Lofsálmur (Orchestral Arrangement)

A few years ago I composed a suite for solo piano to commemorate my time in Iceland. The suite was entitled simply, "Icelandic Suite," and featured five distinct movements, each attempting to capture a little bit of my experiences there. As I was playing through the final movement recently, it dawned on me that—perhaps—it would arrange quite nicely for orchestra. And so I set about doing that. I was so pleased with the results that I thought I'd share it with the forum, as well!

The title of this movement, "Lofsálmur," means "hymn of praise." It opens with a simple statement from the woodwinds which eventually transforms into a "chorale without words." This transitions into a dark and brooding middle section, with loud and dissonant exclamations from the brass. Finally, the chorale returns with a triumphant recapitulation from the orchestra, and the piece glides back into silence with the gentle woodwinds once more. I was deeply inspired by the hardships the people of Iceland have had to endure over their storied history, and the entire movement is a testament to the dark times we must traverse in order to achieve our truest expressions of praise.

I've included the piano score which you are welcome to follow along with. Time permitting, I may upload the orchestral score (needs some polishing). Please let me know what comments/criticisms you may have, should you have time to give it some attention.

As always, happy listening!

We done sir.

I haven't had a chance to listen to the original piano version for this but I definitely like this version!  It's always fun orchestrating your own music - it's kind of like you get to recompose it.  The only thing that I have to complain about is that sometimes (at least it seems to me) the rich voicings take away from the clarity of the melodic line.  I don't know (if you would desire to do so) if that is fixable by tweaking the balance of the instruments playing those voicings and bringing out the melody more in high relief.  Maybe those kind of voicings are common to Norwegian/Icelandinc composers, or some more modern symphonists, but that struck me as a flaw although it might just be my particular taste.  Thanks for sharing and overall this is great work!

On 9/14/2022 at 8:34 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I haven't had a chance to listen to the original piano version for this but I definitely like this version!  It's always fun orchestrating your own music - it's kind of like you get to recompose it.  The only thing that I have to complain about is that sometimes (at least it seems to me) the rich voicings take away from the clarity of the melodic line.  I don't know (if you would desire to do so) if that is fixable by tweaking the balance of the instruments playing those voicings and bringing out the melody more in high relief.  Maybe those kind of voicings are common to Norwegian/Icelandinc composers, or some more modern symphonists, but that struck me as a flaw although it might just be my particular taste.  Thanks for sharing and overall this is great work!

Thanks, Peter!

I understand what you mean about the voicings. There are at times a lot more than 3 or 4 notes per chord and it can sound somewhat muddied when rendered with the playback software. I'm hopeful that in a live performance (should it ever come to that), the upper voices will be played stronger/louder. I've no idea whether such voicings are common among any demographic of composers; it's just something that sounds good to me, that suits my particular tastes.

Thank you for taking the time to listen and provide comment!