jason.s

Thank you all for the compliments! I appreciate your feedback. @timberM618: I'm glad that there was a mysterious quality evident for you. Given that Venus is a goddess, I thought the piece could use a touch of mystery to evoke a sense of the divine or celestial. I did this by using a minor third scale degree in an otherwise major scale, which adds some intervalic interest. I'll be sure to pass on your compliments to my soprano friend. She is indeed quite talented!

Venus Transiens is my first piece for solo voice. After completing a variety of choral works, I wanted to focus on melodic writing. The imagist text by Amy Lowell compares the beauty of a woman to Botticelli’s famous painting, The Birth of Venus. Lowell utilizes the painting and her own imagery to create an aura of ecstasy and sublime beauty, sentiments I sought to capture in this piece.Text:Tell me,Was Venus more beautifulThan you are,When she stoppedThe crinkled waves, Drifting shorewardOn her plaited shell?Was Botticelli’s visionFairer than mine;And were the pointed rosebuds He tossed his ladyOf better worthThan the words I blow about youTo cover your too great lovelinessAs with a gauzeOf misted silver?For me,You stand poisedIn the blue and buoyant air,Cinctured by bright winds, Treading the sunlight.And the waves which precede youRipple and stirThe sands at my feet. Venus Transiens (Soprano and Organ) Studio Recording

I'm going to be submitting this to publishers soon, so I'm reluctant to post a full score. However, I can definitely upload some sample pages. Thanks for your comments!

This is a setting of the Gabriela Mistral poem "La Otra." The piece is the middle movement of my set "Three Spanish Landscapes" for choir, piano, and cello. The violent Mistral poem is written from the perspective of a woman who confronts and kills a part of herself which she hates. Though the text is about a personal struggle, Mistral uses imagery of dry, fiery desert landscapes to portray the subject. La Otra (SATB, Piano, Cello) Live Recording

Thanks everyone for your feedback! Thanks also for moving the topic, whoever did that. One thing I'm unsure about is posting full compositions which have copyrighted text. This is why "Pueblo" and "Paisaje" have only 2-minute samples; they are actually 7 and 6 minutes in length, respectively. If I do not actually post the poem's text anywhere, am I allowed to post the full choral track? Copyright is such a headache...

Hello everyone, I've just put up a new portfolio website for myself at www.jmichaelsaunders.com. I haven't posted here in quite a while, but I would love any feedback you have about the site's design/functionality or the music. Since I'm not asking for critique of a particular piece, I figured that this was the most appropriate forum to post this topic. If not, I'll be happy to move it elsewhere. Cheers! ~Jason

Thank you for the feedback! I actually did recently have this piece performed by a professional choir, the Opus 7 ensemble in Seattle, Washington. You can listen to it here, and I'll change the top post too!

Morivou is correct; "DO-mi-nus" is the generally accepted emphasis. Thank you all again for your feedback! It brings me no small amount of satisfaction to know that my music has been enjoyed this much by all of you :)

Thank you all for your compliments and feedback! Majesty: I was aiming for the climax to be at the words "Mater Dei" at around 2:24. IHoldThePenHaHa: I wasn't visualizing a particular scene, but I was trying to create a sense of warmth, comfort, and adoration--so I certainly had emotions in mind while I was composing the piece. Hopefully they came through! Thank you all again :)

Thank you all for your feedback! I'm glad that the piece was enjoyed by so many--to me, that means I did my job. Lizard: yes, the choir did wonderful work--especially for being comprised of 22 people. Hopefully I'll be able to record future choral works with similar ensembles! Macar: thanks for the feedback. On second thought, you're right that "dominus" has more of the stress on "nus." Hopefully it isn't jarring, though. Would that composer you were thinking of be Lauridsen or Whitacre? I definitely love both of their music, though this piece wasn't intended to be a direct imitation.

Thank you for the feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the piece. Chaski, I do think I will continue with melodic pieces... it was a fun challenge. :)

Hello, I've been taking private composition lessons at the university I attend (they do this instead of comp classes), and my teacher encouraged me to try to write a piece focusing on melody, whereas my other compositions have been largely harmonic and chordal in focus. This was the result--an apparently "Schubertian" piece (according to my teacher). I don't necessarily think it's particularly original in mood or sound, but I do think it's fairly pretty :) I managed to get a recording with a pianist and cellist in our concert hall. The pianist made a few glaring errors, and the cello was quiet overall, but it's still far superior to a MIDI recording. Without further ado, you can find an mp3 here and a PDF of the score here. I'd love any feedback or comments you may have. Thanks! ~Jason

New! I've now had this piece performed and recorded (live) by the Opus 7 ensemble in Seattle, Washington. You can take a listen here. Original post below: Hey everyone, A while back (mid September I believe), I posted my Ave Maria choral arrangement in this forum. Now, I finally have my hands on a live recording! The piece was recorded at my school (Pacific Lutheran University) by 22 singers to whom I taught the piece over a couple of months through weekly rehearsals. I conducted them in the Composers' Forum concert last Saturday. A few notes were not quite right, but overall I'm extremely pleased with the quality of the recording! (Our school has a fantastic concert hall). You can listen to an mp3 file here and view a PDF file of the piece here. I would love any feedback or comments you have! ~Jason

Thanks tenor10 and deathraider! James, I'm not a composition major (rather Choral music ed), but I will be taking composition courses this year. The music was not originally composed in Finale, but that's what I used to produce the sheet music. The original instrumental recording was done in Apple Garageband.

Thanks everyone for the comments! Lizard, you're right that the tempo might be a bit slow, but I'll move it in some places during a live performance. As of right now, I'm putting together an ensemble at my college to sing the piece at a composers' concert on December 8th, so hopefully I will have a live recording to upload shortly after!