Waltz at Midnight.

A trivial piece but written with something commercial in mind.

A small ensemble: 2 violins, 2 cellos, alto flute, oboe, horn, clarinet and bass clarinet.

Please give it a listen and if you're of a mind, comment on it, comments are always gratefully received

Thank you.

I did enjoy the piece! It kinda gives me "nightmare before christmas" vibes, with a gloomy but cute atmoshpere. The ending didn't feel very final to me. The acceleration just before the end, with a chromatic ascent made my ear expect a culminating point of the melody rather than a stop that felt quite abrupt. But maybe that's the effect you want

A delightful work ... with a very nice instrumentation and orchestration.  I do agree ... that the ending didn't feel congruent with the overall mood.  I loved the little solos given here and there ...

I loved it!  Reminds me of a Mahler Scherzo from one of his symphonies.  I'm confused - in the score there is no French Horn but I quite often hear it and you said you included it in the instrumentation.  I also don't like the ending - to me it feels like it should end in the minor mode not with the picardy 3rd you decided to include.  Thanks for sharing!

Hey, this is awesome! It really creates a midnight-like atmosphere, just like the expression you notated at the start of the score. The chromatic ascent at the end felt it was cut short. I was expecting it to extend for one or two more measures. However, I think the picardy 3rd ending fits pretty well. I liked it!

I can't win with this site. I replied then tried to quote a comment and it blanked out my reply.

Well, never mind. Let's try again.

I was going to ask you please to excuse me not giving individual replies as that would just push the replies count up. 

Thank you for listening and these most encouraging comments. All gratefully received.

Seems there's consensus that the ending is too abrupt. I thought it was ok but I stand corrected and will look at what I can do. The original was more brief, just a couple of pizzicati in C# minor.

Coxi, I couldn't detect an acceleration where you point out.  I marked the score "slow down" without showing the tempo marks from the daw. Although they may be difficult to see, there's a picture at the bottom showing this and true to form the music seems to slow. However it's perceptions that count so thanks for pointing that out.

PeterthePaperComposer, mea culpa!  There was a horn in the earliest sketch but I abandoned it. That was a mistake up there. The rendering definitely doesn't include one. Listening now, it's possible the Bass Clarinet note in Bar 5 'C' or the Alto Flute Bar 39, note 'B natl' sounds 'horn-like'.  It's possible with certain notes on certain instruments. Not a question of being caught off-guard, it's just how it is.  There are similarities between oboe and trumpet: in certain parts of their mid-range they share a similar 'formant' of harmonics.

Anyway, thanks for drawing attention to it. Interesting.

So....MJFOBOE, David_DLM Many thanks also, taking your time to comment.

Should anyone be interested, here's a) the rall from 110 to 88 (bar nos. on score one less than daw. b) the original ending (7 seconds).

2 hours ago, Quinn said:

Should anyone be interested, here's a) the rall from 110 to 88 (bar nos. on score one less than daw. b) the original ending (7 seconds).

Nice!  I like this ending much better personally.

2 hours ago, Quinn said:

PeterthePaperComposer, mea culpa!  There was a horn in the earliest sketch but I abandoned it. That was a mistake up there. The rendering definitely doesn't include one. Listening now, it's possible the Bass Clarinet note in Bar 5 'C' or the Alto Flute Bar 39, note 'B natl' sounds 'horn-like'.  It's possible with certain notes on certain instruments. Not a question of being caught off-guard, it's just how it is.

Yes I think there is an extended section also where Alto Flute and Bass Clarinet double each other in octaves which made it sound like horn to me.  Thanks for clearing that up!