I gave it a good listen and liked a few things, but I a lot of things came off as rather harsh. I know you said you intentionally prepared just about all of these dissonances and resolved them properly, and I heard what you were going for, but even with that in mind I thought a lot of the dissonances sounded "too much." For instance... the G# in Solo Cnt. at M.12 really grates... it sounds fine by itself, but when I add your harmonies it sounds a little out of place. I think it's the Bb (or A#) to A resolution you were going for. Although it resolves, I think the impact of the dissonance is a little rough. I would probably have voiced a lot of these harmonies a bit differently throughout the piece, but then again this is your composition not mine. Sometimes cleaner is simpler is better, though, keep that in mind. And another random thought... the parallel sixths at 17 in cornets kinda bothered me... not sure why, but they did. You can disregard that though, it's only an opinion on my part.
I agree about that xylophone part... I'd go for chaging it to vibes myself, instead of glock. as Justin suggested. Sorry I don't have much to say about the piece myself, though. Unfortunately it didn't strike me as quite so wonderful, but perhaps it is an acquired taste that I ... haven't acquired. I can't say I dislike it. I just wish I could hear the recording now instead of the ... *brr* midi. I sat hear plunking out a few of the harmonies on the keyboard, but that's as far as I got. Haven't listened to it at the suggested slightly faster tempo yet, so I won't comment on that.
As much as I have to say is good luck on the recording.
I understand you are not conducting this? Will you have lots of control? Just recording or in a concert program? If the latter, do inform us of its reception.
