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Made this track inspired by the Suzume Soundtrack and wanted to try out film for once. Lemme know what yall think. Also please don't use this track for anything other than listening to it. Thank you and enjoy! Dawn and Destruction.mp3

Somewhat frustratingly, it's always the latest fugues I start working on the ones that come to fruition the earliest. Often times, my older projects give me way more headaches that the newly started fugues, probably on account of my progressive improvements in counterpoints and my subsequent disappointment with previous developmental stages thereof. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

The polls are closed, and the voting has been finalized! (rigged) Congratulations to @PeterthePapercomPoser, for not only winning the challenge, but also in completing such a festive work! Here is a badge for your efforts. A unique, custom, one of a kind piece of digital jewelry, better than all the ones on this site.

Thanks for your suggestions @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, @PeterthePapercomPoser! I like your ideas, Henry. I will try them out. You definitely have more experience than me in the organization of a piece. I haven't had any formal training yet lol. I'm sure I was very heavily influenced by Ravel's string quartet, as it is one of my favorite pieces. I even had it as my morning alarm for a while. I've since worked on the balancing for the piece, and thanks for the feedback there.

There are all kinds of things you can do to make a midi sound more natural. I recorded 6 early YouTube videos about quality of playback, and made a playlist around this. The first video in that playlist is more general information based. But the other videos actually show you how I transformed very robotic sounding piano pieces into something much more natural. And I go over the techniques.

Even though I am an absolutely idiot and bonehead on the sound quality, I am sure the DAW will make it much better than the MS3 sound! Or the MS4 sound is better I think? Henry

Hello! I've been busy trying to complete some old pieces in between the new compositions I submit on here. So this is a piece I started a long time ago but only now managed to finish (although I fussed around with the ending quite a bit until I felt I had gotten it right). This is a rondo form which goes through like, four iterations of both a slow and a fast theme (the cellos' eponymous "arco ostinato") - both of which I intended to be based around basically the same melodic material. Each new iteration has a few new details added here and there and the slow parts are always in a different tonality so hopefully it doesn't bore you! The original idea behind the piece was to write a piece using quartal harmonies that nonetheless stays tonal and mostly triadic. Let me know what you think! The rendition is done with Musescore since I don't yet have any solo strings VST's. Thanks for listening!

Yo Papa Peter, I am going to dig this one out since we have talked about it before! First of all I love the fast section full of ostinato which gives the name to the piece. The energy in it, or in your music in general always reminds me of Haydn. Haydn faced a tough childhood and in his twenties but he always faced it with humour and energy. I think your music definitely shows the same quality too!! Nice use of quartal harmony to give the fleeing and joking mood here. Key changing like from b.32 to 33 is very funny yet crafty. The middle slow choral section provides good contrast as well, even though I feel like the contrast is too big haha! And the glissando, WTF! So funny especially with the computer rendition! Even if you don’t like Bartok, it really reminds me his String Quartet with the message like the pizz. movement of his String Quartet no.4, just face the suffering and play with it! I know I am trolling but thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Left Unexplained, This one is holy moly great! The opening is so mysterious with the harmonic progression and the orchestral colour. I love the later string passage in 0:33 which opens up the movement! That Eb Aeolian is so well used here. The ending is so fxxxingly beautiful even though it ends suddenly! You never fail to impress us with your orchestral prowess, thx so much for sharing! Henry

You're not wrong, but just because you declare bankruptcy, doesn't mean it to be true. That's a reference to The Office btw, where Michael says I Declare Bankruptcy! The point is, you should do everything you can to make your audio output as appealing as possible. The words are fine, but tweaking your midi is critical to convey that espress term.

I totally agree. I’ve been studying the pieces in Swan Lake and found that Tchaikovsky uses lots of dynamic energy especially when an instrument is soloed. I thought perhaps that the term espress. would take care of the expression and emotion properties but I assume I was wrong. I’ll definitely try these things out! Thanks so much!

Hi Gabriel, This might be more a matter of personal taste, but I like to put crescendo's and decrescendo's into parts of my phrases, giving the phrases more musicality and life. Although there's also the school of thought that since this is an exposition of the theme it doesn't have to be too fancy dynamics wise. Ultimately, it's your decision but I would have (for example) a crescendo in the Oboe from measure 9 - 10 and a decrescendo 11 - 12 (and I would have the whole thing played legato with a breath right after that long E in measure 12). In measures 13 - 16 I would have a long legato crescendo culminating in measure 17 at its loudest point. Then 17 - 20 I would have a decrescendo, followed by a crescendo 21 - 22 and a decrescendo again 23 - 24. And that would bring you back to the original theme orchestrated more fully (where I would follow the same pattern dynamics wise as when the Oboe alone had the melody). If you try that idea let me know if you like or dislike how it sounds! Thanks for sharing. Peter

I agree with @AngelCityOutlaw that the melody could be brought out more. Especially when only the piano is on the melody it could be brought into higher relief by increasing the velocity of the top notes. I imagine it would have much more of a shimmer and sparkle with that kind of emphasis. I like how you start the melody in the mid range of the piano, then go up an octave and then go up another octave before returning to the original tessitura with more intense orchestration. Especially when the piano is in its highest range bringing out the melody will be most effective. I like the denoument at the end that ends the piece on a more serene note. Thanks for sharing!

I really like this piece! I am curious as to how you go about composing this type of music!

I happened across this performance of Scriabin's famous etude on YouTube, and just wanted to post it here. Caution: this performance is as beautiful as it is apocalyptic and bone-chilling. https://youtu.be/-1BcfTdRSpE?si=9FANd2TrGU6eSbYu