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Really great rendition you've presented here! I usually love variations pieces as I consider the variation technique to be at the core of my composing technique in general - even for pieces which I don't intend to be in a theme and variations form. In fact - I'm working on a set of variations right now! These variations are dreary, dark and dramatic! You create a really effective mood here that is very appropriate to the meaning of the Dies Irae. I think what halts the momentum of the piece for me is your reiteration of the theme with the tubular bells in between each variation. Maybe instead of repeating the theme each time, you could just include the tolling of the bell (if you've attached a meaning to it as you say). I know that whenever I write variations I have such a huge number of ideas that I am almost overwhelmed sometimes by them, so I cope with that by trying to be really concise with my presentation of the variations. But you seem to take the opposite approach here, extending the piece for a really long duration that could have easily been clipped a bit. I think you use the restatement of the theme as a way of transitioning between the variations but it's really redundant since the listener has heard the theme so many times by then, in many different forms. I don't think the listener needs to be reminded of what the theme is each time and that's just kind of an unnecessary feature of the piece in my opinion. That's my critique. But besides that I really liked the piece! My favorite part I think is the waltz since it's the most light-hearted and jolly variations and quite well written. Also - kind of an unexpected feature of a variations piece meant to be about death! I do wonder what this particular variation meant for you. Nit-picky thing about the score - if you meant for there to be no key signature for the piece in general you should also remove the key signatures for the transposing instruments. Those are my thoughts. Thanks for sharing!

i think generally the emotion, mood or vibe is something i feel before writing, as well as during. After it’s done, i think i’ve overdosed on that particular feeling for a while so i tend to be largely desensitized to whatever i was trying to convey until time elapses. I’m not sure if i enjoy the creative process per se, but i feel as if it would be a kind of tragedy if i didn’t complete the work, so the sense of purpose or mission is definitely there to get me through it (so far in my composing “career”, emphasis on the quotations.) The thing that I love about it is that, after it’s done, i know that i’ve expressed myself, that being, in all things music and non-music, my reason for living.

Hey @Fugax Contrapunctus Pabio, I think you really utilize the chromatic nature of the subject very well to make the whole piece is a chromatic fluid state. I think you can still give some passage to a two voice structure for some breath or plays of that chromatic passages like b.52-53 but with a 2 voice structure. Thx for sharing! Henry