The Legend of the Dark Cathedral

Hi, My girlfriend encoraged me to write a terror soundtrack. He loves terror movies and their soundtrack. So I took it as a challenge and try to write something a bit different from what I usually write (mainly classical music from the baroque, classical and romantic period). I found an interesting motif (the first two bar of the opening English horn). Interesting because it's quite creepy and perturbating, and at the same time I can use it in different textures, even as a fugue (min. 6, after the DB solo). I used also a lot of tremolo strings, which gives a tense background and also a couple of effects from vienna instruments librery, just in some moments.

Apart from the effects that and the use of celesta, which I reserved for a couple of ethereal moments with long Bassoon/Cello pedals, It's a quite classical arrangement (Strings orchestra, oboe, english horn, bassoon, frensh horn, trumpet and SATB choir). 

I showed it to my girlfriend today and she was very happy for that. So I dedícate It to my girlfriend Ninon...and I hope you enjoy it as much as she did 🙂

As allways, any comments are belcome. 

It has a great atmosphere through most of it. Score things: be cautious that trill marks only cover how many beats they need to and that all voice parts are given a syllable reference at least. 
I'm not sure what the point is of adding a section in E-flat major... it really takes away from that atmosphere, and could be used to make all sorts of polytonal or chromatic developments to the theme, which thus far had been interestingly tossed around the ensemble. Maybe it's supposed to be the point of relative momentum compared to the rest, but it doesn't really build up to much, and has the opposite effect of being in a non-complementary tonality.
But it's written quite well; I'm glad your girlfriend appreciated it!
 

Hi @Monercheon, 

You are right about the trills, I just got notion 6 notation SW and I'm still dealing with some notation issues, I'll correct it. 

About the E-flat major section, I agree it has a totally contrasting characther, but I wanted to completely break the mood of the piece for a few bars and then retake the main character. Anyway I think it's a complementary tonality, actually the relative major of the subdominant, having a subdominant function in the tonal scene. You mean it should be a modulating section not stablishing the tonality clearly? I don't know if I got you idea...

You should hear to Schubert's unfinished symphony 1st movement. It has of course a sonata form: Theme A in Bm, Theme B in GM, with is the same relation as Gm - EbM, the relative major of the subdominant, which is a neigbour tonality. Maybe somebody has something to add about the topic...I'm still learning about form and I appreciate your comments 🙂

Best wishes!

3 hours ago, Guillem82 said:

You should hear to Schubert's unfinished symphony 1st movement

Haha, everyone knows this piece already. But the fact it's heard in a Romantic-era work means it's not that modern. I meant something more Neo-Riemannian related, like SLIDE, LPL, or N. Something that would take more time to justify. 
For example, in these Neo-Riemannian terms, Bm -> GM is only a simple "L" relation away from Bm, which is a very common modulatory transformation. To activate "SLIDE", however, you'd need to do a lot more modulatory work, more like Ades or Pärt since SLIDE is "LPLPL".

Nice work. I like this kind of music more than resembling classic styles, which I respect. This sound modern and fresh.

It's beautifully orchestrated. It seems you chose a a chamber set..., perhaps a bass brass instrument would be good (bass trombone, tuba).

I think the section between measures 46 and 53 the mood of the piece. I understand you try to insert a contrasting section, but the "problem" (for me) is that you go back to a classic / early romantic language that has nothing to do with what we are listening to. I don't know, if there was a visual scene with the music, perhaps this section would be justified. 

The harmonic flow throughout is very fluid, kind of reminds me of Debussy. I like that you seem to have incorporated both early classical and modern techniques. It sounds innovative and new to my ears, which I (almost) always like. The midi sounds sound nice. 

This is quite a nice work.

I really don't feel "horror" in this, which to me isn't really a bad thing. Perhaps not what you wanted, but it's a nice piece.

Your form feels solid, and the orchestration lively. Perhaps you could further strenghten the fluidity of the piece by reducing the amount of clear formal cuts like in M.6/7. If you decide to keep them, I would advise to diferenciate them throughout the piece, as they call too much attention and end up sectioning the sound with very "vertical", unblended cuts.

The aural effect is very nice, and the things I said about the piece are just my opinions. They are not necessarily problems, just the sensations I had while listening.

Thank's for your answers guys :)

@Monarcheon: what do you mean by Neo-riemanean?