Bortkiewicz Nocturne (Diana) Orchestration

Bortkiewicz's nocturne called Diana is one of my favorite piano pieces. I wanted to work on it with this version:

What library are you using ... I don't think it gives your orchestration its best sound.  At the moment the upper range sounds "stressed - thin".  I wonder if the mood of the piece orchestrated is better portrayed in the lower aspects of the orchestra - maybe no piccolo?.   No having said that - kudos for taking on the project and doing the orchestration.  By the way thanks for introducing this beautiful piano music to us.

Great job!  It's a beautiful piece melodically speaking and your orchestration is superb.  My favorite part is the Clarinet solo starting in pickups to meas. 102.  I do think there are some balance problems in some parts.  In the very beginning for example, the harp can't be heard at all playing those arpeggios.  In other sections, when the arco strings take over those arpeggios they're too loud in relation to the rest of the orchestra.  Sometimes you also double the arpeggios with many instruments and it sounds overbearing because of that.  At the end though when the harp plays the arpeggios again it's much easier to hear and quite appropriate for a denouement.  Glad to see you're back - haven't seen you in a while.  Thanks for sharing!

On 3/19/2022 at 4:47 PM, MJFOBOE said:

What library are you using ... I don't think it gives your orchestration its best sound.  At the moment the upper range sounds "stressed - thin".  I wonder if the mood of the piece orchestrated is better portrayed in the lower aspects of the orchestra - maybe no piccolo?.   No having said that - kudos for taking on the project and doing the orchestration.  By the way thanks for introducing this beautiful piano music to us.

 

thanks!

I'm using Noteperformer because I feel comfortable with it. Surely there are better libraries.

I understand your point of view about the piccolo, but I like it, and here it takes some very high parts in the piano original. i don't know if these parts would benefit from any doublings... I can try.

22 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Great job!  It's a beautiful piece melodically speaking and your orchestration is superb.  My favorite part is the Clarinet solo starting in pickups to meas. 102.  I do think there are some balance problems in some parts.  In the very beginning for example, the harp can't be heard at all playing those arpeggios.  In other sections, when the arco strings take over those arpeggios they're too loud in relation to the rest of the orchestra.  Sometimes you also double the arpeggios with many instruments and it sounds overbearing because of that.  At the end though when the harp plays the arpeggios again it's much easier to hear and quite appropriate for a denouement.  Glad to see you're back - haven't seen you in a while.  Thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks for listening.... Yes, you're right about the harp in the beginning. Somehow, when the strings take the arpeggios I wanted them to be heard more than the rest... Perhaps I went too far.

I will go over with your suggestions (and the ones by MJFOBOE), and I'll try to improve it.

(There has been a long time I couldn't sign in the forum with my usual identity, I don't know why, a problem with facebook). But I'm back to enjoy the music of you all.

Hi, I listened to it once again.  I don't think the problem is NotePerformer 3 ... which I also use in my work.  You may need to better support the individual melodic lines - with more voices.  I still feel for such a lovely work ... a flute/oboe would be better choice than the piccolo.  Maybe think more in terms of woodwind and brass ensembles? to enrich the texture/fabric of the sound.  For me it still sounds a bit thin .....  again congrats on the endeavor.

Mark