Piece for Orchestra in G major

Hi there,

here is my piece for orchestra in G major.

Youtube link:  https://youtu.be/-n2Hc9rTlmk

It will most probably become the 1st movement of a future symphony. It's scored for

2 Flute, 2 Oboe, 2 Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 2 French horn,  Timpani, Strings

It's in sonata form:

1st theme G major (bar 1-40)

2nd theme D major (bar 41-64)

development (bar 65-166)

1st theme G major ( bar 167-200)

2nd theme G major (bar 201-256)

I've just purchased GPO5 and still working out the best way to use it with Finale. I've been having some difficulty with strings playing short notes. Just can't hear them! I've worked out that you can assign different instruments to different layers. So I use, for example,  Violin KS (GOS) for the long notes and Violin Staccato for quavers. I'll be interested in any suggestions regarding this issue.

I've not composed for a while but got back into it because of the pandemic. I've finished about 8 pieces (single movements only). This is the first one I've fully orchestrated. The others are also orchestral in nature but have been scored for strings only as I was just getting back into the rhythm of things. I'll post them in due course.

Enjoy

That's very nice. I love the eighth notes' bassoon accompaniment form bar 9 and the differents textures you use. 

The weakest point in my opinion es that isn't much contrast between 1st an 2nd theme. Yes, you modulate to the dominant, but the material is not contrasting and it means you play the same idea for all the pieces. I would try to introduce a really contrasting material with be and I would also do the development section more interesting. 

I'm writing my first 4 movements symphony since the last few weeks and I think using very distinctive motives with different characters for A and B theme in the sonata form is definitely the best option. 

Nice job!  I like your copious use of modal mixture (otherwise called borrowing from the minor mode).  I also like the chromaticism in your development section - it gives it a kind of constant tension towards the next measure.  I would have liked if your development section didn't just fragment the same common piece of the melody that you had though- it can get monotonous after a while (especially since your original theme also uses that fragment quite liberally).  You could have used augmentation/diminution with that fragment or fragment some other part of the melody to give some much needed contrast.  I also felt like there wasn't really an ending to the piece - it sounded like it just wound down and stopped after a while.  Overall it was an enjoyable symphonic movement though!  Thanks for the music.

10 hours ago, Alexander Lim said:

I've just purchased GPO5 and still working out the best way to use it with Finale. I've been having some difficulty with strings playing short notes. Just can't hear them! I've worked out that you can assign different instruments to different layers. So I use, for example,  Violin KS (GOS) for the long notes and Violin Staccato for quavers. I'll be interested in any suggestions regarding this issue.

I have the same issue with getting the strings to be responsive enough on the attack to be audible right away - I guess I'm not the only one.  I have no idea how to fix this of course - I would have thought that there'd be a way to edit the waveform of the sounds you're using and have the attack be more immediate but I don't know.

11 hours ago, Alexander Lim said:

I've just purchased GPO5 and still working out the best way to use it with Finale. I've been having some difficulty with strings playing short notes. Just can't hear them! I've worked out that you can assign different instruments to different layers. So I use, for example,  Violin KS (GOS) for the long notes and Violin Staccato for quavers. I'll be interested in any suggestions regarding this issue.

KS stands for Key Switch, which means there are certain keys (usually the lowest possible MIDI notes, below the lowest note of the piano, but not always) that switch between the different articulations. I just opened up GPO5 and it looks like for Violin 1 KS, C1 gives you Sus + short, Eb1 gives you upbows, E1 gives you downbows, F1 is pizz, and G1 is tremolo, to name a few. I think the downbows might give you the short staccato you want, but I would experiment with the different articulations to see if you find one you like.

As far using it in Finale, I think you would have to write the note for the keyswitch on the Violin part to switch between the different articulations. So if you want sustains, you would write a C1 before the sustain passage, then you would write a E1 before a following passage that you wanted to be short downbows. It would look really weird on the score, but it should work as far as changing the articulations. This kind of thing works alot better in a DAW, where you would just write in the MIDI data without worrying about how the score appeared.

Another thing to consider is velocity. It's been a while since I used GPO, but the velocity might be what determines the attack of the short notes. I don't know how you would adjust this in Finale, but it would be worth exploring. 

Hope this helps. Sorry if you know all of this and have already tried, just thought I would offer it up in case you hadn't.

I don’t think I’m quite experienced enough to offer advice, but I felt the need to say great job! I really liked listening to this piece and honestly if it was on Spotify or amazon music I’d add it to my playlist so I could listen to it more often.

Nice job!

12 hours ago, Rileyt said:

I don’t think I’m quite experienced enough to offer advice, but I felt the need to say great job! I really liked listening to this piece and honestly if it was on Spotify or amazon music I’d add it to my playlist so I could listen to it more often.

Nice job!

 

Thanks. That's most encouraging! 

Hi! Nice piece.

I can't offer advice on the patches, so I'll just skip that.

You've got some lovely melodic and harmonic moments. I enjoyed the use of modal mixing.

However, I think you could do with some more variety throughout the piece. For instance, in the opening, this phrase:

could be occasionally substituted with this:

It would add more interest, as well as the build up of texture.

The orchestration feels very Classical, as there is a tendency to rely on the 1st Violins. I would have liked to see more woodwind passages, like this wonderful moment from Brahms' 1st symphony.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=POW-u-RGspY&t=1893s

(Sorry, the link won't embed)

I agree that the 1st and 2nd themes are similar: rhythmically both quite simple and with a similar mood. You could use the development as an opportunity to add more drama to hold the audiences interest for a 9 minute movement.

Overall, good work!