View Single Post
  #7 (permalink)  
Old Sep 28 2008, 2:38 AM
QcCowboy QcCowboy is offline

QcCowboy's Avatar

Moderator
Group: Moderators
Joined: 27-April 06
Posts: 3,741
Member Number: 776
I just listened to your 4th movement. It has a nice bouncy main theme. However, that alone isn't really interesting enough to carry almost the entire weight of the movement. It DOES repeat just a bit too much. You have to be careful, as well, about remaining in such static harmony. Almost the entire movement is simply a D major chord.

There are a LOT of orchestration issues, not least of which are range issues (flutes, bassoons, violins, violas, cellos all going out of range at some point).

Your horn player (I only saw one horn part.. and PLEASE do not say that it's a unison part for 2 horns), were this ever to be performed, would die before the half of the movement.

The bassoon cannot play those rapid figures in the extreme low register. Those bottom notes are all played with the same finger (left hand thumb) sliding across keys.

Since this is your first large-scale symphonic work, I can only congratulate you on the endeavour.

Now, the real work starts:

Study instrumentation and orchestration (shameless self-plug: we have an online orchestration course right here in the Masterclass forum on YC).

Get to know your harmony and potential progressions a bit better, that way you avoid the trap of monotonous static harmony.

A bit of counterpoint would help as well, since there is some rather awkward voice-leading here and there, and the potential for more interesting interplay between melodic and accompaniment material.

Any way, it's a good start, it shows promise, but don't rest on your laurels. You very obviously need work, and now is as good a time as any.
__________________
"Those that know, do;
Those that understand, teach
."
-Aristotle-

"toute audace engendrée par l'ignorance cesse d'être une audace et devient une maladresse"
-Debussy-

In musical criticism, when issues of craft and technical consideration are set aside, what remains is more subjective. However, until technical issues are dealt with, the subjective portion bears considerably less weight.
Reply With Quote