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What do you think of my compositions?

Modern classical music.

The first is a wind quintet written about halfway through this year.

The second is a piece for the string cohort of a symphony orchestra (finished last Friday!), with each part being independent. Played by my notation software, so some effects (col legno bowing, stopped horn) are not heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc6DWfuGkq0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7SZckPk_qI&feature...

Update:

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Update 2:

Thought I should warn people: if you are expecting anything like the pretty piano compositions that people post here that sound like bad imitations of Yiruma, you are going to be badly disappointed. Especially by the second one. :-D

Update 3:

Program notes that I wrote for the string piece:

Chamber

Chamber has a few main structures:

1.A gradual crescendo and diminuendo

2.A progression from the high/middle registers of a few instruments, to a wide register of all instruments, to the low registers of all instruments.

3.A progression from fairly mild dissonance to quarter-tone clusters

4.A gradual speeding up, and a more rapid slowing down.

On a smaller scale, Chamber is based around small intervals, usually major and minor seconds, and minor 3rds. These are found both in melodic motifs, harmony and the differences between the starting pitches of sections.

In the beginning, there are two groups of instruments- the ones playing the sustained notes, and the ones playing the semiquaver figures. The semiquaver figures are placed at various pitches, with decreasing time between each entry. They are repeated in sections, with the number of repeats being taken usually from either the Fibonacci or Lucas series.

Update 4:

(cont.)

The sustained and semiquaver figures are equally important.

After bar 245, the instruments are divided into fast and sustained instruments, with all instruments becoming sustained in the final section.

The indication “sul pont.” should be understood to mean close enough to the bridge to produce a sound that is very rich in harmonics, but without losing the fundamental pitch. “Poco sul pont.” should be played about halfway between sul pont. and the normal playing position. The col legno arco in the final bars should be played with the bow on the side so that the hair and wood are both used; the sound desired here is a mixture of pitched notes and the col legno sound.

4 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I enjoyed 'Chamber' a great deal. Whether you intended it or not (or whether these were influences), I was reminded of composers such as Charles Ives, Krzysztof Penderecki (before he went 'soft') and Tadeusz Baird. I loved the dense, foggy harmonies and the mood they invoke (which would be SO much more effective on real strings) and the independently-moving lines.

    I had more difficulty with the wind quintet. I listened to it several times trying to grasp the idea and intended flow of the music, but, have failed, sadly. I suspect the general pulse of the music is perhaps a little too slow, and the individual lines too fragmented to fully suit the wind quintet medium (a notoriously difficult one to write for, which is why there are so few really good wind quintets). With a palette of only five instruments, I was surprised to often hear only two (and sometimes) three of them used - as well as those numerous fragmentary solo episodes. I think this was especially surprising after the dense textures of 'Chamber'.

    So, for me, one winner and one that failed to convince me.

  • 1 decade ago

    Your Quintet troubled me, and frankly I could not for the life of me work out why it was doing so at first. I therefore 'sat on it' for a while before trying to formulate my thoughts, after half a dozen more hearings, probably more.

    Whether you can do anything with this is an entirely different matter, but here goes. :-)

    I had seen our good Del's comment on it, and didn't disagree with him as far as *a wind quintet* was in play, but the way you were fragmenting your materials as well as their instrumentation -- causing some grief in terms of a wind quintet that Del had already pointed up -- just nagged at me. And nagged.

    Then the damascene moment. The entire utterance that was doing the nagging was reminding me of a concerto grosso of which the ripieno had gone walk-about, so we were only hearing the concertino like an unfurled roll of carpet runner, seamlessly, making it all that bit more disembodied as a quintet. Once the thought had struck, I found myself able to restructure in my mind's eye towards such a form change as I listened quite easily. Caesurae fell like 'ripe plums'... :-)

    Would you be game to try? See whether a similar resonance might arise for you, once the 'quintet' thought has been 'rested' for a moment?

    Distinctly FWIW... :-)

    Most warmly, as always,

  • 1 decade ago

    Let me say at the outset that I have great respect and admiration for any who attempt a composition of any kind, and have the commitment and industry to see it thru to completion: CONGRATULATIONS.

    My take on the "quintet": my only comment is that to my hears, it sounded like a piece that a modern-day Brahms might have composed. The "Chamber": the "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" film producers might have work for you relating to sound-tracks for their films - SERIOUSLY.

    In terms of assessing the artistic merit of your music, I will leave to others: I'm not an educated professional, so don't feel in any way competent to meaningfully do so.

    Do hope that the CM "big guns" who patronize this category in addition to "del_icio" - "Nemesis"/"petr b", etc. - chime in, respond.

    And thanks for your question - a most worthy and welcome one, considering.......

    Alberich

  • 1 decade ago

    Chamber is sick, very Steve Reich.

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