xeraphine

i'll give it a shot. pretty limited ensemble but i'll try =D it's worth the experience.

Hey, thanks for the listen! I'll respond to your points in chronological order: 2:50 - I agree...I think my bass clarinet sound is responsible for that...it's really grating >_> But the melody is supposed to be carried by staccato notes in the bass at that point...bass clarinets, among others have sustained harmony notes, which came out much too loud. But it wasn't the clash I personally heard, which is at 5:25. 3:23 - On the recapitulation, I bridged those two themes together; on a relisten and re-examination, I see what you mean. The sound just kinda..halts. =] Thanks for the tip.

Well. i finished writing movement 2 of my symphony in A. if you don't remember the first movement, it's here www.aeskape.com/mvt1.mp3 www.aeskape.com/mvt2.mp3 is the second movement. there's this one part in the middle where several instruments clash horribly, and i'm not sure why. but yeah. any feedback at all would be useful. (i'm well aware of any/all balance issues. especially in the low brass. i'll post the score of all four movements when i complete them all. that'll be around july/august.

thanks for the review :). i do have a question though, what do you mean by "weak"? do you think i didn't develop them enough? and i didn't mean to come across as medieval-sounding. if i did to you, well...that's always good i guess :D thanks again for the review.

i don't like the frequent and seemingly meaningly pauses in the beginning, but it picked up quickly and started driving! very jazzy feel, obviously. very catchy tune! :] i like the isolated hits in the trumpet, very well used. gets slightly repetitive at times...and in the middle, it just seems to die...i loved it when the full ensemble was playing, but i think you stretched the middle interlude a bit too long. jazz, IMO, is supposed to be driving and constantly moving. and the drum set got annoying after a while...maybe add some snare rhythms or something besides the constant repeating pattern you have. there are a few breaks, yes, but it really got annoying by the end. hmm, now that's it over, besides loving the very last few measures, i think from the point where the trombone solo leaves to the end is quite..boring? i loved the part where the trombone solo and the rest of the ensemble were playing together: i felt that was really well done, but after that...it just sorta died. good work with the middle, but maybe revisit the last half? oh, and sorry for the randomness...i reviewed while i was listening and just typed my thoughts. :]

www.aeskape.com/mvt1.mp3 It's written for a small symphonic orchestra: piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet in Eb, clarinet in Bb, bass clarinet, bassoon, horn in F, trumpet, trombone, tuba, timpani, general percussion, string section. This is my first foray into true classicism. It's based loosely off sonata-allegro form...i did the best i could without sacrificing my own freedom. I did sorta a introduction, then an exposition/development of three themes, then straight into the recapitulation of those themes in different keys, then i wrapped it up into a coda. i didn't follow any of the rules for key modulation that are given in sonata-allegro form, i just modulated to whatever felt right ;). there IS somewhat of a pattern to my key modulations. This took me three weeks to complete, off and on work, and is sequenced using FL Studio and GPO (i don't have enough RAM to run GPO live, and it takes too long to get the dynamics right in sibelius). finally, the file is pretty big, it's 7:10 and 10 megs, so be patient. Any critiscism/reviews are welcome and desired :]

oh gosh. there's so much depth in this piece! the way the tempos fluctuate and the seemingly flawless and breakless transitions are, in my opinion, crafted to perfection. this is beautiful :)

very small orchestra...therefore, i feel it sounds sorta...thin. Maybe you can try to double the woodwinds and the trumpets/low brass to stretch your chords. lots of dissonance...i like some resolutions, but really, i'm not a big fan of extended dissonance...but as for the beginning, it sounds very serene and quiet...lots of note doubling and not a lot of rich chords. that could be the mood you're going for though. kinda gets boring in the middle. Yeah..the big hit sounded weak and thin. Try filling up the chords more with more instruments. I like the melodic element of that section. sorry if i come off as really critical...i'm just not a big fan of atonality. You did manage to infuse a sense of melody at certain points, and that made it a worthwhile listen for me :]. but yes. fill up some of the chords in certain sections.

is classical composition dying as we speak? i mean classical in the most straightforward sense: baroque, classical, romantic, etc (basically, most of the works around here). if all the philharmonics and the orchestras, etc, keep playing the historical classics, what market is there for new composers? the biggest, and as far as i see it, the sole market for a composer who makes a living off music by itself (a working composer) is films, games, and tv. there's just no market for classical works anymore, UNLESS it's for school band, school orchestra, school wind ensemble, or it breaks 239487 conventions and does something truly innovational. just my thoughts...

http://classicalmidiconnection.com/cmc/romantic.html TONS of classical midis, which, if you convert to notation (using finale/sibelius, etc.), provide excellent scores.

...or JTW just copied the theme for jaws... anyway, NWS is my personal favorite. the horn parts especially are beautifully written (i know i'm biased. shhh. don't tell). the orchestration, the clearly thematic material, and the clarity of the images portrayed make this work so great. it's very accessible and very enjoyable.

well, you click in the staff (doesn't matter where) you want to come out of the midi keyboard, then you either click away or press escape until the mouse pointer is normal (usually just once), and everything'll be fine. just on a side note, i LOVE flexi-time input :]. finale's hyper-something-or-other was more detrimental to speed than helpful. thank goodness my music teacher introduced me to sibelius ;)

don't forget to mention that everything below a low F sounds guttaral and doesn't project as the higher notes. It's like the trumpet and the horn: generally, below middle concert B-flat, these brass instruments don't project and sound guttaral and rough, also, it becomes VERY difficult to play loudly with good tonality. Be careful when writing low for, say, high school bands.

oh wow. brilliantly done! i can't wait to hear the live recording of this: the midi just doesn't do it justice. I love the flourishes you put in during the big crescendo, they carry the mystery further and heighten the etension until the big climax, which i think could do with suspended cymbal before the crash. I'm not sure if you have one written, I sure couldn't hear it though (stupid midi).

There's this fellow named Justin R. Durban that does cinematic compositions and he doesn't do a note of notation. check it out: Edgen