Pete the Penguin - A Musical Bildungsroman

Hello,

So this score has been rejected as a "Major Work", which is fine I guess. I won't complain. There were a few things though that surprised me, being "a lack of coherence." Well, this is a light concert work, and it was definitely my attention to surprise you with sudden roars where you were expecting serenity, or jolt you with a pause and a decoy cadence. It's a light concert work, and it's supposed to be fun that way. "Pervasively simple harmonies"? I suppose that's what you call my complete or near disregard for common practice progressions and a more impressionistic chromaticism that although that sounds all high up and aloof it really isn't. There are sections of utter polytonality, but hey, I guess it worked, and gave the impression of "pervasively simple harmonies." In fact, the counterpoint in the fast section Alas, I will no longer give the impression of being a winer and suck, so I'll just post this, "Pete the Penguin" for Concert Band/Wind Ensemble.

My apologies if I've insulted those who enjoy the constant repetition and contortions of a single motif over a twenty minute period. Perhaps it has to do with my background composing music for the theatre, and creating condensed emotional sections in such a style. This is most best described as a theatrical overture.

Here is the PDF of the Score so that you can SEE it closer and understand just how complex it is, and my interesting notes for tempo will hopefully give you a better understanding of the narrative. My fault for not doing that before:
http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/...1&d=1182376034

So here is the Sibelius Scortch link, where you will see a very unreadable score from its distance.
http://sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/sho...scoreid=107350

“I have often had the impression that, to penguins, man is just another penguin - different, less predictable, occasionally violent, but tolerable company when he sits still and minds his own business”

-- Bernard Stonehouse

Inspired by the epic bildungsroman of a young Emperor Penguin who, while playing in the ocean, finds himself tossed away from the Antarctic shore, chased by leopard seals, shipwrecked on the coast of Argentina, befriended by a sailor who sends him off to Canada by plane – while holding onto the external metal wings with very slippery wings of his own – where in turn he is purchased by a little girl in a toy store and continues to have several other adventures with the animals of his new home.

The original stories of “Peter the Penguin”, were written by my sister, Becky Sajo-Carovillano, who is a professional clarinetist with her husband in the duo Acclarion. This composition has gone through several stages over several years, originally a clarinet/piano duet, then a more mature clarinet/piano duet, and now finally a much more mature concert band composition. The chart is a light concert work that makes gratuitous use of polytonality, honking and snappy melody. Oh, and by the way, the last six bars for the low brass spell out “the end” in Morse Code.

Enjoy! Or hate, whichever you prefer.

figures

I can understand that this piece could work as background for a cartoon/movie telling the story of the penguin. But it doesn't quite work without the video as there is too much contrast between the "big band" parts and the smaller parts making it disjointed. Most of the individual themes are enjoyable in themselves but, to my ears, it doesn't quite hang together. For example, after the impressive opening, I was disappointed by the next section.

It has a certain comical Spike Jones quality. A rework with fewer instruments and a more structured flow might work - the piece has possibilities. Just my two cents.