Voile d'automne

I have been working on this composition for about eight months, I think. I have attempted to take note of all the feedback I have received to date in this forum, with the exception of 'try to work fast at producing more compositions instead of tinkering endlessly with one piece.' If you don't warm to different things going on at the same time, you will not warm to Voile d'automne: probably you will consider it a dog's breakfast. I have been concerned to keep the music melodically interesting. Do I succeed? Or have I overdone it? I have been concerned to produce different soundscapes (including the employment of different modalities) yet maintain an overall sense of unity. I believe I have been successful at this, but do you agree? Compared with previous compositions, I have tried to make use of different rhythms. Does this work? Some parts of the work are melody-led, and other parts are chord led. Do you think I have the balance anywhere near right? I should like to have been much more adventurous in the chords I was using (other than the chords made with passing notes), but I do not know how to achieve that without starting with a chord progression. Advice would be welcome. I am not at all competent at building to a final a cadence. Where can I turn for some guidance on this?

Any feedback you are able to give me will be gratefully received.

I don't have answers for all these questions but here are my thoughts. I definitely don't think it's a dog's breakfast. To me, there isn't actually too much going on at once. If I can wrap my head around it without getting tangled, then it's not too much. I liked that little bit in the violin and viola at measure 260. I think it appeared more than once but I wasn't following the score the whole time and I kept replaying sections that I liked so I kind of lost track. The main theme grew on me pretty quickly and the whole thing didn't seem to meander too much, so in my book that's good work!

Not bad at all. There's a few things I can point out:

1) Keep the instruments grouped together. Oboe, Bassoon, and Contrabassoon should all be within one system above the strings. This is just traditional practice -and most people are taught to read scores this way. 

2) Is all this meant to be legato? No slurs? No staccato?

3) My final thought is about voice leading and contrapuntal lines. I notice quite a few instances of all voices moving in the same direction -or where one voice goes contrary. I'd look at beefing this up a little bit -just to provide more lushness and interest. 

4) You use a lot of key changes in this piece -and then seem to abandon the key signature altogether after only a few bars within that key. I'd lobby for just doing away with key signatures altogether and just use the appropriate accidentals. Might make a bit more sense.

Other than that, I like that you stick to a brevity of thematic material. Nicely done. 

jawoodruff, many thanks for your valuable feedback.

1. The rationale for the order in which the instruments were presented on the score was simply pitch. Thank you for your guidance on this point. I am ignorant, but trying to learn. 

2. Legato: probably. Slurs: actually definitely in places. Staccato: no, not in this piece (but I did use staccato judiciously in Obsidian). I write using MuseScore, and have been unable to hear any distinction in the playback facility between slurred and unslurred notes. However, the point you make is about variation and distinction of musical textures. Undoubtedly a learning point.

3. In my naive ignorance, I knew nothing about voice leading until you mentioned it. I tried to write what I thought sounded good or fitting. However, now you have introduced me to the term, I shall study its rules further and in depth.

4. Thank you for your guidance on avoiding over-complicating the score with repeated changes in key signature.

I am grateful that you should have spent time listening to Voile d'automne, and going to the trouble of giving me feedback. Thank you.

KJthesleepdeprived, many thanks for your feedback in response to listening to Voile d'automne. When I first started working on the composition, it was very simple, and I called the piece Ilsa's Theme, with the idea of Lara's Theme (from the movie of Dr Zhivago) in mind. Ilsa's Theme runs through Voile d'automne until the final section when it is only a memory and not actually present. (When Lara (Julie Christie) is driven away in a sleigh from Varykino, that is the last time Zhivago (Omar Sharif) ever sees her, even though she lives on in his poems.)

I am grateful that you should have spent time listening to Voile d'automne, and going to the trouble of giving me feedback. Thank you.