Aiwendil

This is a pretty little piece! My only question is whether "adagio" is really the right tempo marking; it sounds closer to an andante to me. I'd probably add a metronome mark, or at least make it "adagio ma non troppo" or something, to prevent it from being taken at a slower tempo than what you want.

This is quite nice. Very harmonically interesting, while staying within the framework of a traditional chorale.

Thanks for listening! It's rare for suites for a solo instrument not to have a Courante or a Gigue, but orchestral suites seem to have been treated a little more freely. There are plenty by Bach, Telemann, and Handel that omit them.

I've finally finished this orchestral suite that I'd been working on forever. It's sort of a pseudo-Baroque thing, though written for more of a Classical orchestra, and not always adhering to the forms of a Baroque suite. I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts/comments/criticisms!

Thanks for your comments! I do fear that I went too far in keeping the accompaniment simple in this movement, in an effort not to distract from the melodic material. I may try a version where there's a little more variety in the strings, perhaps switching to an arpeggiated pattern at some points.

Thanks for your comments! I was worried that the transition back to D major in b. 44-46 was inelegant, reinterpreting the A sharp as a B flat, but I hope it lends a nice little harmonic surprise. I'm probably betraying my background as a wind player in preferring to keep the strings as accompaniment. I agree the melody would sound well in the violins, but I guess personally I prefer the way it sounds on horn and oboe. I may revise this a little, though, as I finish up the piece. I'll post the whole suite when it's finished.

Your second statement is somewhat shocking to me, but it fully explains why you believe the first statement is true. I only ever listen to a symphony in its entirety, and I enjoy that kind of long-form music. And that's also why I write long-form music - I'm not just copying older forms for the hell of it; I'm writing the kind of piece I would want to sit down and listen to. Of course, I'm not an "aspring composer"; I'm just a hobbyist, a dilettante.

I wrote this air last week for an orchestral suite I've been working on. I can't quite decide whether it's too schmaltzy or not.

Good thing I didn't include social security number. Good catch! This one doesn't really bother my ear, but maybe I should see if I can "fix" it. And you're right, that key signature should be D minor. Thanks to both of you for listening! Hopefully my friend will no longer have any excuse to say no one's ever made something special for her.

A friend of mine was lamenting the fact that nobody has ever made something special for her, so for her upcoming birthday, I've written a set of orchestral variations on "Happy Birthday". Variation II contains a figure based on scale degrees that spell out her birthdate, while variation IV contains an ostinato based on her initials. Any comments or criticisms would be most appreciated!

This is an interesting piece. I like the imitation of the mandolin. I think my favorite section is that begining around 0:40 (and the later repetition of the same idea) with the imitation of flute and harp. On the other hand, if I were to level a criticism at the piece, it would be that the section beginning around 1:33 (with the "horn" part in block chords under the "mandolin") feels a little static. With real horns, I don't think this would be the case, as they could keep the interest up with small crescendi across the whole notes, but with just piano that texture gets perhaps just a little bit boring after several measures. That's a minor complaint, though. Overall, I liked it a lot!

I suppose I write just for myself. My goal is to write music that I think sounds good. I'm under no illusions that anyone else will ever listen to my music for pleasure. Nonetheless, I must admit that I do care more than I probably should what others think of my music. I'm not really sure why.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. I would consider using them again, though I think I'd look at other options next time as well. The pricing was about what I was expecting - the total for rehearsal and the session (for the two performers plus an engineer) was $1000. I don't really have a framework to judge whether that's "normal", but it's about what I estimated it would probably be based on typical hourly wages for musicians and a guess at how long it would take. They played it together, which was a must for me - for this kind of music, the interplay between the performers is critical, and I didn't want the tempo locked in to a click track. So I was happy with that. My main criticism is that I couldn't interact with the performers at all, and didn't get any feedback between the rehearsal and the session. I figured this was just standard practice in a work-for-hire situation like this, but have since heard that most people will set it up so that the composer can join remotely and give feedback or talk to the players. If I had been able to talk to them, I would've suggested taking the fast movements at a slightly slower tempo if it meant a technically cleaner performance, and I also would've asked for a few changes in their interpretation (e.g. there are places where they play things very staccato where I didn't want staccato). I used to play flute, so I have a good idea of its technical abilities, but - even without speaking with the performers - I feel like I've learned a bit about the oboe. The other piece of feedback I'm sure they would have given me, because I can hear them struggling with it in the recording, is to allow better for breathing. This is something I obviously know about, as a former woodwind player, but I still often forget it when I'm writing. For the most part, I think they did a good job of finding places to breathe, but if I'd interacted with them, I feel like I could have added breath marks to the score in places that would least interrupt the flow of the music.

Thanks! I don't know the names of the performers - I asked, but the Supreme Tracks representative just said, "We're work-for-hire, so you don't need to credit us. If you want to, you can just say 'woodwinds by Supreme Tracks'."

Here's the companion to the sonata in E minor I posted last week. Again, any thoughts on the mixing (especially the reverb and stereo panning) or on the composition itself would be greatly appreciated!