Ragnarok WINNER: Wolf_88

Chewie33:

Many of your ideas sound pretty interesting, but they feel like very scaled-back versions of what they really could be. This is probably because most of the time your orchestration is pretty sparse, or simply that you opt for straight repetition than development of the said ideas. Some more percussion (ie, snares or toms) would do well giving the more rhymthic sections more drive and motion, as would more dynamics. As it is now, it sounds more like a generic war theme to me than full-out Ragnorak.

6/10

Matusleo:

I'm quite fond of the tremelo strings that drive much of the piece forward, and how you layer more and more parts on top of them to create a sense of uneasing tension. I also liked the general orchestration of this piece - simple for the most part, but very effective mood-wise. The chords at 33-34 (and following occurances) could probably use a bit of fermata and dynamics to smoothen the transition. As for the appropriateness of the piece, I thought it better represents preeminent doom, before the chaos of the destruction begins (then it cuts to the aftermath with the solo woodwinds near the end). Some more dissonance and non-parallel rhythms would've added to that effect.

7/10

smallz:

Like cavatina had said, this piece feels more like a military tactics theme than that of Ragnarok. Some of the themes seem a bit too hopeful, as if there was some chance of resisting such an event . The orchestration sounds very solid, and I liked how the piece is structured but allows for deviations and nuances here and there (though even more would've been better).

7/10

Wolf_88:

I liked the consistent use and development of motifs in this piece, and the wide varying but appropriate moods (though at times it felt more playful than hectic). Orchestration all-around was pretty good, though the wind chimes felt kinda overdone, and somewhat out of place. The main thing that was lacking was dynamics, though I guess all the entries were suffering from this diseffect.

8/10

Would someone else like to judge this in my place? I'm feeling really irritable and touchy lately, and I don't want that to come out in my commentary. This isn't about me, and I don't want to hold everybody up. I'm not sure I could add much to what has already been said, anyway.

It's ok. I'll find a replacement.

Have you contacted the judges letehn?? no one seems to be answering! some of them dont seem to be active at all!

I just did. If we don't receive any more judgings by the time the Solo Piano Competition ends (15th december) , i shall declare a winner.

I'm here, I'm here! Don't worry.

CHEWIE -

Your piece is not very coherent. There are a lot of ideas here, but none of them are organized very well. You jump back and forth from sound to sound, making it very uneasy and hard to tell what's going on. The piece could have been much longer, with a lot more development.

You did, however, catch more than one side of the 'world ending' theme, which I like.

(6/10)


MATUSLEO -

Your piece is very effective. It conveys a message, is dark, intense, and succeeds at telling us the story.

But it doesn't tell--It punches us in the face with the story. Right from the start we get THE WORLD IS ENDING YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!!! There is absolutely no variation on the theme or the music. You used a lot of copy and paste, I can tell. I like the idea you were going for, but not for the entire piece. This should be the middle section to a larger piece, something with contrasting moods around it.

(7/10)


WOLF 88 -

There is not much flow to this piece. It stops and starts rather randomly. You need to organize your thoughts better and piece together an outline or something. Your musical phrases are very short, which keeps the piece short and confusing to listen to. But I like the musical ideas, they are quite different in places and colorful.

The theme of the piece is apparent, but it is too black and white.

(7/10)


SMALLZ -

I really like this piece. The music is quite well put together, if a little bit trite at times. Have you heard Michael Giacchino's work on the Medal of Honor video game series? Your piece sounds quite the same! No offense--I love Giacchino!

But, it's not 'end of the world' music. It's military wartime music, like the Medal of Honor stuff. I do love the music, but I have you pull your score down because it doesn't serve this contest's purpose.

(6/10)

I guess for me, it's a tie between Wolf and Matusleo. Nice work, everyone! I wish I had had enough time to contribute a piece.

It's ok. I'll find a replacement.

Thank you, Letehn. Sorry to let you down. Feeling a bit better, but still...

I'm not going to wait any more. All deadlines have been literally killed in this competition.. I guess i'll have to anounce the winner rigth now

Smallz: 3/10

The only reason for the low score is because I didn't find this piece evil. I found it mysterious, majestic, suspenseful (suspenseful doesn't necessarily mean evil), hopeful, and sometimes sad (again, doesn't necessarily mean evil). It is missing the most important element, which is evilness. This piece sounded more like a video game.

Chewie33: 3.5/10

The evilness is tricky, I admit. I don't even know how well I would do. I just didn't get the sense of an end of the world feeling. At measure 25-40, you do finally portray a sense of evilness, which was the main objective. Although, after this, I think you lose focus and the piece becomes more suspenseful than evil. I like measures 98 to the end. Very disorderly, which obviously was your goal, and executed nicely. However, the piece was more suspenseful than evil, and it ended up sounding too much like a video game.

Wolf88: 10/10

I like the creepy cello introduction, and the use of the bells made the piece sound even creepier. You did a superb job of making this an evil sounding piece, and you portray an "end of the world" feeling, which after all, was the objective? The piece kept me on my toes, you had distinct and consistent themes. I find this piece very well written. I fully enjoyed it. Well done.

Matusleo: 9/10

I really liked your theme introduced by the bassoon at 45. I like how the theme picks up around 70, gets deeper and louder. The piece definitely does portray a sense of evilness. You do show the ability to organize your musical thoughts very well. I find it very cool how you implemented a particular theme at measure 33, and snuck that particular theme into measures 155-166. The piece portrays an agitated atmosphere. I like how the ending is at peace. I found your ending to be the most satisfying out of all the submissions. The piece suggests destruction took place and finished, and time to mourn over all the destruction. Although I don't agree with some parts of your music, the organizational skills, and the overall mood of the piece shows me that you know what you are doing, and can write for a particular mood. Very well done.

Thank you