"Metus" Overture

I love the use of the orchestra in the piece. You still emphasize the strings in the opening, but they aren't made the centerpiece of the whole work, letting other instruments take the spotlight. There are some moments where the piece becomes very stormy and almost frenetic, and kind of force the listener into paying attention. I like the use of contrast with dynamics. Nice piece.

That looks like a great beginning, with nice ideas, and well, definitely Beethoven-inspired. It would be wonderful to hear a performance of it with that orchestra!

I think by working on some details you could make it even more effective in any case. Some things I noticed by glancing through the score:

- Write that your score is in C if it is (which it seems to be). Otherwise transpose the instruments.

- the dynamics in the strings from bar 7 to the fermata (actually until the next tutti fortissimo) seem to be inconsistent. Do the second Violins, Viole and Celli really stay fortissomo all the way until the next fortissimo and only the others go quieter? I understand why you want to keep them loud for longer than the rest of the orchestra, but you need to write when they should diminish.

- Orchestrate your dynamics more. Consider taking away some instruments in bar 8 for example and in all similar passages (maybe the brass). The fortissimo passages will have a much stronger effect if the brass isn't always playing. You could generally consider leaving out the brass (or at least trumpets and trombones) more often. Everything seems a bit thick and heavy, and your solos will sometimes have a hard time coming through (like the clarinet in bar 38).

- And if you have your trumpets play fortissimo from bar 18 (it does seem a bit like overkill) -at least- have your flutes play fortissimo too.

- always indicate how many of an instrument are playing a specific passage, with "a 2" and "solo".

- Are the 16th passages of the strings really all separated without slurs? I personally think many passages would sound better with some well-placed slurs.

- There's no dynamic marking for the woodwinds in bar 68.

- In bar 75 consider either having trombones and trumpets set in not on the first beat but a bit later, or even only in the next bar, to increase the crescendo effect. Or just let the trombones set in and only let the trumpets come in bar 76.

Very..dramatic indeed, I jumped quite a few times..almost got in trouble listening to it lol, but I enjoyed it....maybe an MP3? The MIDI sounds a bit malnourished...

The midi and pdf have been substantially updated, and the piece is almost done. I aim to start recapitulation starting on C min at the 8:00 mark-ish...

I enjoyed the work. I was just curious about your rationale for using four horns. Is it a personal touch? An emulation? Or is it just tailored to a specific ensemble? I personally enjoy using three flutes and three trumpets on occasion, but have never had the urge to use more than two horns.

To answer your question:

It is a bit of each.

Personally: When I wish to write any lines in general, the middle voices should have movement and direction, so in brass lines, having a four horn section gives the ability to have movement in the middle, so the overall sound is lush, in my opinion.

Emulation: The great Herr Beethoven and Herr Schubert's use of the four horn section gives a brighter texture to me. I like that.

Ensemble: In our group, the winds are definitely better as a whole than our string section. Plus, our horn section is very powerful. Why not utilize it, I ask?

Above all, horns are beautiful and I love their texture.

The parts I heard were really good. I envy your skill! I don't know much about music theory so I'm going to stop trying to critique that type of thing for now. I CAN tell you, however, that the string parts are very reasonable to play and you should have no trouble with the strings next spring. As a viola player, I wish to thank you for giving the violas a nice part. I don't think it sounds poppy.

Also I'm apparently not allowed to use the pager thing until I've made at least 20 posts.

Thanks for the comment.

Quite frankly, there is nothing much to envy... I learned most of music through experience in ensembles and the internet. Again, I have updated the files quite substantially and I am about to end the first development to lead into the false recapitulation and a *short* second development.

Wow you are very skilled for your age if your profile age is correct. Your piece reminds me of Beethoven and that's a good thing. Good job!

I have finished with all of the melodic lines and harmonies of the piece. The timpani has yet to be written and the score has to be cleaned up majorly (adding slurs, other articulations, bowings, technique, score spacing, etc...).