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Hi, this is part of my series about orchestration of piano pieces by composers born in what is Ukraine today. Glière, who modified his name to the French taste, was born in Kiev. Oh, if my sadness is a short piano piece. The language is absolutely romantic. Here is my recreation:

Hello again, I'm posting a lot lately... This will probably the last one in a while! I am sending this score to a competition, I would be grateful if you could provide me with some of your feedback. I am also worried about the score, I may not be familiar with all the conventions or the proper way of writing the score, if you could point me towards mistakes or things to improve it would be really great! This is a song for mezzo-soprano voice and piano, based on the poem of Paul Verlaine 'Chanson d'Automne'. The audio is software generated, and I was not pleased with the voice playback of the software so I substituted the voice to a clarinet (but the actual piece is for voice and piano). Lastly, the score in the video is not the updated score (I have included the updated one separately as a pdf). I have removed things such as slurs in the voice part where it is not appropriate. Thank you! François

All right, here is the completed draft of the first "movement" of the violin concerto I've been working on. I'm confident there will still be plenty of changes made, especially as I consult with the violinist dedicatee, but I'm going to put this here for feedback for now. Two sections — andante con moto and moderato assai — played without pause between them. I've included both sections individually, as well as the combined file in case the stopping bothers you. I've also included the score, which is more or less cleaned up (haven't finalized the rehearsal markings yet btw). This is all quartal and polytonal harmonies. I'm not apologizing for it, just be warned that this sounds very little like Beethoven or Brahms or Bach (maybe more like Bartók). The sound file has been rendered by Noteperformer... so please try to interpret the score accordingly! (For example, the triple stops in the violin part will likely be played more like acciaccatura and not simultaneously as in the recording.) Feedback is always appreciated, even if it's as generic as "I didn't like it." (Although hopefully that won't be the case!) If you have any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them. Happy listening! Edit: I've removed the sound files and added a link to this "album" on SoundCloud, that way you can keep up with the latest fine tunings. I'll update the changes to the score whenever I have more of the next movement written. The latest iteration of the 2nd movement features an improved climactic moment in the first half (beginning around the 2:30 mark). It's still unders light construction, but the main ideas are there. Do let me know what you think. Furthermore, the piece has been given an actual name: Ferðalok (FEHR-thah-lawk), Icelandic for "Journey's End." The movement titles have likewise been reflavored to provide (hopefully) a bit more imagery. This is based on a poem by the same name. Thanks for all the feedback received thus far; it's been extremely useful!

Hello again! This is another old piece I started a long time ago that I just recently finished, this time for Violin and Piano (the 'arco ostinato' pattern in this piece doesn't actually come in until the middle of the piece). I fussed around with the ending quite a bit this time too and finally settled on a simple accelerando and crescendo to a pretty traditional subdominant, dominant, tonic cadence, although it ends in a different key than it began in. Let me know what you think! The piece features some double, triple and quadruple stops and left hand pizzicato technique for the violin. Any comments, critiques, or suggestions about the ending or about the techniques used in the violin part, or about the piece in general would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this piece check out my Arco Ostinato for String Quartet:

You know, I've listened to this several times now. I really wish I could offer some type of advice or critique, and even though it's hard to do so when I know there are more movements to come, I still wish I could. I don't play violin, or any orchestral instrument for that matter, so I'm glad there are at least a few violinists that can share their thoughts on a piece meant to place it at the forefront. I've dabbled with quartal and quintal harmonies before, but to me they've become a device I use in composing, rather than a structural component building the actual overall harmony. It's fascinating to hear how masterfully you wield it. It's a beautiful dissonance maybe one day I'll understand more. However, just because it's foreign to me doesn't mean I don't appreciate the beauty of it. I'm not a physicist, yet I'm in awe of the James Webb photos recently taken. I'm not super into metal music, but that doesn't mean I don't love what Meshuggah and Vildhjarta bring to music. I'm someone who appreciates all kinds of music and art, and I think it speaks volumes for your music that you're able to reach people like me; even though this isn't a style I would write in, I absolutely love your musical voice. I'm a fan of the sparse orchestration. I think it would be a hindrance for you to try and create lush gigantic harmonies with such yearning thematic material. I did like the ending of the moderato assai section, I felt like it needed a bit of girth near the end. I'm excited to hear more of this, and it's fantastic for you to be able to work with the violinist as well. I'm sure you learned a lot by conferring with him/her; how great for you as a composer! Will there be a recording of this piece? Absolute fantastic piece you have here, and I'm excited to hear how you revise this as well as the next movements. Keep us updated, and thanks for sharing!

