'ADAPTATION' For Large Orchestra (2024) - All feedback welcome

I'm curious to whether this is for double string orchestra, or two quintets, simply because you chose the solo instruments for playback. I would be a little worried about how some sections would carry with dynamic difference between homophonic horns versus polyphonic strings.

Part1: Really cool, the way the tremolos in the strings bother had separate and unison dynamic ideas was really cool. The texture of this movement is really cool. The more sparse melodic fragments were quite interesting. I myself am quite partial sustained melodic ideas, but you conveyed this sparser melody very well in this movement.

Part 2: A good atmosphere. You are very skilled at connecting very different textures to unifying to a single environment. Atmospheric music is generally not my taste because it doesn't command me to feel an emotion like most, Baroque - Romantic period do. However, I think your music doesn't fail the way most music in this style does. It has emotional bounds that I feel.

Part 3: Generally the same ideas as part 1. I really appreciate how even without a strong melody, you are able to very clearly connect the different sections. Also at 17:05, I can't stop hearing Brahms lullaby. I am scarred by that challenge we had earlier in the year.

On 5/2/2024 at 3:58 PM, Some Guy That writes Music said:

I'm curious to whether this is for double string orchestra, or two quintets, simply because you chose the solo instruments for playback. I would be a little worried about how some sections would carry with dynamic difference between homophonic horns versus polyphonic strings.

 

Part1: Really cool, the way the tremolos in the strings bother had separate and unison dynamic ideas was really cool. The texture of this movement is really cool. The more sparse melodic fragments were quite interesting. I myself am quite partial sustained melodic ideas, but you conveyed this sparser melody very well in this movement.

Part 2: A good atmosphere. You are very skilled at connecting very different textures to unifying to a single environment. Atmospheric music is generally not my taste because it doesn't command me to feel an emotion like most, Baroque - Romantic period do. However, I think your music doesn't fail the way most music in this style does. It has emotional bounds that I feel.

Part 3: Generally the same ideas as part 1. I really appreciate how even without a strong melody, you are able to very clearly connect the different sections. Also at 17:05, I can't stop hearing Brahms lullaby. I am scarred by that challenge we had earlier in the year.

 

Thank you for your detailed response and kind words.

"I'm curious to whether this is for double string orchestra" - Excellent question because I too am not quite sure myself. It is something that I ask myself all the time but I try to ignore it. To be honest, I think this particular work is better suited for an orchestra. Primarily, I chose solo instruments for playback because it sounds better. 

I can feel from your comment that our musical tastes are almost identical. For example, "I myself am quite partial sustained melodic ideas," and "Atmospheric music is generally not my taste because it doesn't command me to feel an emotion like most, Baroque - Romantic period" is something I would say. I almost had to look twice to see if was me who wrote that or you. 

I'm glad that the music was able to move your emotions.

"Also at 17:05, I can't stop hearing Brahms lullaby. I am scarred by that challenge we had earlier in the year." 😂 haha

Hi @Symphonic!

Part I - I can imagine this music playing to microscopic images of bacteria multiplying and microorganisms "adapting" to their environment - at least that's what the music and the title bring to mind for me.  Very minimalistic, which to me would accompany well images of motion and scurrying and hurrying - maybe in some kind of nature documentary?

Part II - The animals are sheltered in for the night.  Or they're hibernating during the winter months.  (Also along the theme of being "adapted" to their environment.)  This music to me has a very 'neutral' pathos.  It doesn't sound melancholic, threatening, nor joyful.  It's just natural I guess.  I think the chamber strings sound good in this context making the music sound much more personal and intimate.

Part III - This seems to be a recapitulation of Part I.  I also hear it as a new zest for life as the morning dawns.  Or maybe the spring has finally come and the animals emerge from their dens after a hibernating sleep?

On a side note - this kind of music would be very difficult for me to compose and I don't know if I'd have the self-discipline to write it all on paper.  So much wasted space without any themes!  LoL  But I did enjoy it - thanks for sharing.

Hi, this is a very interesting work.  I am curious to know your creative process and what directed you to this musical idiom.  Would you classify your work as minimalist?