Suite for Brass Quintet

Hello – It's been a long time since I posted here, but I'm trying to get back into composing after a hiatus. I wrote this Suite for Brass Quintet with some new material and some recycled material from old pieces of mine. Any comments and criticism are welcome. Thanks for listening 🙂

The format is as follows: I. March, II. Mazurka, III. Chorale, IV. Waltz

Nice suite!

I. March - It's pretty cool for a march.  There's a few places where it reminds me of Prokofiev Symphony No.5 1st movement.  A minor critique though is that this is music that somewhat lacks profundity or depth.  There's been plenty of marches that have typical march-like characteristics in droves, but few that distinguish themselves as being out of the ordinary by doing something less expected like for example the march from Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.6.  

II. Mazurka - I have the same complaint that I voiced in the 1st movement.  The music is kinda balls to the walls so to speak.  Maybe it's the quality of the melodic material?  It kinda lacks subtlety or mystery.  This is also not very dance-like.  A Mazurka is a Polish dance in 3 that stresses the 2nd beat or 3rd beat.  I don't really hear any of those characteristics in this besides it being in 3.  All the beats sound equally important and it lacks any kind of patriotic feeling (maybe I'm biased since I'm Polish LoL).

III. Chorale - Nice transition from the much more energetic first two movements.  

IV. Waltz - The transitional build-up is almost comic in its melodrama.  But you don't go into the waltz just straight-away.  It kinda sneaks up on the listener in a very pleasant way.  So I guess this has some finesse after all!  Also this movement actually sounds like it could be danced to.  So kudos there!  I also like the changes in tempo towards the end before the finale-like coda.

Overall it was a pleasant listen if a little bright and overly happy.  Not that bright and happy music can't be good which I think Bach's music is often an example of.  Speaking of which there are some really great arrangements out there of Bach's Cantatas for Brass Quintet if you haven't heard.  I think you also could have maybe included a movement or some moments in your music without the percussion or to use it more sparingly (I know you strategically left percussion out of the chorale which was a very good choice imo) because all the movements that you used them in came across as a bit too militaristic which for me personally gives a poor impression.  That might just be my own personal taste though.  Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the comments @PeterthePapercomPoser! I was definitely going for something bright and cheery with this as opposed to something more artistically inclined, so I'm glad that came through. I totally get where you're coming from though, the whole thing is a bit "much" in the first, second, and fourth movements. I think it's partly due to the writing and partly because of the poor-quality rendering from MuseScore as well, making everything sound a bit shrill. I was kind of picturing this as something fun to play for a high school or college level group – I'll post the recording if it ever gets played live 🙂 Thanks again!