(NEED COMMENTS) "Still Untitled Orchestra Commission"

Hello!

I was commissioned to write an orchestra piece, and I have just finished my first draft of the piece. I would like to hear your comments/criticism.

Keep in mind, I have a 3.5 minute max time (with a 10-15 minute rehearsal time, as it is for a summer concert), and I wanted to fit in as many textures and ideas as I could with easy to rehearse parts. A big part of my style is to create "samplers" of the many ideas I have and focus less on making it a completely cohesive "piece." I use a few melodies/bits that stay present throughout and build upon those.

Thank you, and if you take the time to reply to my piece I am more than happy to take the time to comment on one of yours 🙂

Enjoy!

Nice job!  I think this is written in your own unique style with a special affinity for propulsive minimalistic rhythms.  It certainly has many textures that you transition between throughout the piece.  You don't seem to have trouble with bringing the piece to a satisfying conclusion which I think is a concern for many composers of minimalism.  Often the emphasis is put upon building interesting contrapuntal patterns and ostinati and then getting out of them starts to become a problem.  I think you also could have created longer and more involving melodic ideas.  Right now it seems like the piece is peppered with short motifs although I think you said that that was your intent.  I also think if you based your whole composition on your melodic ideas than your music would have more purpose in many of its gestures (i.e. thematic unity).  The only part that I think didn't really jive with the rest of the piece is the introduction.  The ending was really cool - totally different tonal area than the beginning/rest of the piece.  Thanks for sharing and congratulations on your commission!

Your transitions between textures are seamless. And your orchestration sounds awesome. And I love the dramatic ending. I don't have anything to criticize about it, it's a good piece.

It is a great piece! However, I think you could use a more conversational, intimate aspect to the piece. Perhaps by thinning out the orchestral texture, you could emphasise the interplay between 2 different sections and create a more intimate feel. So maybe the start of the development can be prolonged more to accomodate for such. I understand your time limit of 3.5 minutes so what I would suggest is a significant reduction of the opening/complete elimination and go straight to the development with the more conversational and intimate segment.

I get the “sampler” feel that you were going for. It’s kinda like going to a tapas bar, eating a little of this, little of that and then leaving after a whole meal. 
In other words, your small samples, add up to complete meal.