Leaderboard

Good afternoon everyone! I'm fairly new to the forum, so I thought I would share something I wrote to introduce myself. I wrote this piece last year and finished around November, but just now decided to make a score so I could share it with you all. I'm interested in any and all feedback, as long as it's constructive. It is a rather long piece, so I included an outline if you would like to listen in "chunks". I used what you might call an "abbreviated sonata form": There is an Introduction, an Exposition stating two themes, an abbreviated Recapitulation of both themes, and a Resolution. (i.e. there is no development section) The outline is as follows: Introduction (0:00 - 5:13) Ominous opening, built around an ostinato figure (0:00 - 2:13) Lyrical theme (2:13 - 4:17) Return of ostinato figure, transition to exposition (4:17 - 5:13) A Theme of Exposition, somewhat manic and bombastic (5:13 - 7:09) B Theme of Exposition, pastoral yet deeply emotional (7:09 - 10:42) Brief transition to Recap of Exposition (10:42 - 11:21) Recap of A Theme, abbreviated (11:21 - 12:48) Recap of B Theme, abbreviated (12:48 - 15:07) Brief transition to Resolution (15:07 - 15:48) Resolution/Coda (15:48 - 19:21) As you listen, there are a few specific things I would be interested in your impression of: What is your favorite part? What is your least favorite part? While I have included a score and would certainly appreciate feedback on its appearance, I'm mostly concerned with feedback on technique, structure, orchestration, etc. How do you feel about the overall form? Does it work well? I am a former brass player, and know relatively little about string playing. Is my string writing convincing? What could be improved? What overall effect does the piece have on you? Does it create a certain image? Does it bring out a certain feeling? Anything else that jumps out at you. While I'm mostly happy with the way this piece turned out, there is certainly room for improvement. There are a lot of things I really like about it, but if I'm being real honest with myself I think the overall form falls a little flat, due to the lack of a development section. I dunno, maybe I'm too hard on myself, what do you guys think? Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy! If you have any questions about anything I did, feel free to ask and I will explain to the best of my ability. gmm New Piece for Orchestra.pdfNew Piece for Orchestra.mp3

@PaperComposer thank you for your insightful comment! I see what you mean. I don't intend to go back and add a development section because it "should" have one. This structure was my plan from the start. Since the Recap is mostly the same as the Exposition I wondered if the piece might come off as a little repetitive, but it sounds like it was still enjoyable (at least to you). The reason I omitted it in my original plan was this is the first piece I wrote of this magnitude, so I didn't want to overwhelm myself. Thank you! You know, you're the second person to say that section reminded them of Brahms. While I respect Brahms and everything he accomplished, I've never really been able to get into his music. I've tried on several occasions, and while I didn't dislike it, I never found anything that really grabbed me, you know what I mean? Do you know of any specific passages of his you would compare this section to? That might help me find a spark in his music. Thank you! I think I'm happy with the string writing itself, what I meant was that I don't know as much as I should about bowing and other technical aspects of string instruments. In the score I mostly just notated what "felt" right, but I'm not sure if the bowings I put in there make sense or are feasible. I guess if a string player didn't like what I wrote, they would just change to whatever they like, but I would like to give them at least a decent starting point. And, I'm a (former) horn player too! 🙂 Hopefully my bias isn't too obvious in my writing lol. I agree. With this piece I was experimenting with a more extended introduction, rather than a short one that leads right into the exposition. My goal was to write an introduction with standalone ideas from which I derive the themes I used later in the piece. For example, the opening motive in the oboe and clarinet below (m.3): was transformed by retrograde inversion to build the first theme of the Exposition in the clarinet (m.99): In this way, the introduction provides the material from which the rest of the piece grows, while still having it's own independent identity. Thank you! I wanted a very dramatic contrast here, I'm glad it was effective. Good point, I'm not as educated on these type of nuances with woodwind playing as I should be. It would make sense to have the 3rd flute double alto flute to play this. I hope you're not too offended if I don't do this immediately, as it would take some time to work this into the score, and at the moment I would like to concentrate on other projects. But I will certainly incorporate this idea going forward. Thank you for listening! I am very close with finishing another piece of this scope (this one with a proper, and intentional development). Hopefully I can have it finished within the next month or so.