Alex Weidmann

Hi to all. Have just made this orchestration of my own recently composed piano work. The score is designed for midi rendition only: so I haven't tidied it for real musicians. Think the piece actually works better as an orchestral work, but I'd be very interested to hear your opinions of my orchestration choices. I think some of them could be improved. Chills (orchestral version) #13.mp3 Chills (orchestral version) #15.pdf

Thanks Grant, I think the icy quality and low dynamics make it sound a bit like Koechlin; though that wasn't deliberate. The clumsy feel of the LH is probably down to the frequent fermatas, and time signature changes. I seem to have a problem sticking to a regular beat in my compositions, and end up tying myself up in knots! Then having to make loads of adjustments to make the rhythms sound natural. Maybe I should try to give the piece more structure; though I do already have a repetition of the opening theme in the middle, and near the end. So it's not completely without form.

That's fair.

Hi to all musophiles! Just wanted to share my latest piano work, which was improvised around three chords. These were C major 7 sharp 11, E minor +6 +9, and B minor +9. The first two are from Howard Shore's score for "Lord of the Rings", and the last one is Ravel's favourite chord. I haven't put my phrasing slurs in yet; but it's otherwise maybe finished? Not sure if it's any good; or if I should just bin it? Have also included an earlier version (#34) that had an awkward passage one minute into the piece. I liked this material; but couldn't find a way to integrate it into the piece. It sounded rhythmically weird, no matter how hard I tried to make it work. Thanks for listening, Alex Chills #36.mp3Chills #34.mp3 Chills #40.pdf Chills #34.pdf

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the Colin Matthews version. When I orchestrated Debussy's "Footsteps in the Snow", I was aware of his version; but deliberately avoided listening to it, so I wouldn't be influenced. Afterwards I compared the two, and discovered I'd come to some of the same decisions as Colin with my orchestration; but also some radically different ones!

Hi Luis, This is a great piece to choose for orchestration! I'm sure I've played this on the piano in the past. It uses one of Debussy's favourite tricks with its harmonic planing, and has some lovely impressionist touches. I wonder, are there any other orchestrated versions; or is yours the first? Using a choir of flutes was a neat idea, and I like your harp harmonics (near the start). Also harp with glockenspiel is an effective combination that I probably wouldn't have thought of. My only wish is that you had slightly better instrument libraries to do justice to your score, as the rendition doesn't always sound fully realistic.

Thank you so much! It was a labour of love. Will keep working on the notation, and maybe even get a performance one day!

Greetings all! I present here my latest orchestration of Rachmaninoff's beautiful and haunting Prelude in B minor. It's a rough score (as usual), with lots of slurs yet to be added, and flute division that needs sorting. Some of the notational issues come from the original piano midi I used as my source. E.g. The places where I have two crotchet triplets followed by a minim sextuplet. (Obviously four triplets would be preferable.) Also the strange tempo change to 80 bpm, and time signature change to 5/4. I will fix these; though it's going to take a lot of work, as I don't think there's an easy way to do batch conversion of tuplets in MuseScore. (Unless someone knows different?) The big bombastic chords in the piano original were quite awkward to deal with; but I realised I didn't need to match the piano rhythms exactly. All I really needed were pulsing chords of some kind: so that's what I've tried to create. I haven't been able to find any other orchestrations of this piece: so mine may be the first? Anyway hope you enjoy. rachmaninoff-prelude-in-b-minor-op-32-no-10 (orchestration) #47.mp3 rachmaninoff-prelude-in-b-minor-op-32-no-10 (orchestration) #47.pdf

Thanks Luis, great points you raise. Hopefully you will have a symphony orchestra at your disposal one day! You never know...

Thank you so much for the kind words Luis. When I heard this prelude, I thought it was crying out for an orchestration: so I couldn't resist making one! Will probably have a go at the fugue and variation some time; though at the moment I'm working on an orchestration of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in B minor (Op.32 No.10), which is proving quite challenging!

I was trying to stick to the pitches from the original piano work: so the bass line is too low for bassoon. I could've used double-basses; but felt like contrabassoon would blend better with the other woodwinds. Double-bass can stick out sometimes when it's not balanced by the other strings, and has a more abrasive sound than contrabassoon in my opinion. There aren't many other options available for that low register. The only ones I can think of are harp, piano and bass marimba.

Thanks Mark! I just love the colour of the English horn: so try to use it as much as possible, Would you suggest I move these passages into the bassoon or bass clarinet?

Hi to all, Just wanted to post my latest orchestration attempt. It's the prelude from Cesar Franck's "Prelude, Fugue and Variation" (Op. 18). This is a rough draft for midi rendition: so I haven't added slurs, etc... Not sure about my brass passage in Bars 26-32? Perhaps I should stick with woodwind and strings? I wonder if I should attempt the fugue and variation too? Though they would be more challenging. Anyway let me know what you think? Franck - Prelude in C minor (orchestration) #8 (mid).mp3 Franck - Prelude in C minor (orchestration) #9 (score).pdf

This is a scheme run by composer Colin Matthews and the London Symphony Orchestra, in memory of Polish composer Sir Andrzej Panufnik. It's designed to help composers early in their careers. They only accept 6 students per year, and after the workshop, 2 are selected to expand their works for a performance at London's Barbican Centre. I've never applied to the programme myself; I just attended this year's workshop as an observer (since they're open to the public).

Rescinded.