Psychosis for Solo Alto Saxophone, Saxophone Ensemble, & Percussion. Feedback is always appreciated.

Got commissioned by a grad student at my uni for a piece on their terminal recital. Feedback is always appreciated. 

I love the vibraphone beginning! I cannot look at the name of the instrument of the second last staff since the score is quite small (that shows how many instruments there are!) but its sound is fascinating. I love the overall sound of the opening section. The section in 3:23 is sudden for me and it achieves great contrasting effect with the previous serene and mystic section. Very nice rhythm in 3:59. Nice change to soft dynamic in 4:20, very cute and dinky! I enjoy the minimalistic element in it. Nice buildup as well with underlying unchanging rhythm. Another nice change in 6:58 with the waving accompaniment. Very powerful cadenza in b.227, and I love the aftermath of it. Nice to bring back the mystic element from the beginning and for me it ends very successfully. For me the mystic sections definitely portrait psychosis.  

I am not a good orchestrator or play saxophone myself, so I cannot give any comment concerning the usage of orchestration and saxophone. I can only say I enjoy this piece! Very nice use of timbre throughout the piece. It's just the transitions between the sections a little bit abrupt for me, but that's very subjective. 

Thanks for sharing, your pieces are always amazing.

Henry

15 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I love the vibraphone beginning! I cannot look at the name of the instrument of the second last staff since the score is quite small (that shows how many instruments there are!) but its sound is fascinating. I love the overall sound of the opening section. The section in 3:23 is sudden for me and it achieves great contrasting effect with the previous serene and mystic section. Very nice rhythm in 3:59. Nice change to soft dynamic in 4:20, very cute and dinky! I enjoy the minimalistic element in it. Nice buildup as well with underlying unchanging rhythm. Another nice change in 6:58 with the waving accompaniment. Very powerful cadenza in b.227, and I love the aftermath of it. Nice to bring back the mystic element from the beginning and for me it ends very successfully. For me the mystic sections definitely portrait psychosis.  

I am not a good orchestrator or play saxophone myself, so I cannot give any comment concerning the usage of orchestration and saxophone. I can only say I enjoy this piece! Very nice use of timbre throughout the piece. It's just the transitions between the sections a little bit abrupt for me, but that's very subjective. 

Thanks for sharing, your pieces are always amazing.

Henry

 

Thank you for your comments. Yes, the abrupt transitions are part of the piece. The commissioner wanted the feeling of the name of the piece to be portrayed in the actual piece itself. 

Let's dive into it:

• The very first seconds tell me that this theme is going to be taken slowly and carefully. Adding the pdf here would be neat BTW, since it's VERY difficult to barely read anything even from my PC. All in all, a very convincing beginning in my opinion.

• The first moving idea starts to grow in intensity and has its own space before blending with the already presented instruments. The well-prepared and medium-sized pause at near min 3 suggest me a multi-movement piece. 

• Oh! This is good, the chaos appearing and disappearing, but maintaining a certain rhythmical order, and the surprisingly well-placed abrupt silence make an absolute banger of a section to be honest. I usually don't welcome these kind of tools, but here they worked like a charm.

• I recognize something like a comeback to the strong and possibly main theme, but I don't recognize which voice makes those high-pitch mega accented notes.

• The section that comes after this comeback gives me a very uneasy feeling, and the abrupt silence, for the second time in the piece, didn't bother me. Despite this is a digital interpretation I presume, it's quite meritorious how you squeeze the different saxophone sounds. This is an instrument I have barely written for and listened to, so it's always good to get some fresh pieces for it here.

• The slow section that comes near 10:30 is just magnificent, thank you for sharing this!

• And finally, the piece ends like it began, peacefully.

For pieces like this I know I dwell in the right place. Thank you again for your work, Brandon. 

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.