PeterthePapercomPoser

@raymond doerr has submitted a piece as well!

We still have until Thursday, January 1st, 2026 before the Christmas Event closes! So get your reviews in to receive the "2025 Christmas Reviewer" Award! - (you don't have to review AI generated works to receive this badge) And all the participants will be receiving the "2025 Christmas Participant" award! -

Here's my 3rd submission to the event!

I started this piece this morning and managed to finish it this evening! My inspiration was to write a fast Christmas piece as my pieces lately have all veered towards the same slow tempo. The form of the Scherzo is ternary and the overall form is Scherzo - Trio - Scherzo. Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any of your comments, suggestions, critiques or observations!

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For this piece I made two versions. While inputting the piece with all its microtones into Musescore, it ended up sounding quite bad with all the microtones that I had included (probably owing to the fact that the piece is already quite dissonant without the microtones). So I removed all the microtones and made a version of it that's free of any microtones. That's the 1st version. Then, once I was done with that version of the piece, I went back and made a 2nd version with very light microtonal embellishments, mostly only in the melodic voices and only on minor chords (making them sub-minor in 24TET, meaning I brought the minor 3rd of minor chords down a quarter-step). My intent with using those particular microtones is to make the piece even darker than it would be if it was just a regular minor key piece. But let me know what you think about both versions and which one you like better! I welcome your comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations. Thanks for listening!

I share with you a musical quote from the book Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson by Gary Lachman who himself was a founding member of the rock group Blondie. The book is a biography of Colin Wilson, the author of The New Existentialism - a book I previously quoted above, as well as other famous titles such as The Outsider.

Hi @Bjarke! Your piece starts out quite similar to Prokofiev's Overture to Romeo and Juliet but soon turns into something definitely different. The intensity that doesn't let up later in the piece could really use some contrast with some occasional pp gestures - like a scherzo which is known for juxtaposing very loud and intense passages with very quiet and subdued ones. But, I'm not sure if composing with speed as the priority will really yield the best and most musical results. Thanks for sharing though!

Hi again @HoYin Cheung! What a charming sonata that I wasn't familiar with turned into a symphony movement! I think you did a splendid job transforming this piece into a work worthy of late Haydn. I didn't know that Haydn ended up including Clarinets in his later symphonies until I heard this piece and had to check if he ever used them. Thanks for sharing and great work! I'm stoked to hear the other movements!

Hi @Fugax Contrapunctus! For me it seems like having the Soprano in such a high tessitura and reaching the high C (and ending on a sustained high C) is more demanding that the low E's in the Basses. I wouldn't hesitate to transpose this piece down a half-step if it were mine - the English Horn could still play its part. And the Altos could still reach the F#. From my cursory perusal of your score, I think every other voice and instrument could still reach their notes. Btw - I liked the coda and that you managed to end in the same key you began. Thanks for sharing!

Hey @HoYin Cheung! It's amazing that such a well trained musician as yourself was attracted enough to a song like this and sought out to transcribe and arrange it like this despite it's almost pitch-less spoken lyrics/dialogue. You did a really great job nailing down the almost indeterminate pitches in the song! It shows that you have a really great ear and I'm sure it was a challenging but lucrative (skills-wise) endeavor for you! Thanks for sharing!

Hi @MK_Piano! The 1st movement fanfare reminds slightly of one of John Williams' Olympic Fanfare and Themes. But on the whole it has a very wondrous and magical sound to it that I like! 2nd movement - this has a surprising Arabic/Egyptian flavor to it. It might be because the main theme has a certain similarity to James Horner's Danger Theme. 3rd movement - this movement depicting the prospect of liftoff is a great hopeful ballad (at least in the beginning). The inclusion of the U.S. National Anthem brings great nostalgia to the occasion. It's also quite action-packed depicting well the intensity and explosive process of liftoff. You have a great intermingling of themes from the 2nd movement - it's great when writing a multi-movement work that you get to make these big melodic gestures through thematic association. 4th movement - quite an eerie start that would be very appropriate to the weightless tumbling of the Apollo spacecraft towards the moon. I can feel the enormous blackness and loneliness of space in this music. 5th movement - this starts off quite menacing. If I didn't know any better I would venture to guess that the Apollo 11 spacecraft encountered some kind of dire emergency in space while trying to land on the moon. Nice minor version of the National Anthem! That's cool that you included the actual audio of the voices of the astronauts. The music after that is so joyful and transcendent but still has a touch of wonder and awe. Overall this is quite an accomplished orchestral suite! Great job and thanks for sharing!

Hi @Aiwendil! Surely, an accomplished classical Trumpet Concerto! It's both melodically satisfactory while providing the soloist an ample challenge and virtuosity. The cadenzas are well written as well! Not to mention they sound humanized rather than mechanical and metronomic. Cadenza writing is its own beast and getting a good rendering of a cadenza from a computer program is all-the-more difficult, but I think you accomplished it! Perhaps your 2nd movement could have been more challenging for the soloist, but that might have detracted from its great, stately solemnity. I think the 3rd movement is probably my favorite. It makes for a really great finale to the whole concerto. I played Trumpet for a short time before switching to French Horn and for me those high concert C's would definitely be too demanding. But the instrument is a higher C Trumpet so it possibly might be more feasible than on a Bb Trumpet. Also, it seems you do not exceed the high concert C anywhere, so it seems all-the-more practical. A professional virtuoso should definitely be able to play it, as I'm sure you well know. Great job and thanks for sharing!

@SeekJohn14v6 has also entered a piece which was created with the assistance of AI (Suno):

Hey @ComposedBySam! Great piece! I think, even though you wrote the voice part in treble clef 8vb, I think the actual range of your voice reaches to the levels expected of a Baritone rather than a Tenor voice! The Tenor voice's lowest note is usually B an octave below middle C. While the Baritone (I am one myself) can reach all the way to G an octave and a half below middle C. So I think it would have been more appropriate to write the part in bass clef. Like Vince, I love your singing! I think just from hearing your voice and your style of singing and composing of this song, I can hear an Indian influence/heritage in it. I am also stoked to hear more of the stanzas of your poem realized in this way! Great job and thanks for sharing!