Visions of a Renaissance

An old piece I had on this forum...Three designs ago....

This gorgeous!

I will have another listen when I have a bit more time to give it the attention it deserves - this will reward repeat listens!

Bravo!

Really beautiful work, though that's some difficult harp writing you've got in there.
A lot of clever changes and developments. It's hard not to love this piece! Some parts reminded me of Gershwin's "American in Paris" passages.
You use a lot of safe range writing, which is fine in the fast stuff, but pushing it a little bit could give that gorgeous slow point a bit more edge. 

I am in awe as I listen to this. Incredible writing here. Good stuff man.

thank you kind sir!

This is outstanding!, I have only one "negative" comment: I want more of it! 

Ha!!! thanks boss!

Maestro,

Beautiful and very engaging piece! I love the clarity of the orchestral textures throughout.

A suggestion from a fellow low brass player: You might consider doing an optional Euphonium part that has the Tuba solo at m. 190 notated up an octave instead of the optional 8va. That would allow one of the trombone players doubling on Euphonium to read the solo at pitch while still leaving the tubist a nice meaty line at m. 231 if the conductor chose to go for the octave up. Some of the harmonic support work in the tuba part really calls for the breadth of a CC tuba to lay the foundation of the chords, meaning the optional 8va would be in the extreme upper reaches of the instrument. It would be more manageable on an F, but still virtuosic.

That said, the world needs more lines like that for low brass in general, so thanks!

Also, a couple of thoughts on tuba octaves: In m. 288-294, you might consider writing the tuba down an octave (except for the C at the end of m. 289). That would put the overtones from the tuba in a great place to support the trombones through those chords, instead of being up against the moving lines in the upper brass and winds. For example, in m. 288, the overtones Bb-D-F from a tuba Bb below the staff would be right where you voiced the trombone chord.

Conversely, in m. 300, you might consider taking the tuba Gb up an ocatve so the instrument contributes a lighter sound to the piano chord there. That'll also give the ff low G following more gravitas.

You know, I WANTED to write it for my favorite EUPHONIUM; however, I know the piece wouldn't get played if I did that.  Now, I just take it down which I should have notated here.  And, you are absolutely correct about that down the octave at 288!

59 minutes ago, maestrowick said:

You know, I WANTED to write it for my favorite EUPHONIUM; however, I know the piece wouldn't get played if I did that.  Now, I just take it down which I should have notated here.  And, you are absolutely correct about that down the octave at 288!

 

I'm definitely an advocate for more Euphonium lit for orchestra, so I may be biased there. My instincts tell me including a Euphonium part as an optional alternate (while leaving the solo in the Tuba) wouldn't impact the potential reach of the piece all that much. In fact, it could increase the appeal to community orchestras who may not have a hot shot tubist available but could certainly poach a eupher out of the local concert band.

About the tuba octaves, the topic has really only occurred to me recently. The conductor for the wind ensemble at the local community college hired a ringer tuba player for our last concert. Tremendous sound, rich in overtones, his tone was an amazing foundation for the band. I was playing Euphonium and didn't have to worry about tuning at all when he was playing. I realized that it was his overtones that I was locking on to. It's really changed the way I look at tuba for harmonic foundation.

On 1/31/2017 at 9:08 PM, Adrian Quince said:

I'm definitely an advocate for more Euphonium lit for orchestra, so I may be biased there. My instincts tell me including a Euphonium part as an optional alternate (while leaving the solo in the Tuba) wouldn't impact the potential reach of the piece all that much. In fact, it could increase the appeal to community orchestras who may not have a hot shot tubist available but could certainly poach a eupher out of the local concert band.

About the tuba octaves, the topic has really only occurred to me recently. The conductor for the wind ensemble at the local community college hired a ringer tuba player for our last concert. Tremendous sound, rich in overtones, his tone was an amazing foundation for the band. I was playing Euphonium and didn't have to worry about tuning at all when he was playing. I realized that it was his overtones that I was locking on to. It's really changed the way I look at tuba for harmonic foundation.

 

I'm actually doing this @Adrian Quince.  This was SOUND advice and it makes perfect sense!!

I'm so glad you brought this piece back into the forum because I didn't even know it existed. You masterfully covered a dazzling world  of invention here in about six minutes. Bravo! Can you tell me something of this performance?

It sounds great! 
my only suggestion is that it seems a little underwritten for percussion (I’m probably biased as a percussionist) Maybe adding bass drum to the percussion instrumentation would help this. It seems like a lot of the impact moments would benefit from this.

7 hours ago, LayneBruce said:

Maybe adding bass drum to the percussion instrumentation would help this. It seems like a lot of the impact moments would benefit from this.

Any particular spots?

First time I noticed it was measure 33, I think bass drum could help drive the momentum forward, and then in measure 71 some loud bass drum hits will make the arrival more dramatic. 
 

it sounds great as is, it’s just rare to see bass drum excluded from percussion instrumentation, especially when there is a snare drum. Might help keep everything together tempo wise as well (not that this was really an issue)

scraggy, that's a fantastic work. 

On 2/27/2020 at 4:43 PM, Jean Szulc said:

scraggy, that's a fantastic work. 

 

thank you for the kind words!!

wow, that's amazing!