The Dawn's Wager

Hello,

I am a very new composer. I'm a complete amateur, but I enjoy composition and hope to improve on it. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

The truth is that there is a great explosion of color in this piece, even if it gets a little out of control at times (towards the end).
What happens is that this ostinato for 4 minutes is a bit excessive. It's true that everything changes sometimes subtly, sometimes more radically, but the continuous ostinato makes your mind go to a fixed two-bar structure that doesn't move.

I agree with Luis. At 0'52" that ostinato just stars again when it cried out for something different. The instruments that sound like brass beneath are just filling in implied harmony. It is, in a way, a style not unlike minimalism. Then the counter theme at 2'04 is a repetitive falling chromatic line which tends to pall after a while. Mike Oldfield did something similar with his album "Tubular Bells" but seemed to get more variety into the harmony.

I feel it would be useful for feedback etc if you provided a score. The scoring gets fairly muddy toward the end and (in my view) needs thinning out a bit - a question of "doubling" of instruments and keeping the bass clear.

But it is a basis of a style and worth cultivating - if, as you're a new composer you're comfortable with it. Plenty of time to get adventurous later on. So, without the score all I can say is that some refinement in scoring might be possible to lend clarity to the fuller sections. And...long chromatic lines? They're best avoided. 

Otherwise a good effort.

I enjoy your use of percussion in this piece.

It's such a versatile section of the orchestra; but often underused.

Transcribing percussion into a score can be a bit tricky sometimes I find; but it's something I want to get better at.

As a new composer and complete amateur, you have done a very good job! Keep composing! Did you made this with a software daw?

I think this uses the piano well in the context of a larger ensemble.  The orchestration is constantly changed up giving the listener a fresh timbral palette.  The time signature is also interesting.  I hear it as a combination meter where two 7/8 bars add up to one big 7/4 (although now that I count along with the music - it seems sometimes you extend the meter to a full 8/4).  There are also new countermelodies added to the repeating ostinato.  And there are pauses of silence that give the listener a brief respite from the constantly repeating ostinato.  I wonder why the mp3 says that the piece is 3:51 long - it ends after about 3 minutes.  Great job and thanks for sharing this dramatic piece!