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This is a wind band arrangement of a choir piece I did a couple years ago. (That piece is also on this site!) The original choral version was for a Hallowe'en virtual choir, and in this arrangement, I tried to use the expanded palette of the wind band to evoke even more spookiness. I'm fortunate that most of my choir works are performed live--but the same can't be said for my band music! So I spent an inordinate amount of time making this recording in my DAW with samples from VSL Special Editions v. 1-2. The sequencing process took considerably longer than actually orchestrating the piece did. It nearly destroyed me. I don't know how people who create entire orchestral film scores in DAWs do it. So... if you're one of those people, feel free to comment on the sequencing/mixing as well. I tried to make it sound as realistic as possible. I hope you enjoy it! (ALSO! The link to the original choral version is here: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t41687/strange-is-the-night-halloween-virtual-choir/#comment-1186698054)

I try to. I do when I make pieces for accordion solo which isn't often (but hopefully that's gonna change). Yes I do, at least what I can play. I rarely perform an entire piece on piano, I just cannot, but I often don't need to to get a grasp of how it sounds. What about them? Lol. Nah seriously I sometimes use the piano for them but it's not a necessary step in my non-piano compositions. Sometimes. Often. Free soundfonts I found on the internet during the last 8-9 years. Never satisfied enough I believe I made piano and violin sound good enough to me. I'm gonna publish my first book of nocturnes, not sure when but sure I'll try to search for an affordable professional pianist. I don't think anyone's gonna play it for fun or whatever but it could be. I'm not very concerned about that to be honest. Kind regards ^^!

Thanks! I enjoyed reading your interpretation of this work, it's very creative in fact. 😄 I'm happy you enjoy this piece. The ending is confusing, I know, but I tried to represent there the infinite posibilities of experiencing or re-experiencing feelings or moments that only happen in night (a kind of nostalgia). Maybe it's the reason it doesn't sound like a conclusion.

Thanks for your comments. I don't play harp, but I was interested in compose something for that instrument when I listened Danses sacrée et profane by Debussy. I composed this work (maybe 80%) at night and I've always loved working at night because it's quiet and relaxing, so this piece is just that, a representation of the night. There are many feelings, but in a general perspective it's a work that explains how different the nights can be.

Introduction: Intriguing. Never dared to compose for harp yet, I don't know its intricacies but it sure does sound very nice. This first "movement" evokes me the sensation of being embarked into a ship in the middle of the sea enjoying of time passing from midday to sunset. II: I like the change from C to C# m. Couldn't escape to the first scene your piece put me in my mind, so I feel like I'm the very same ship but now it's night. III: totally feels like I'm arriving into some port at the beginning of it, but my first impression faints in the B section of this movement and comes back at 149 when you repeat and faints again to a totally different theme...And it ends? This work of yours is indeed serious, solid and the third movement fascinated me and left me with everything but a feeling of conclusion. It felt like a musical cliff hanger to me! Congratulations. I'm glad you shared the result of your efforts here. Keep the good work man! Kind regards ^^!

This is a well-constructed piece of music. The imitative voicings are extremely reminiscent of the Classical era to which you ascribe your inspiration, so well done for staying true to form! I particularly enjoyed the instrumentation: percussive, double-reed, single-reed, and bowed. This gives the work an added layer of texturing in timbre. I think it's also worth noting that the piece is extremely playable — not saying that it's easy, per se, just that each instrument features balanced, idiomatic writing. Nice job! Musically, this is very well-crafted, with clean, almost surgically precise harmonies throughout. The imperfect cadence that rounds out the opening Adagio, the Allegro's announcement in the tonal proceeded by counterpoint over the dominant, the following thematic variations in related keys all with masterfully-rendered transitions — very Mozartian, the height of elegant musical classicism. There are some things to point out notationally, however. I'm not so worried about adding the tremolo to the violin section as others have pointed out, although I don't see any harm in doing so. Here are the issues that I noticed: 1) Dynamics in the piano. As a two-handed instrument that shares staves, the piano's dynamics must be written between the two parts, and not above and below as in the score. Indicating separate dynamics implies two different instruments... which is not the case here. Just omit the dynamics from the bottom stave and you'll be fine. 2) Trills. Throughout the piece, I notice you have put a flat sign next to many of the trill symbols. This indicates that the interval separating the trill's top and bottom notes should be shortened to a semitone. In the example below, the clarinettist would interpret this to be played as a trill between A-flat and B-double flat. This is not reflected in the recording provided. (I realize you were probably just trying to notate that the auxiliary note should be B-flat, which is already represented by the key signature. If that's the case, just get rid of the flat signs. A trill with no flat/sharp/natural signs will already be played between two notes that follow the key signature.) 3) Slurs. While you have supplied some slurs to the quick sixteenth notes in the Allegro section, I think you ought be even more liberal with them, especially with the wind instruments. This clarinet passage, for example, is going to sound a bit staccato if you expect the player to tongue each of these notes: I think it would be better and more realistic to provide slurring among each group of sixteenth notes, at least for the clarinet and bassoon. 4) Repeat bar. Where is this bar repeated from? If it's meant to be repeated from the end, you should probably notate this by adding an ending repeat bar there. All right, that's all from me. Again, great piece of music. I wish you the best of luck in the music festival!

Take that, John Cage!

I'm not an expert in classifying things by genre so I cannot help ya, but, dunno. I don't know if jazz goes that far (things like 1:30 and so on) and there seems to be either some electronic effects or dunno. And folk, iirc folk music depends on the country, why would this be folk? Kind regards!

This is a very interesting work ... there are some nice moments. I guess I don't know if the resulting thematic material/structure is intentional. There is no question that it is a singular style and you have something to say. Do you play harp? Or a string instrument. Maybe you can elaborate a bit more about the piece.