Mistral

[reith]

Timing: 5 mins

Written about 4 years ago, this is a symbolist piece for orchestra but with a number of failings, not helped by my handling of the sequencer/samples. I was very new to computer music then and wondered what, if any, orchestral scores could be put on computer.

My laptop's CPU is so slow that I had to drop a few of the orchestral doublings (or they'd have dropped anyway with attendant thumps).
Making this mockup pointed to possible revisions and I may pick up the score again.

It's my reaction to storm winds on the Mediterranean, the current in the air, how it gets under one's skin.

Anyway, any crits or comments are welcome and would be gratefully received if you have time to listen. They'd certainly help if I do revise the piece - another project for later in the year!

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getpl...d=4914134&q=hi

not sure if it's soundclick or my line (most probable) at the moment but the thing isn't playing properly (2038hrs)

Many thanks,
Regards,
Reith.

[Whataguy!]

You're making me feel like a real klutz, Reith, because I can't really hear any technical failings. And this makes it hard for me to say very much about your piece.

Seriously, though, one thing I noticed was that piece kept making me wish for something more to happen. It was like it was setting me up for something and then .... It was disconcerting in a way.

You say you were writing about storm winds over the Mediterranean and how they would get under your skin. Yeah, I can hear that. Sorry I can't say much more, Reith.

[Boneman]

Can you hear Debussy in there? What a lovely piece R, just what I would expect from your overworked pen and ink!

[Whataguy!]

You know, I read my comments over and realize that I didn't include what I had really intended to say: That Mistral is good in the best way because it made me wish to hear more. That was what was disconcerting, that it made me wish for more to come after the five minutes I heard. Looks like I have to buy the CD or wait for the movie.

[Thorolf]

For this piece, one can’t really know what’s in the score. The overall impression is good, as is the form, but the timing of eruptions and dynamics seems a little arbitrary. Looking at the score, it would be easy to see if this is easily solved directly from the conductor’s desk, or if some compositional/instrumentational fine tuning is needed to bring it up to the best level.

A nice impressionist piece!



Regards

[reith]

Many thanks for these comments.

Originally Posted by Whataguy!

You're making me feel like a real klutz, Reith, because I can't really hear any technical failings.

I am duly flattered. Alas, there are a few - I couldn't even transcribe the whole score in. But (with a blush) I'm sort-of pleased I got away with it!

Seriously, though, one thing I noticed was that piece kept making me wish for something more to happen. It was like it was setting me up for something and then .... It was disconcerting in a way.

Something I have to deal with. I think I know what you mean...the "mood" doesn't resolve by the end.

Originally Posted by Boneman

Can you hear Debussy in there? What a lovely piece R, just what I would expect from your overworked pen and ink!

Ha! Oh boy...well, I sometimes give up the fight and just let it happen! A VERY poor-man's Debussy I'm afraid. A bit of Delius sneaked in too around 2'00.

Originally Posted by Thorolf

For this piece, one can’t really know what’s in the score. The overall impression is good, as is the form, but the timing of eruptions and dynamics seems a little arbitrary.

The score is on large size of m/s and would have to be reduced - somehow - to get it on the computer and pdf. It would show a few discrepancies with this rendering.

Looking at the score, it would be easy to see if this is easily solved directly from the conductor’s desk, or if some compositional/instrumentational fine tuning is needed to bring it up to the best level.

I think some stage-management would help. I may have misbalanced the tutti brass in the sequencer but the brass contains all the notes of the harmony, the rest doubling above/below. A slight rearrangement was needed because the horns just caused dropouts so I omitted them from the tutti. But the composition needs looking it. A piece of this scale hardly justifies 4-3-3 brass unless I actually use it.

A nice impressionist piece!

Thank you - it's a terrible affliction. I'm trying to get treatment but when they threatened an injection of Mozart I ran off!

Cheers, all. These comments have been most helpful; and apologies for not putting up the score. I may take it apart again...a true cut and paste job. I'll confess that in (approximately) this form it was turned down for performance.

[Boneman]

If you ever get around to putting your scores into sibelius or finale I would love to give them a go with my bunch.

[reith]

We're getting there - my handwritten stuff isn't too bad.... is it?

[crimson]

As you say the samples aren't top-notch, but I won't let that bother my listening.

Quite abstract, but like your Sinfonietta it mysteriously manages to hold my interest nevertheless. A very interesting listening experience overall.

I couldn't recall much from the piece after it ended, except for the gloomy, colourful and in a way fascinating mood. I think that on better samples this might sound very interesting indeed. I believe it would bring out more nuances in the piece.

An interesting, and in a good sense weird journey

[reith]

Well, this piece is a bit of a dog's dinner! It definitely needs bunging in the repair shop. The samples - well, I'm the culprit - I did stretch 'em a bit 'out of their zones' so to speak. I didn't understand about putting 'instrument' programs together at that point, so you get a violin sample covering about 6 semitones and the like! And I realised my computer really wasn't up to handling more than about 16 midi events simultaneously without dropouts. I'll bet more recent software is more efficient on resources.

I won't hold out huge hopes but I doubt many large orchestral works could fit sequencers/samples. I take The Rite of Spring as my index of how well we're doing!!