Orchestral Songs

Hi!

I recently finished my Orchestral Songs. This is a collection of 6 songs for piano and voice that I wrote in the past but last year decided to orchestrate, this with the help of the really great book 'The Study of Orchestration' by Samuel Adler.

It is ofcourse never performed so there is no mp3 to listen to it, but because I am still very new in the field of orchestrating music, (only did 1 symphony before which is classical in tone), I would like to hear what others think. I tried to be more modern in my sound in this piece.

Here is the link to the score on lulu: Orchestral Songs
Here is the link to the score on Sibeliusmusic: Orchestral Songs

thanks for so much feedback!

greetings,
André

Is this your piece?

Orchestral Songs

Your link for the SibMus page didn't work, and Lulu is too stupid than I have time to deal with.

EDIT:

I just noticed, because you have two HTTPs in your address.

Since I don't speak the language of any of them except Morning, I can't give any comments about your setting.

In measure 62 of the first song, is the tam-tam supposed to ring? If so put a tie on it or put choke or dampen near it because it's ambiguous right now.

I don't know if I feel comfortable with the lack of rhythmic interest in the melody of Verlassen from 9 to 32. I'm not sure if it works with the text, but musically it's not that interesting considering that so many of the notes are the same.

In m.27, which is spelled incorrectly unless that was in the original text.

Hopefully now that I've gotten the correct link you'll get more comments.

Hi Calehay,

I made a mistake with the lulu link. Here is the correct one:
lulu orchestral score

The sibelius link does work, I just checked it myself:
Sibelius score

Thanks for the comments. The tam-tam direction in bar 62 is an indication for the next song, that is why I put it after the last note. I gave the directions through the whole score in a way that the all the songs can be performed at once, having the instruments ready for the next song.

I wrote Verlassen like this because I want to express the text which is about being left alone (verlassen); emptiness, coldness.

In bar 27 is no text, or do you mean 28? The word Wenn is correct spelled in German as far as I know. I took it like this from the poem, yes.

thanks for your comments, and listening to my music!

greetings,
André, Sweden

While I haven't spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the idiosyncracies of the score, it seems to be very well written. One moment that stuck out to me was your phrasing on the word "keinen" which should have the accent on the first syllable "kei-", but you wrote an ascending line on the first syllable leading to the downbeat of the next measure on the syllable "-nen" which is simply awkward to sing. It's not entirely uncommon to see this done, and even some master composers get away with things like that, but it is certainly not easy to sing (atleast, not with the proper emphasis and word stress).

The only other issue I have is that the soprano doesn't explore at all through her range. It's really not a soprano line at all, and could be sung easily by a mezzosoprano or a lyric baritone down the octave. Bear in mind that sopranos are entirely capable (and ready and willing) to sing above the staff almost as frequently as they sing within it. It is a terrific line, and I wouldn't suggest changing it, but I would consider listing it for mezzo, baritone, or countertenor for a broader appeal. If you were to do this, more singers would view it as a challenging work, and you don't have to deal with the prima donna sopranos who will gripe and moan about how the G above the staff is the highest note they get to sing (and trust me, they will). Also, I wonder if you could post an English translation for the text. My German is a little rusty and I am too lazy to translate it myself!

Hi Sean,
thanks for the good advice about the voice choice. I will change the soprano better to mezzo or maybe even just to the name voice, like a fellow composer once told me he always does. Making a translation of all the German... that's a lot of work. I can look around on the web if there is one already.

Strange that you think that "Kei" is on the wrong beat, this piece has been performed many times in Holland with piano with professional music teacher and they never said anything about this. Are y ou sure that it is wrong?

greetings,
André