BritishCompositeur

Hello musical friends! I hope you're all having a creative and happy 2021 so far. Early in the year, I wrote a set of 12 miniatures for clarinet and string orchestra to see in the new year (many would be happy to say goodbye to 2020, I know). The miniatures aren't themed around the months, despite there being 12 of them; they're just contrasting pieces which hopefully do well in short form... I hope you can have fun with Suite for the New Year!

Nice piece, if just a little on the anonymous side - maybe the use of thirds at the end could be more consistent, and lead to some kind of climax? Sounds good anyway, can't beat piano and strings for this cinematic mood!

Sounds good! Some interesting chords there, including at the opening. Even though its a short piece, I think you could have more interesting textures, e.g. Violin 2 taking the melody over 1, or the cello doing something gorgeous in its upper register (there are some attempts made in this manner, but it would make for more engaging music to go further and expand the texture a bit beyond Violin 1 at the top, 2 underneath, viola underneath, and cello at the bottom). Also, in bar 18 for example, there is duplication of notes leading to a thin texture where there could be a richer, more full one: the viola plays a C#, the same as in Violin 1, then a B, which is the same as in Violin 2, so the melody there is indistinct and obscured (though the decision to place the melody in the viola is a nice one). My personal taste is also that pandiatonic music isn't as interesting as when there are interesting modulations and changes of mode, but this is a fine example of the expressive aspect of pandiatonicism. Thanks for posting!

Sounds great! I'd love it to be extended a little, since it sounds a little abrupt. That horn gliss, how precise do you want the players to handle it (which notes at what time)? It can't be entirely smooth over the whole minim length, is my understanding...

Fun little piece. It sounds like the 2nd or 3rd movement of a 4-movement work - Britten's Simple Symphony seems a good model - add a slow movement before or after this one, then a first movement and finale which can either share material (ala Bartok) or be completely independent. Since this movement is very light and playful the other movements should have a playfulness to them as well, nothing too heavy (so no elegies or funereal marches or really much in a minor key - keep it vastly major-key throughout). For lightness you could base a movement off e.g. Haydn or Mozart string quartets? Would be cool to hear the entire thing once completed. Good job

Joe Hisaishi is really great. He's the reason I got into Studio Ghibli films a few years ago. This piece would have immediately made me think of his style even if you hadn't said it was inspired by him, so very good job! I think the harmonic choices were appropriate. In terms of the piano's register I think the piece spends a bit too long in the middle, and the bass region and upper octaves are slightly neglected - some of my favourite Hisaishi moments are a) when he pulls everything back and focuses on the piano's upper register, and b) when he introduces bass and makes it feel new, just because he hasn't used it until that point (Spirited Away etc.). Also, I'd consider adding strings in the background to fill out the soundscape that you're going for, and to really drive home that whimsical, cinematical feel of Hisaishi and others like him. Overall, very listenable and evocative. Great job!!

Enjoyable for the first minute, but I think some contrasting texture (a less intense one!) in the middle would give the piece more structure - when the intense chords in the orchestra return, they will sound fresh, if you've done something else in the middle of the piece to create contrast. Also, a few sustained notes would help in this, and again make the relatively staccato chords feel fresh! Love the photo slideshow you chose to accompany the piece, anything epic and celestial (or relating to nature) is good in my book. Thanks Mike!

Very cool and engaging! Love the pedal in the beginning, makes me think of Bartok, Ravel, Haydn, and others who have painted a similar scene., albeit all in different ways. I like music that tells a story well, and IMO this does - I wish it were paired with other movements to make a suite, since you can obviously portray many moods/feels and make appropriate transitions from one texture/movement to another. To me, this is clearly an 'intro' or 'prelude', to be followed by a slow movement (happy or sad or both, see Beethoven's famous 7th Symphony, for example) and a light, allegretto movement with much lighter textures than in this 'first movement' you have posted, and with a tempo in between it and the slow movement. Then a finale however you see fit, to make a suite/symphony/tone poem/extended work - as is, it's just too little of a good thing! You could even bring back this exact movement, almost note-for-note, with a rousing ending added! It would bring the house down. Love the choppy high strings, very dramatic. The brief clarinet solo is very nice. I think the sound of the virtual orchestra is also very good. Thanks for posting, and I'm glad it's one of your own favourites.

True, I tend to like large-scale works when they sound like film music, like Holst's The Planets suite (which is like a massive symphony in some ways)! Typical symphonic development comes off as pastiche to me these days, at least when I try and do it, hence the different 'feel'. Thanks for commenting!

Nice work, I like some of the chord choices (bars 10-11 of first movement etc.), the overall sense of a flowing structure, some of the virtuosic writing for the violin being welcome after sustained passages with long, high notes - though I wonder if the violin is generally written too high throughout? (It doesn't have to have an entire movement written sul G, all gruff and daggers, but more of a contrast in the writing for the violin (mostly in articulation) might give the piece more flavour.) I would have also liked a faster movement in there (the fastest being the last movement, which has quite a moderate feel). That said, there was a lot of good writing, and writing a concerto is always an ambitious undertaking!

So, this is a 13-minute symphony in four movements, each of them (generally) in C major. The last movement was composed first, and it's still my favourite, but I'm happy enough with the rest of it to post it here. Hope you enjoy it!

What a lovely collection! There's clear structure across the four pieces, so it flows nicely. Many nice, focused textures, especially in the middle two movements. Nice jazzy harmonies, such as those in the final bars. Some of the writing is a little too muddy for my taste (bars 15 and 16 stand out) but I can also see what you're aiming for so it's OK. My main complaint is that the sound of the virtual piano is rather jarring compared to Sibelius's softer rendering, and I would have enjoyed it more had it sounded as soft as the writing often implied! But the music itself has a lot to offer, as do the poems which inspired it. Thanks, 99!

Fun, whimsical story, and a good (though very short) piece - it'll sound much better with real instruments, needless to say! I like the section from 0:33, where I guess the snowstorm is brewing. I'll admit I don't see the story as the music is playing - I don't hear the dwarf 'knocking' as you write, but a little, rather classical miniature for, perhaps, string quartet (a more usual ensemble than three cellos). But the inspiration seems Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf, or Tchaikovsky ballets, or maybe even Wagner and his dwarves!

Love it! Makes me want to attempt a piece written in that style. Lots of interesting textures, rhythms, and use of extended playing techniques. Bar 39, I'm wondering if the koto should be playing a Bb instead of a B? I think the ideas could also be more delineated, with greater contrast between sections in terms of dynamics, tempo, etc. Otherwise the piece starts to feel a bit too long (for me). But it's pretty, idiomatic work, and I thank you for posting! Certainly never thought about the sound of the koto before - will have a listen on YT!

Thanks Theodore! Yes, a lot of music is IMO just too long, so I try and keep my pieces 'straightforward' as you say. The fourth movement was the first to be written, and yes it's probably my favourite too, though it's more a slow burn (lol) than the others...