overture for an unwritten opera

I was going for a grand opera overture. I’m not completely happy with the middle section though. Any thoughts are appreciated.

BP--

    I liked the conclusion very much.    As for the middle portion--and this is all subjective, of course--  I thought  "where is this headed"?. It seemed to lack directionality.  Of course, I am prejudiced in this regard.

               At 4:30 there is an abrupt climax for this section.   My thought is a gradual build up to this might solve the directinality issue.  An "ah ha!" moment for the listener.  Stripping down the orchestration prior to it, or counterpoint with a quickening/stretto...there are of course a dozen ways to do this.

            Overall, the piece held my interest.   A score?...

I agree with Rich.  The ostinati really give the piece lots of motion, drive and energy.  But the melodic content seemed unimportant, not providing enough thematic unity or significance.  This gave the piece a lack of direction.  Also, possibly because of the aforementioned issues, there weren't really any changes in dynamics in the piece - it would have made the piece much more interesting if there was a build or a regression in dynamics somewhere in the piece.  Although there is that middle section with reduced instrumentation which kind of serves as a contrasting section and is softer because of the reduced instrumentation.  Thanks for sharing!

Hi @BipolarComposer,

I really don't have many to add: I agree with Rich and Peter on the energy and lack of direction of the piece. I think some melodic and rhythmic hooks will certainly make the overture more recognizable! Thanks for sharing!

Henry

10 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I agree with Rich.  The ostinati really give the piece lots of motion, drive and energy.  But the melodic content seemed unimportant, not providing enough thematic unity or significance.  This gave the piece a lack of direction.  Also, possibly because of the aforementioned issues, there weren't really any changes in dynamics in the piece - it would have made the piece much more interesting if there was a build or a regression in dynamics somewhere in the piece.  Although there is that middle section with reduced instrumentation which kind of serves as a contrasting section and is softer because of the reduced instrumentation.  Thanks for sharing!

 

This is a problem in that overtures are often written after or along with an opera as (in classical/romantic opera at least) they present themes that will occur in the opera itself. If they don't they have to be truly engaging in anticipation of what's to come. They could set a mood frinstance. It would have helped if BipolarComposer told us what the opera was about.

In its way it's a nice piece but lacks cohesion.* Thematic material is blurred by polyphonic lines; there are moments of stillness e.g. it seems to stall at 2'10" then meanders on with nothing of consequence until well into the 2'30"s.

The sudden "outburst" at 4'06" brought in  a baleful episode that came over, like the opening at 0'07", rather dense - but dropped back again at 4'44" when it suddenly came to life.

I felt the ending starting roughly at 5'30" came on too strong too early so it wasn't a build-up to any climax. It needs to start quieter (like Ravel does in his Bolero, so by the time he gets to the climax he can just let rip into the final chords).

What's difficult about reviewing this piece is whether it's intended to mimic a realistic live performance or is the composer happy with the balance as it is, as a recorded work? As the former there are a few production issues to look at. As the latter, it's an achievement, but to me personally it's a little turgid. I stress that's just my personal view. If you're happy with the work, fine.

However, it does have terrific potential if thinned out a bit; scrap unnecessary polyphonic lines where the density is greatest (maybe present the tunes with greater clarity, separately) and review some of the brass writing. 

A score would have been useful. Is there one?

*It's all right. I'm an expert at composing music that just wanders about aimlessly. 

.

3 hours ago, Quinn said:

A score would have been useful. Is there one?

It would definitely help to be more precise, so I insist on this question.

I agree with the issues pointed out above, specially in the "in between" section that occurs just after the ostinato ends and the tuned perc. begins. 

There were really enjoyable parts in the middle section and I would say I liked those more than the sudden ending section you bring which, despite very powerful, turned out to be too abrupt, dense (but that might not be your fault entirely, since we are not dealing with top-notch sound libraries or a real performance) and unprepared to my taste.

All in all, I enjoyed it but I encourage you to consider my mates' comments above regarding directionality (and everything else you might find useful).

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

Thanks for the feedback!

This has been a piece I’ve been playing around with for awhile, not really knowing what to do with it. The lack of direction you find in it does not surprise me. 
I pretty much got lost after the opening and was just throwing things together after that. That was the second middle section I wrote for it and it also had a different ending originally.

I’ll keep playing with it and use the suggestions to see if I can make something of it.