Poor Form Entry

These are suites based on a Bach Chorale. This is very early but I am sorta busy, so the quality in my opinion is not the highest, and is much a copy and paste of previous works of mine.

Well jeez, way to beat yourself up before the fight starts. I actually find this pretty pleasant to listen to. It's a shame you weren't able to spend more time on it. I'd have liked to hear what you would put together without having to rush. I still don't think you did a poor job though. (pun somewhat intended)

Thanks man, I always beat myself up, its just normal for me. I have something that was not rushed and something I am proud of:

I, too, think your entry was well-done. Nothing to be ashamed of! I mean, there's a reason Bach is still played 300 years later...

I also thought these were pleasant to listen to. Definitely nothing to hang your head about here, 99% very lovely. Very baroque-sounding throughout, although I will say the second piece at times (mm. 46-58) sounded more like modern film music to me. I think it was the continuing crescendos/diminuendos coupled with that dramatic, ostinato-esque figure in the violas that repeated for a good while (in a similar way to how some contemporary film composers tend to repeat simple figures overlaid over dramatic chord changes). Some of the clashing oboe tones came across strange to me in that section as well. I love a good Picardy third though, nice touch at the end of Mvt. 2 there. Overall good work, thanks for sharing!

Thanks Noah!

Alrighty! I’m going to do a first listen and free write while I do that – hopefully my comments come out sensible. I’m a little tired, I hope that doesn’t come across in my writing tone though (I’ve been told by some of my students that it does sometimes). I’m excited! Here we go.

“O Haupt Voll Blut und Wunden”

I.                    Good opening chorale. Not checking the voice leading right now, but most things seem okay. Your sound is consistent – I might like to see greater exploration of range/timbres. Solid writing here, nothing that really got me up out of my chair and itching for more though. What’s supposed to hook me into this piece?

II.                 Hey, a new tonality! Wasn’t expecting that, it’s nice. Maybe to go along with that new tonality you feature a new instrument or two? i.e. put the melody in the violin rather than the oboe, etc. Cool bass notes (2:45). There are some pretty radical decrescendos/crescendos – I’m not sure it does a whole lot to advance the phrasing as much as you intended, though they are an interesting effect for sure. Being a bass clarinet player, I appreciate the bass you’ve set up. It reminds me somewhat of Bach’s foot pedal writing for organ.

III.              I LOVE the ornamentation you’ve featured in this melody! Also the fact that you’ve given the main idea to the strings (finally) is really refreshing. I’m beginning to think that what my ear is really craving is a change in texture – range, number of lines playing, way ideas are presented, something like that. Everything right now is presented in “melody + chorale chords” format. I’d love to hear some new ideas and not only new melodies/harmonies. Does that make sense?

IV.              7:20 – I love the bass pattern with the eighth notes. Could we carry that through to other sections of this movement? Again, love the ornamentation. Hey! A tempo change?! (8:00 ish) That was a surprise. I also didn’t expect the dark turn this movement took. As you progress, your compositions get more mature – the melodies stand alone better and the harmonic material supports in more interesting ways. I really like your recapitulation here, it’s very satisfying while not being too predictable. Good job, that.

Overall, very well done. The hardest thing for me about this challenge was NOT being able to quote too literally from the original melody. You managed to create new material in a very seamless way, I feel it fits the requirements very well. You should be happy with your work here, and start to be more adventurous. I tell my students all the time that God invented backspace/delete keys for a reason. Try something crazy and if you don’t like it, get rid of it. Sometimes great things are discovered by mistakes and accidents!

Again, a good piece!

Gustav Johnson

Thanks Gustav! I appreciate your thoughts. Can't wait for the detailed judges responses 🙂