty of its opening gestures to a finale that, as Pizzicato wrote, makes it "hard to suppress a smile." Recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for Navona Records, 2024.
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Narrator & Orchestra · 40 minutes · Advanced
This work sets Coleridge's supernatural sea narrative for narrator and full orchestra. The music functions simultaneously as ocean, as psychological weather, and as supernatural presence alongside the narrator. WTJU Public Radio described it as music that "perfectly captures that concept of unease and unspoken danger." 2024 Global Music Awards Silver Medal.
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Full Orchestra · 8 minutes · Advanced
A tone poem after Tennyson's memorial poem. The heavy hoofbeats of the cavalry form the musical backbone as the orchestral narrative unfolds, from the valiant charge through the great clash of forces to a solemn call of remembrance for the fallen.
Danube Journey
Full Orchestra · 8 minutes · Advanced
A vivid musical travelogue from Budapest to Passau along the Danube River. Seven short interconnected sections each evoke a city or landscape along the route: Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Göttweig Abbey, Český Krumlov, and Passau, culminating in a grand chorale at the rivers' confluence.
Phi
Full Orchestra · 8 minutes · Advanced
From the time of the ancient world, human civilization has celebrated the special mathematical ratio called The Golden Proportion. Mathematicians use the greek symbol Phi to indicate this special number. Scientists have discovered the presence of this ratio throughout the natural world and it is an unavoidable part of being alive. This work unfolds, like the shell of a nautilus, with each section adding to the prior music in perfect proportion.
Steampunk Serenade
String Orchestra · 25 minutes · Advanced
Written in the tradition of 19th century string serenades, this five-movement work was composed in direct conversation with Dvorak's Serenade for Strings of 1875. As I wrote at the time of its premiere: "Like his work, my own had five distinct parts, called movements, that like Acts in a play stand as separate elements but must be heard together to deliver the whole."
Movements: I. A Steam-powered Machine · II. Slightly Tipsy · III. Over the Next Ridge · IV. Sunset Glow in Prairie Grass · V. Games of the Wind
In August 2026, CPR Classical aired the opening movement, A Steam-powered Machine, on Colorado Spotlight.
Terra, the Bringer of Life
Full Orchestra · Advanced
A companion work to Gustav Holst’s celebrated work, The Planets, this rounds out the known planets of 1917 with our homeworld. Like the greater work which inspired it, Terra uses the Latin name for our planet as it celebrates what makes Earth different than all the rest of our solar system, life. In seven parts (after a certain fashion), this work brings echoes of our weekly cycle with a 7/8 meter throughout. See if you can figure out what the seventh section of this work is.
Adventure at Sea
Full Orchestra · 6 minutes · Advanced
Pure adventure, this piece opens with the rough chant of sailors working the rigging of a vessel on its way to sea. The simplicity of their vigorous sea chanty yields as the wind picks up and the ship is pushing into adventure. Fog and mist await as the ship enters uncertain gloom before the opening chanty returns with the ship rising and surging on the waves of a storm-riled ocean.
Chamber Music
Souvenirs for Piano Quintet
Piano Quintet · 4 movements · 27 minutes · Advanced
Four movements drawn from four different moments in time. Each one is a souvenir of a moment with corresponding musical echoes from the time. Parchment, Daguerreotype, Wristwatch, Facemask
Piano Quintet in c-minor
Piano Quintet · 4 movements · 33 minutes · Advanced
Four movements, each a musical portrait of a universal human feeling. Agitation: a bubbling cauldron of tension and passion. Ennui: a melancholy boredom whose weight becomes unbearable. Wonder: an awe-filled contemplation of the night sky. Exuberance: the warmth of spring after the gloom of winter.
Transfigured Night
Violin and Piano · 8 minutes · Advanced
This work is a musical analog to Vincent Van Gogh’s famous painting ‘Starry Night’. In that painting, the night sky erupts in whorls and gestures that belie the apparent quietude of the evening sky. Like Van Gogh’s work, this piece is a serenade to the penetration of reality by wonder and beauty, infused with human imagination. Written for Paul Barnes and Teimuraz Janikashvili, and premiered at the Kalos Arts Foundation 2025 Beauty Through Faith Conference.
Before the Chill of Winter
Piano Quartet · 5 minutes · Intermediate
I wrote this piece for a short film about a couple in the later years of marriage. It is a look back to warmer days from the place of metaphorical winter. Recorded on A Winter Journal (2023) by Rita Váray, Dávid Pintér, Péter Tornyai, and Orsolya Mód.
Solo Piano
Piano Sonata in Three Acts
Solo Piano · 3 movements · 28 minutes · Virtuoso
Three movements of considerable range, composed for and recorded by pianist Benjamin Harding using the same microphone setup as engineers for Vladimir Horowitz's recordings. Harding's own description: "fresh, crafted with extreme precision, and inviting."
Pilgrim’s Progress
Solo Piano · 16 movements · 30 minutes · Advanced
Sixteen vignettes following Bunyan's allegorical Pilgrim from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Composed for a mobile application and organized as a journey, each short piece depicts a specific moment from the narrative. Individual movements may be programmed separately.
Movements: Prologue, The City of Destruction, The Slough of Despond, Mr. Legality's House, The Wicket Gate, The Interpreter's House, At the Cross, Palace Beautiful, Apollyon, The Narrow Road, Vanity Fair, The Giant Despair, The Delectable Mountains, The Shining One, The River of Death, The Celestial City.
Toccata
Solo Piano
True to the spirit of the style, this virtuosic work is built upon a variety of techniques and ways that pianists touch the keyboard (toccare, Italian “to touch”). It starts with a tonally ambiguous blur between Eb and D that works through the whole composition as the player moves throughout the keyboard. This work will challenge you to engage the full range of the instrument in pitch, dynamics, rhythm, and texture.
Benjamin Harding performed the Toccata at the 2026 American Liszt Festival. Below, Benjamin and I talk through the work as he rehearses it.
Vocal & ChorAL
Wedding Prayer
SATB a cappella · 5 minutes · Intermediate/Advanced
Originally composed for four voices at the composer's wedding ceremony, this work weaves flowing instrumental-style lines on sustained vowels while one or two voices carry the text. It is available in both the original SATB vocal setting and the string quartet arrangement recorded on Conversations (Octave Records, 2023).
Abide With Me
Soprano & Orchestra · 8 minutes · Advanced
A setting for soprano and orchestra of Henry Lyte's text, written in the final hours of his life. The music moves from quiet apprehension through prayer and wrestling to a radiant conclusion.
Commissions & Custom Works
Interested in commissioning a new work?
Gustav Hoyer is available for commissions across all ensemble types, from solo recital works to large-scale orchestral premieres. Contact Gustav to discuss your project.