Great work here! Lots of fantastic energy and exciting ideas. I really like the one at the C section, as well as the theme at 5:00 right before the C theme again. As I said in my comment for one of your other pieces, I really enjoy your ideas and style. You have a lot of originality, and you didn't disappoint once again. Maybe I missed the mark, but one thing you could perhaps improve on for the future is development. I felt like more ideas could have stemmed from previously introduced themes. You have no shortage of material, but it felt like you had enough material to write 2 or 3 different pieces. Just a thought though; a lot of metal music is written with a barrage of ideas without tons of development, so it can work. Another example would be bringing back the long V chord idea at the end of the intro. Or even that rhythm you have in the left hand at 5:58 for your coda. It would have been cool to keep that going as a final hoorah. Overall though, well written piece as usual! Great ideas and I loved the exciting energy of this piece. Thanks for sharing!

You see, THIS is why I always think everyone should write for small ensembles more. Out of the last few pieces I've heard from you, you orchestrated much more colorfully when having restrictions in your instrumentation. It wasn't a constant tutti sound, and you had much more variation in light and heavy textures. You were able to take a fun rhythm and violin motif and craft something wonderful. Awesome job man, one of my favorites from you!

Interesting piece, parts like M31-32 and the transition in M91 are pleasant to my ears and intriguing to my mind. The ostinato played in the piano sounds even funny, but not super joyful, something in the middle, which I also like. The pizz. end is probably my favourite part as well as the cresc. coda. Congratulations! Kind regards, Daniel–Ømicrón.

Hey there, I've recently posted a track called Tiliqua Rugosa, on which I started working quite casually earlier this year. In fact, I worked so randomly that I ended up having 3 different movements for strings that didn't work at all with the movie they were supposed to support. So I've decided to restart from scratch, compose something else, and keep those 3 movements for later. I've tried to come up with one suite, called Hallelujah Prelude. It is mostly intended to be played by a string quartet, but you will hear that I couldn't resist adding a few string ensembles as well as horns. Hope you'll like it, let me know how it could have been better! Cheers, Fabien

Wow ... what a fun piece. Very creative indeed. I enjoyed it immensely. My only comment, and it is a minor one, is maybe a bit of editing in the middle ... the ostinato in the violin continues for my taste a tiny bit too long. The introduction of the lovely lyrical theme towards the end is most enchanting and welcome. As Oliver Twist stated, "Please sir may I have some more!" a "joie de vivre!" Mark

Wow, thank you so much for your detailed comments and your kind words about the piece! I'm glad the "un-Classical" moments weren't jarring to you. I take your point about some of the pauses being disruptive to the flow. Not sure that there's anything to do about that here, but it's something to keep in mind in future writing. The sounds are all from Finale with a couple of plug-ins: NotePerformer for the VST, and Waves IR-1 reverb. I bought these about two weeks ago, and was so impressed with the way they sounded that I pulled out this and a few other old works, ran them through, and made some revisions. And yes, feel free to share this with anyone you think would enjoy it. Thanks again! - Aiwendil

Hi, semotivo. Please try uploading the file again, perhaps in .WAV or .MP3 format. I do not have the necessary software to open a .MID file, and I feel others may have the same issue.

Hi all, This is something I've been working on for my composition lessons. The goal is for it to be a piece that could be played fairly easily by people who don't really know how to play the instruments involved (although I hope it would be fun for professional kalimba and ukulele players as well). If you're interested in playing it, just let me know. I'd love to get some feedback on how well the score communicates.

These traditionalist types like ACO are always full of hate and rage these days, beneath a classy outlook. Their hating is, for them, of course always only the fault of the (post)modernist and the modern world. It's funny because this use of hate and ressentiment was once the thing the left used to build their power, it wasn't a conservative thing at all. I guess the thymos can be cultivated but these traditionalist types aren't much of an example of how to do it well.

Hi everyone, I'm an amateur music composer, new to this forum. I mainly work on symphonic soundtracks for highly underground projects. I thought I could share my last piece, a 5 minute soundtrack that is meant to support voice overs for a documentary film. It's called "Quatuor Chronologique" (chronological quartet), which it isn't exactly. I wanted to stick to a limited number of solo instruments (piano, violin, cello and horn) to keep things simple. However I ended up using symphonic string sections as well as percussions to amplify key moments in the movie, but also because I'm not there yet when it comes to composing and automating solo instruments... Despite that, I think that the score could work for a small chamber orchestra, so I gave myself the permission to go with the term quartet 😎 Enought talk, here is the piece. I would love to get some critical feedback from you guys! https://soundcloud.com/fabien_benard/quatuor-chronologique