Symphony in B Major (An old piece revisited)

[Majesty]

This is the first movement of my Symphony in B Major. The symphony was my college thesis. I have had a reading of the first movement only. In this case I am presenting the Finale version. This piece is a few years old. At the time I wanted this movement to convey ideas of an RPG or perhaps the soundtrack of the begining of a journey. Hence, the fact that I decided to not be overly developmental with the musical ideas (and perhaps this fact is a downfall to the piece). The piece is based off of the the main Allegretto theme and the motifs that surround it including motifs from the intro. I almost get the feeling that the theme is heard too often throughout the movement. I plan to leave the piece as it is weaknesses and all, but I am curious to the reactions of others.
Also, there are some moments where Finale did not represent thet piece truthfully as was done in the reading I had.
The instrumentation is: 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets in A, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 2 Trombones, Timpani, and Strings.
When I get the chance I will upload the other movements.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/song...songID=4496888

[reith]

Classical with moments of baroque figuring - this seems to have set a trend with you, if I may say so.

Very easy to listen to and excellent scoring. In spite of finale the dynamics come across reasonably well. I don't think I clicked on lo-fi though this is mono and, like times around 5:30 and on, doesn't do the build up justice.

There are hints of your more recent harmonic progressions though. I liked the sudden change at approx 6:00. The repetitions of the theme only became noticeable toward the end.

Altogether nice.
Reith.

[Majesty]

Originally Posted by reith

Classical with moments of baroque figuring - this seems to have set a trend with you, if I may say so.
Very easy to listen to and excellent scoring. In spite of finale the dynamics come across reasonably well. I don't think I clicked on lo-fi though this is mono and, like times around 5:30 and on, doesn't do the build up justice.
There are hints of your more recent harmonic progressions though. I liked the sudden change at approx 6:00. The repetitions of the theme only became noticeable toward the end.
Altogether nice.
Reith.

Thanks for listening and for the comments. I like to think that I flavor my music with classical and baroque seasonings of philosophies at times.
But, its nice to know when someone can pick up on certain aspects of you compositional style. I do agree with you that the theme started to seem repetitious toward the end.
Glad you liked the piece.Again, thanks for listening!

[high_school_bassoonist]

....what can i say,.. fantastic majestic melody and great piece, (once again) very inspirational.. there was a copied interval from Air by Bach, which came through rather prominantly for me, but it only made the piece better, well done. were you trying to create the imagry of a Grandiose Conservatoruim in all its majesty, (because thats what my brain conjured up..) awsome!

[MaestroX]

Nice, there are some great "film" symphonic moments which are really great. I find the tutti's at the beggining a bit obscure though. Later about 1:20 its great! Lots of movement and excitement.

I wanted this movement to convey ideas of an RPG or perhaps the soundtrack of the begining of a journey

You've definatly pulled that off.

I am really impressed with this piece, it flows really well, (maybe except from the start). The quieter part at 4:00 is beutiful and a nice contrast, like a look back on one's self.

My only crit would be the start, it could be the recording but I felt it didn't flow as well as the rest of the peice. If that gets sorted its going straight to one of my favourites works ever!

Ending is good, but I wanted a WOW ending, the chords were a bit too low for my liking. Some higher chords with timpani and triangle on tremolande would be the perfect ending in my eyes.

Overall I get a Film overture feel to it, very nice overall work, once again it would be great to look at a score to see the interplay between the instruments exspecially the woodwind.

[Majesty]

Originally Posted by high_school_bassoonist

....what can i say,.. fantastic majestic melody and great piece, (once again) very inspirational.. there was a copied interval from Air by Bach, which came through rather prominantly for me, but it only made the piece better, well done. were you trying to create the imagry of a Grandiose Conservatoruim in all its majesty, (because thats what my brain conjured up..) awsome!

Thanks! An imagry Grandiose Conservatorium was intended. I'm glad you were able to sense that.

Originally Posted by MaestroX

Nice, there are some great "film" symphonic moments which are really great. I find the tutti's at the beggining a bit obscure though. Later about 1:20 its great! Lots of movement and excitement.

You've definatly pulled that off.

I am really impressed with this piece, it flows really well, (maybe except from the start). The quieter part at 4:00 is beutiful and a nice contrast, like a look back on one's self.


My only crit would be the start, it could be the recording but I felt it didn't flow as well as the rest of the peice. If that gets sorted its going straight to one of my favourites works ever!

Ending is good, but I wanted a WOW ending, the chords were a bit too low for my liking. Some higher chords with timpani and triangle on tremolande would be the perfect ending in my eyes.

Thanks for the comments. I'm not too sure if the lack of flow in the opening is the fault of the recording or my compositional style. I will check into it, though. When I started wrtiting this symphony I did consider triangles and and other percussion but decided against it. Its interesting that you made that comment. I guess my ending has left you wanting again

Overall I get a Film overture feel to it, very nice overall work, once again it would be great to look at a score to see the interplay between the instruments exspecially the woodwind.

My only crit would be the start, it could be the recording but I felt it didn't flow as well as the rest of the peice. If that gets sorted its going straight to one of my favourites works ever!


Thanks for the comments. I'm not too sure if the lack of flow in the opening is the fault of the recording or my compositional style. I will check into it, though. When I started wrtiting this symphony I did consider triangles and and other percussion but decided against it. Its interesting that you made that comment. I guess my ending has left you wanting again

I was very much influenced by the feelings I had as a child when I encountered great moments of symphonic film music. I wanted to try and emulate those moments in the movement as well.

What you say about the quite moment at 4:00 is exactly what I wanted. Thanks!

As far as posting a score goes, I tried posting a score for the second movement but Finale .mus files aren't supported. I will have to wait until I can convert the file to a PDF. Is there anyway that Finale files can be supported?

[MaestroX]

I've just enabled it. You should have no problem uploading your .mus file now.
If you google "Cutepdf" you can get fold of a free pdf maker that is great. Very easy to use and free. The .pdf will benefit those of us without Finale

[Will Kirk]

Wow, and more wow, this is amazing. Although it seems to me like it would be rather difficult to play, seeing as Bmajor has 5 accidentals and such

But nevertheless, wonderful piece IMO

I don't have anything bad to say about it

Keep Composing!

Will

[crimson]

I didn't really get into the piece at the beginning. The high 'blast' with horns (I don't know if there's a proper name to it, since I'm still a newbie) coming occasionally at the beginning was a little alienating to me, but not too much.

I really liked the mood around 1:40. Very colourful. And from there forwad I enjoyed listening to the piece. I haven't got much experience in listening to traditional classical, but I got the impression that the scoring in this piece is quite original. However, the piece remained a little obscure to me. I missed simple, easily remembered passages, but that's probably only because of personal taste (as I listen to film music mostly).

With the limited knowledge I possess, I'd say there's nothing too wrong with the piece. It is listenable, but just didn't catch my fancy. Skillful composition, though.

Edit: Ah, now as I look at other comments, I do agree that this reminds me of film music. It's just different from those soundtracks that I listen to (Elfman, Silvestri, Williams). But I think this has a traditional flavor to it, which makes it special if you consider it as film music.

[Majesty]

Originally Posted by Will Kirk

Wow, and more wow, this is amazing. Although it seems to me like it would be rather difficult to play, seeing as Bmajor has 5 accidentals and such

But nevertheless, wonderful piece IMO

I don't have anything bad to say about it

Keep Composing!

Will

Thanks for the comments, Will. Well, during a reading I had of this movement the key was more of an annoyance to the Brass . But, they survived.