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Old Apr 10 2008, 6:20 AM
Zetetic Zetetic is offline

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I agree to a limited extent with Mr Rybak. It sounds perfectly pleasant, but doesn't have me humming along. In short, it appears largely harmonically correct, but it's not nearly as catchy, as harmonically adventurous or texturally exciting as Bach's Italian Concerto (after which I assume this is modelled). In terms of upsides and downsides, I loved the minor sequence with the underlying circle of fifths pedal. Please bring that back! On the downside, I really didn't like the chords being thumped every other bar, particularly when in the lower register. This was just taste - there's nothing stylistically inappropriate, other than in the idiom such crashes would usually be introduced, then hidden until the climax of a very obvious return to the tonic (or perhaps related minor). Use the crashes sparingly is my advice.

Admittedly, 'catchiness' may not be something to which you aspire in a concerto, but I assure you that it is of great importance to have a subject or motif onto which the listener quickly grabs. There's not much you can about this now, but I felt that generally in your composition I wasn't being provided many memorable snippets of music or signposts. In Bach's Italian Concerto, 'signposts' are provided by; the memorable themes, predictable sequences and a clear harmonic framework into which these are set.

This advice is all ephemeral though; the fact I can be so analytical is definitely a good sign. Congratulations on the Vox Saeculorum go-ahead. I've heard nothing but praise of them!
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Neoclassical Fantasia and Fugue for String Quartet - 16 March 2008