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Vals del Callejon Opus 25 for orchestra Hey, Working on how to make an orchestral piece that could be easily accepted by a real orchestra/conductor I made this piece but looks like is still a little large, (15 min) I was advised that a 3-5 minutes piece would be better for that purpose. For me, thinking in a 3-5 minutes orchestral work was a problem of development, how could I start, raise and end a work in 3-5 minutes ? ….after a tiny meditation I found the solution, To write a short, beautiful, decent waltz. "Callejon" means a little street (in spanish) with no cars, walking only ... In my city (the old part, the downtown) there are many alleys like this one you can see here: So here it is. This is the most classical and shortest work I’ve ever made, this is in the limits of simplicity and time-reduction, I think I can’t write something shorter. I also reduced the orchestra even more, removing the harp and xylophone. I think I have reduced the possibilities of “pretexts” for the conductor to accept a piece like this. Sequenced and Recorded in Sibelius 6 All Sounds by EDIROL Orchestra and Leslie Sanford Reeverb in effect bus 1 Recording and Score here: Hope you like it...

I wasn't harsh, I was honest and direct. I also wasn't unreasonable because it is, after all, my opinion. Opinions tend to be unreasonable, but mine isn't. I didn't feel any harmonic foundation in this section, only a bunch of 4ths and thirds. By foundation, I meant a note that one could cling to in case of emergency. You certainly had chords and momentary foundations, but they weren't consistent or solid. Perhaps that IS the foundation, a lack of one. You assume I'm thinking of Mahler (of whom I've never seen him "develop everything"). I wasn't. Even accompaniments should be developed to an extent or they become stagnant and boring, here it did. As a footnote, you might want to consider why the section does sound "very, very empty" without the viola line. I don't think the problem is the viola line, but the setting you put it in. The stuff around it (esp. the cello) is also stagnant (rhythmically). Two stagnant lines in one section cause problems. I'll specify because you took this way overboard. Bars 54-57 were what I was thinking of actually. I didn't even notice the 4/1. :) I think to make life easier for the player, it should be written as 3 2/8 bars (or one 3/4 bar), then one 4/8 (or 2/4) bar. Having the crossing of the phrase into 2+3+2 land is unnecessary when nothing else is happening. As for the 4/1, now that I saw it, it really isn't useful. Just write it as 4/4 as before. The 4/1 does give any meaningful information to the players. Simplicity is the best policy. You assume again. I didn't care if it was pomp and circumstance, only that it provided closure. In this case there is none, simple as that. Offended? Really? I kinda went out of my way to not be inflammatory. I respect what you're doing, your aesthetics, whatever, but when you ask for comments (i.e. opinions about the work), then I shall give them. If you didn't want comments that weren't glorious praises (exaggeration), then don't ask. As for backing, or justification (which is what I'm assuming you're asking for), it exists, just not on paper. I didn't want to write a whole essay for this little work and just gave you bullet points. Indeed, I didn't want you to just be tl;dr. Regardless, my opinion, while it has backing (hence reasonableness), I don't have to share it (or justify it) since it is, after all, an opinion. But I'm, if anything, being civil here.

I think Chopin is a great guy too. Sometimes though people who are inexperienced make, shall we say, less than informed decisions. That's what happened with him.

You're loved MF, in a internet from a distance sort of way

SSC - Probably the most influential user on the site for me, in terms of the incredible amount I learned from talking with him and reading his posts on various subjects. In all honesty, he played a role in shaping some of my basic beliefs about music (probably because I knew next to nothing when I began here). He's a very intelligent and funny guy; unfortunately he's not as active as he used to be. composerorganist - Definitely the most willingly helpful member on the site. He's never been averse to giving advice and helping out where possible, as far as I've seen - plus, he's the one who's often spurred me to continue working on whatever project I've undertaken at the time. From a compositional standpoint, I've been influenced by his continual experimentation with things unfamiliar to him - baroque fugues, new structures, textures, etc. His emphasis on counterpoint as a crucial element of composition has also played a role in developing my own views on the subject. Gardener - Come on now. You know what's up.

ms 78 ? .... Ouuuuu yes .... ups! No, I wasn't even thinking in the Rite, haha, Accidental I assure you :D Actually I feel myself a little werid writing this kind of music in the year 2009, I made this in 5 days, and now, day 6, I feel this is some kid of step back in my music ... On the other hand, I'm glad to see I'm able to write this kind of music, you never know when something like this will be useful .... what do you think, is it, in some how, wrong to write a piece like this in the times we're living now ? Anyway, Thanks for listening. (I see I forgot to click the "transposition score" button before creating the pdf, I was seriously distracted yesterday :D , well, download the score in C, before I upload the link with the final pdf) ------ The final versions of the Score and the Recording have been updated. (I may finish the writing of those ugly slurs someday, but, for the moment, this issue it's done.) EDIT: by saying "this issue it's done" that doesn't mean you have to stop posting :)

cute little piece. I think its good you limit yourself. Ms 78 reminded me of a part of The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky. Do you know the Spring Rounds (4rth movement, I guess) there is a similar part with piccolo trills. There is a lot different, I know that, but this looked almost like a quotation. Was it intentional?

Very beautiful. I do agree with you as well, I find it hard to limit myself in time constraints.

....nobody likes me???? :(