Sonata for Viola and Orchestra

Hi everyone,

I've been composing music for 3,5 years, but it was not until recently I decided to start uploading my music to the internet. I've never received any musical education, I had to educate myself. The first piece I decided to upload is the "Sonata for Viola and Orchestra". Please note, that even though it says sonata in the title, I wasn't sticking to any particular composition form. I would appreciate any feedback you can give me on both my orchestration and composition and your thoughts in general.

For the story behind the piece, you can check the description of the video attached here. My idea behind this composition was as follows: The motif that represents life gets introduced in the first part of the composition in a major key (0:00-0:56). Then the piece switches to a minor key and a "loss" motif start playing by a solo viola, representing the losses during the war. After the second repetition of the motif (1:00-2:24), the life motif comes back now in a minor key representing that life has changed for the worse (2:24-3:15). The loss motif is then repeated again and the piece concludes on an unstable minor add9 chord to show the uncertainty of the situation (3:15-4:30).

The piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4jGyzvWlmY&lc=z221wrhqgxznjvopt04t1aokgbir4xpajzdb5agsljhlrk0h00410

The score is attached here

Edit: Uploaded the piece here as well. For the history behind it, you should still check the link

Edit 2: Replaced the previous pdf file with the new one, since I found some mistakes (had incorrect crescendo markings around bars 10-11)

I find this piece to be rather enjoyable. I appreciate the explanation about the narrative of the piece -- I think it engages the listener more.  While you have a large ensemble, I think the piece is fairly spare most the time through (not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation; though, the different levels of the orchestra communicate well. I especially enjoyed the beginning's use of the brass group. The name 'sonata' could, I think, work, especially if you expand to a multi-movement work; you could always think of a justification or maybe you would even need one. Good work, and a neat score as well (that's something I love to observe).

I enjoy it quite a lot, but I feel like the climax of song simply wasn't as long enough as it could've been, before you even realize how awesome it is, it's gone. It's quite beautifully done, but was simply lacking a "click" for me. I don't think it's major enough for you to go out and fix it though, being as it's length fits the form of your music. But in the future, be aware it might happen again. 

i think you have a great feeling for melody

the whole thing is in a nice slow fashion but still steadily moving forward

awesome you learned it by yourself

I very like this your composition. It's incredibly that you are able to create such music without professional education. I think the strongest  side of your opus is a beautiful melody. It is very expressive and memorable. Orchestration is easy but very suitable for this emotion. 
The single question I would ask - why did you call it "Sonata"? Sonata and suite are cyclick janres. Moreover "Sonata" is a chamber music. Maybe the name 'poem' for this composition would be better? 

Lovely piece.  There is a dearth of works that feature the viola and this works very well. 

On 10/14/2019 at 1:27 PM, Alexx said:

I very like this your composition. It's incredibly that you are able to create such music without professional education. I think the strongest  side of your opus is a beautiful melody. It is very expressive and memorable. Orchestration is easy but very suitable for this emotion. 
The single question I would ask - why did you call it "Sonata"? Sonata and suite are cyclick janres. Moreover "Sonata" is a chamber music. Maybe the name 'poem' for this composition would be better? 

 

You see, this is where my lack of proper muscial education comes in. To begin with, I genuinely struggle when it comes to naming my own pieces: even when I have an outlined idea or a plot, like in this case. I decided to go for sonata since, when interpreted literally it "means a piece played as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian cantare, "to sing"), a piece sung", according to wikipedea at least. It is obviously not the best way to do any research, but that is what I went for.

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it!