InnerversE - Quest For The Holy Grail

Hi everyone, 😊

I recently completed composing, a rather large symphonic piece, called Quest For The Holy Grail. It is about 28:00 minutes in duration.

The theme of the symphony is Parcifal and his quest for the holy grail. The first part deals with the inner perspective of Parcifal, how he has to turn to his own self to fight his demons and his weaknesses as he embarks on his journey. From a spiritual perspective in order to enact his quest for the grail in the outer world, he needs to reach for the light from within to become pure and brave again and be worthy to find the actual chalise.

The second part is about his journey to the outer world, where he finds the kingdom to be in decadence and it's citizens are now furious, with hearts filled with despair and hatred. So he journeys through the kingdom, in order to locate the chalise, to bring him back to Arthur and cure him. 

The composition consists of several music pieces, which are:

Part 1: Inner Journey

Song 1: Parzifal's Nightmare Parzifal, the noble knight, falls into a deep slumber haunted by nightmares of his impending quest. In his dreams, he sees visions of King Arthur and the impending dissolution of the once mighty Knights of the Round Table.

Song 2: Remembering Companionship Amidst the turmoil of his nightmares, Parzifal begins to remember the bonds of camaraderie and fellowship he shared with his fellow knights. Memories of past adventures and the strength of their unity flood his mind.

Song 3: Despair of the Knights As Parzifal delves deeper into his dreams, he witnesses the slow decay of the bonds between the knights. Agony and tension grip their hearts as they struggle to restore balance to the kingdom amidst growing despair.

Song 4: Wigs of Betrayal The betrayal of Arthur by Sir Lancelot and Guinevere unfolds, shattering the once unbreakable bond of loyalty. The heart of Arthur, and those of the other knights, is pierced with despair as secrets are unveiled.

Song 5: Bursting With Fury Parzifal's dreams turn to fury as he grapples with the betrayal and the realization that his quest for the Holy Grail will require him to transcend mortal limitations. Anger fuels his determination to become the chosen one who will save the kingdom.

Song 6: Memento Mori In a moment of introspection, Parzifal confronts his mortality and the limitations of his own being. Death looms both within and without, urging him to find the courage and honesty needed to awaken his spirit and pursue the elusive Holy Grail.

Song 7: Back To the Land Of The Living Parcifal is now coming back from his journey to the realm of Death and his awakening to the living kindom is a harsh and painfull one.

Part 2: Outer Journey

Song 8: Light From Within Guided by the inner light of honesty, Parzifal embarks on his quest to find the Holy Grail. Through trials and tribulations, he seeks the chalice from within, following the path illuminated by his awakened spirit.

Song 9: The Knights Oath Under blood-red skies, the knights of Camelot take a solemn vow to defend their king and kingdom against all dangers, both from within and without. "All for one and one for all" echoes through the land, a testament to their unwavering loyalty.

Song 10: Lost In Between Worlds As Parzifal traverses the wounded lands in search of the Holy Grail, memories of the once proud kingdom and the great vow to restore faith in its citizens flood his mind. Dreams and reality blur as he faces his final trials.

Song 11: Kingdom of Decadence Confronted by the malevolent forces of Mordred and Morgana, Parzifal battles to overcome their dark enchantments and stay true to his quest. With newfound awakening, he locates the path to the chalice amidst the decaying kingdom.

Song 11: Empty Halls of Camelot Returning triumphant from his journey, Parzifal presents the Holy Grail to King Arthur, who drinks from it and is rejuvenated. A second rebirth occurs as the king is restored to his former self, marking the beginning of the kingdom's restoration.

InnerversE - Quest For The Holy Grail

Enjoy!

Hello @elmarad40!

On the whole I quite like the character of this music!  This is quite a long piece so I will only attempt to review the introduction and first song.  In the introduction you have the sopranos/female voices sing in a very high range for a long time without a breath - at least that part of it verges on the impossible.  I love the piano introduction - I think it successfully builds suspense and expectation for the rest of the piece.  What software are you using to render the choir vocals?  They sound pretty good!  At 1:52 the sopranos come in on an impossibly high note - this is my main gripe with the introduction.

The first song sounds quite pesante in the beginning and heavy.  Later it transforms into a quite uneasy fanfare which to me does a good job of symbolizing Parzival's anxiety dream.  The music is quite differentiated and with plenty of different ideas and contrasts yet is unified by your unique musical style.  So good job with that and thanks for sharing!  I hope that in the future I might review some more of your work.

5 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Hello @elmarad40!

On the whole I quite like the character of this music!  This is quite a long piece so I will only attempt to review the introduction and first song.  In the introduction you have the sopranos/female voices sing in a very high range for a long time without a breath - at least that part of it verges on the impossible.  I love the piano introduction - I think it successfully builds suspense and expectation for the rest of the piece.  What software are you using to render the choir vocals?  They sound pretty good!  At 1:52 the sopranos come in on an impossibly high note - this is my main gripe with the introduction.

The first song sounds quite pesante in the beginning and heavy.  Later it transforms into a quite uneasy fanfare which to me does a good job of symbolizing Parzival's anxiety dream.  The music is quite differentiated and with plenty of different ideas and contrasts yet is unified by your unique musical style.  So good job with that and thanks for sharing!  I hope that in the future I might review some more of your work.

 

Thank you for your input @PeterthePapercomPoser. It is a long composition indeed. The intro song was written years before the whole composition. Firstly i had arrange it all for piano. I used ewql symphonic choirs vst for the singing choirs part, with which you can achieve quite realistic results. Some parts of the composition come from years ago, while others were composed more recently. From an orchestrating perspective i follow my intuition, as i have taken some music lessons in harmony, but not yet on composition / orchestration, so i guess there would appear some issues like the ones you mention with the high pitch of the choirs.