The Mandolin

Bump due to edit.

Nice piece. The tremolo is a nice way to imitate the sound of a mandolin. It has a slightly neo-baroque feel. if the mandolin part can be played it would make a nice arrangement for small baroque orchestra

As an amateur mandolin player myself, I'm always intrigued by unique approaches to instrumentation. Turning the piano into a "mandolin" supported by a fake orchestra sounds like a creative and imaginative project.

Nice piece - kinda sounds like an interesting mix of Sibelius' thick, powerful chords and Debussy's jumpy, playful rhythms and melodies.

@Albayrak thank you! I also think it'd be interesting to hear what a literal orchestral representation of this would sound like. I looked at this through the lens of "something orchestrated being reduced", except in this case, the reduction comes first, so it'd be funny to hear it *actually* orchestrated! I have no clue what that would actually sound like.

@murphybridget thank you! I actually had a lot of fun writing this piece. It's a completely different approach from what I normally do.

@Aw Ke Shen that's a flattering comparison, I happen to really like both of those composers. They both had a unique way of expressing themselves.

On 1/21/2024 at 4:32 AM, SergeOfArniVillage said:

@Albayrak thank you! I also think it'd be interesting to hear what a literal orchestral representation of this would sound like. I looked at this through the lens of "something orchestrated being reduced", except in this case, the reduction comes first, so it'd be funny to hear it *actually* orchestrated! I have no clue what that would actually sound like.

@murphybridget thank you! I actually had a lot of fun writing this piece. It's a completely different approach from what I normally do.

@Aw Ke Shen that's a flattering comparison, I happen to really like both of those composers. They both had a unique way of expressing themselves.

 

You're most welcome, I truly enjoyed listening to your work.

G'day @SergeOfArniVillage,

Wow, this is pretty cool! How would you say you practically approach imitating other instruments?

22 hours ago, Quinn St. Mark said:

G'day @SergeOfArniVillage,

Wow, this is pretty cool! How would you say you practically approach imitating other instruments?

 

He made the impossible possible.

This is an interesting piece.  I like the imitation of the mandolin.  I think my favorite section is that begining around 0:40 (and the later repetition of the same idea) with the imitation of flute and harp.  On the other hand, if I were to level a criticism at the piece, it would be that the section beginning around 1:33 (with the "horn" part in block chords under the "mandolin") feels a little static.  With real horns, I don't think this would be the case, as they could keep the interest up with small crescendi across the whole notes, but with just piano that texture gets perhaps just a little bit boring after several measures.

That's a minor complaint, though.  Overall, I liked it a lot!

I take your point about the section starting around 1:33 and the potential static feeling, especially considering the limitations of using piano for the "horn" part.