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Here another choral piece for SATB Voice, 3Trombone, Strings and Organ (Lyrics still pending).

Okay, I really love band music. This is really good. The moving parts at m. 48 I think need to be rebeamed in triplets, but otherwise your score is solid. This piece is very idiomatic for band as it is. I think it might be a bit of a cliché to add a fast section, and I think it might take from the organic nature of the music you've so far acheived. I was going to criticize that the piece seemed a little too "through-composed" for my liking, but a second listening revealed to me that I actually like the flow of your material, but what I want more of is organic orchestration. The first half of the score is better, but I think starting around page 10, it seems like you lose the balance between your theoretical idea and your ensemble, because the texture starts to get choppy. What I mean is eg. on page 14 the saxes/dbl reeds do something, then they stop and the high brass does something, then they stop and the low brass does something and this is more or less the pattern for the rest of the piece. I don't think this is "wrong" or anything, but if this is a competition piece, I think orchestrating this a little more elegantly will elevate the piece more than a fast section would. This is a water piece, and water doesn't behave discretely, I think you could let instruments' parts spill over and conflict with what interrupts it. I don't even think it would be that difficult for you with this piece; there is even an opportunity to elevate your 3 over 4 idea by letting an idea in 3 "spill over" into where your next idea is in 4 is one idea. The cool thing about bands is they are ravenous for new music - so when writing for band is the perfect time to get creative with doubling and textures. Thanks for sharing.

"A small classical waltz" indeed 😉. Very nice, I loved the changes in character and harmony. I actually normally don't take to these kind of pieces but I really enjoyed listening to this.

Hi Rodrigo, I quite liked this piece. Some comments regarding each movement (seeing as they all have a distinct quality): The first movement has a strong sense of unity. Really great writing here. Musically I thought the Allegro assai was a little weak compared to the superb other movements. The second movement I liked because of its harmonies (they have a sort of longing feeling to them), the constant struggle between minor and major. The third movement was a great stormy movement, probably my favorite movement of the piece. The fourth movement seemed off at first, I had suspected a fast last movement. But it actually works very well. Melodically I think this is the strongest movement. Overall, nice job! If there is an overarching critical note I could make, I'd say I don't feel the four movements are connected very much. Maybe this was by design, and it's not incorrect, but I personally like a piece to be one story, regardless of multiple movements.

Hi Rodrigo! Your Allegro assai movement is quite dynamic and dramatic because of it! I like how the softer parts of the movement give your music a sense of breath and the louder chordal hits accentuate it. It's funny - google translate tells me that "Allegro assai" means "very happy" - is that really the literal translation? The 3rd movement is quite exciting as well! Obviously, my favorite parts of your sonata are the faster movements. Overall there is no shortage of virtuosic displays from both the piano and and violin (although I wouldn't class this sonata as among the most difficult in the repertoire which isn't necessarily a bad thing). I almost can't find anything wrong with this but if I had to be picky I'd say I wish there was more darkness to the slow movements. Thank you for a great listening experience!

Since this section has been a little slow, I thought I'd repost the completed movements of my requiem. I'm almost done with the first part (Introitus and Sequentia), just needing to finish the Recordare (part VI) which I've been a little stuck. I've been making minor revisions to the other movements. I've been working on this off and on for quite a long time, since college, though more in earnest over the past couple years so it is a bit of a microcosm of my development as a composer. It initially was heavily inspired by Mozart's Requiem (I plan to setting the same text as his including the Sussmayr completion) but I've also drawn inspiration and influence from many other Classical and Romantic settings. When I get a chance, I'll post the scores as well. Any thoughts welcome!