At the County Fair - Arcade

This is the Arcade movement of a planned larger work ... which did not materialized.

The music is a journey through a darken Arcade during the night at a County Fair.

I also used the score as a sound track for a silent movie.  Here's the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N0e6LAmlZHpFwJ0zj8sS0jou3gozuudQ/view?usp=sharing

Hope you enjoy it.

Mark

This piece creates (I think deliberately?) quite a demented atmosphere.  I don't know if you're aware of a slight quote of some French composer I can't remember the name of and the piece from which this seems familiar (at 0:48, 1:26, 3:39 the rising string melody).  It's not even the complete phrase though but it does at first remind me of some other piece (sorry I've searched my library of old classical recordings and even googled the melody and I can't find it for now).  To me the piece creates almost a kind of fun house atmosphere from a circus.  I think the reason why it sounds like this is because of your constant switching from major to minor and the slow waltz tempo (which makes one believe it's more of a parody of a waltz).  I like it though!  The xylophone gives the imagery of a dancing skeleton.  That's just what I hear though.  I like the contrast provided by the middle section but I like the A section as well and returning to it before the end rounds the piece off nicely.  Thanks for sharing!

I like it. Your description of it is quite accurate of an arcade at a fair at night. It is quite wild and atmospheric. Its quite "filmic" - is that a word and the sound track approach is maybe a route you should explore further  if you're  thinking of revisiting the longer composition. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you both for the review.  And yes ... it's supposed to be a bit scary.  I wrote from the point of view of a young child wandering the arcade looking about amongst all the different lights, sounds, and movements of people.  Did you look at the video too?  This work was performed by my community orchestra.  As for rethinking other movements ... I do have some old preliminary sketches. 

I found the piece that I heard in your music!  It's not even the full phrase but the rising figure is similar enough to remind me of this waltz variation in Ernst von Dohnanyi's Variations on a Nursery Tune:

Of course it's just a momentary allusion barely.  Not even close to implying plagiarism.

Thanks for sharing ... it is a lovely work~!

Mark