"Reflections of New Years" for three 'celli and two contrabasses.

Just like just about everything else I've written in the past year, I wrote this for YC, particularly our New Years Competition. Now that the results are in, I'm posting this publicly.

I am not sure why I decided to use three 'celli and two bassses, maybe it's because they have such warm and somber tones and the violin and viola tend to be be much brighter in comparison. Plus, I just like low notes.

The form is ABA with a short somber and uncertain introduction. The A melody is the Irish traditional Auld Lang Syne, while B is the Chinese new year song, Gung Shi. The melodies are pretty much in tact, but the harmonization is entirely my own. The overall feeling is supposed to be warmth and celebration.

Somebody will probably mention the technical difficulties in this piece, particularly the rapid notes in the basses. I am aware that this is quite difficult, I have seen some pretty amazing things done with basses, I've even seen double bass ensembles, and they did some pretty amazing stuff. I wanted to give some interest to the basses, give them something to do other than quarter notes, bass lines, and occasional eighth notes. So, this is not meant to be easy to play, just plausible.

I'll give a cookie for the first person to realise what I did after the intro, in the first measures of Auld Lang Syne.

Any comments would be much appreciated, I had a lot of fun writing this.
________________
________________

PDF Score -> PDF -> Reflections of New Years - eSnips, share anything

MP3 Audio -> MP3 -> Reflections of New Years - eSnips, share anything

MIDI File -> MIDI -> Reflections of New Years - eSnips, share anything
Please listen to the MP3 if you can, the MIDI is not tweaked.

________________

James

You always do pick interesting ensembles for your works. This is a neat arrangment of some Christmassy and New Years music (I almost said crap instead of music...Sorry).

From the bassists I have talked too, it is no so much that a piece is difficult to do as much as it is to make it sound right. Fast Bass notes have a habit of just melding together instead of being clearly heard.

You should have pm'ed me about the competition. I can usually find the time for these.

BTW Do I hear Santa Claus is coming to town in there as well?

Next time PM me.

Ron

Thanks for the comment, Ron I wasn't expecting you to notice this so quickly. I see you have a number of new things posted, I shall go check them out before long.

Originally Posted by rolifer

BTW Do I hear Santa Claus is coming to town in there as well?

Really? Where? What measures/parts? My subconscious may be getting the better of me...

Originally Posted by EnigmusJ4

Really? Where? What measures/parts? My subconscious may be getting the better of me...

Right around measure 33. There are only a few notes of it, but I hear it everytime.

Not on purpose huh?

Ron

I enjoyed your use of dissonances in most places in this piece, and you linked the sections together well.

This piece might get a bit "muddy" in places, with the close harmonies between the low instruments.

For some reason, the last part in bar 66 where the celli have the same rythmic figure bothers me.

Nice piece.

So the instrumentation caught my eye! I was so interested to hear how it work and I think its a really great piece. The instrumentation really works and I love the modern chords and such, mixed in with these traditional themes. I couldnt open the PDF so sorry this isnt a more in depth review. I really enjoyed it.

Neat arrangement! Very good string writing in general. Three cellos against two basses will provide excellent balance and you've used the 1st cello's highest register well.

As a cellist I have four critiques -

1. Ab major is very readable, but Cb made me go "eek." Just as clarinets and trumpets find flat keys easier to read, strings play easier (and sound better imho) in sharp keys. This is an all string piece so no reason to play in a key that's more appropriate to a band piece.

2. String scordatura mid-piece is highly inadvisable. Just don't

3. Tremolos are easier and sound better than rapid string crossings, on bass, and to a certain extent in low cello parts as well.

4. C-extended basses correspond approximately to alto flutes in terms of the Don't Write For One Unless You Know It's Available factor. They're not rare per se, but uncommon outside professional orchestras.



The solution to all your problems is to transpose the piece up. I recommend Ab->D and Cb->F. This will make the piece brighter, infinitely easy and enjoyable for 4 of the players, and slightly challenging for the 1st cellist, but certainly still easier than reading Cb would have been Anyway the highest note I see is a thumb position D - a good cellist can go far above that.

Thanks everyone, that's a lot of help.

Ahh... measure 66, one of the Scotch snaps I threw in.... I'd like to see if it sounds okay if performed by live people and not my computer, it might come off a little better, maybe a tiny ritenuto at that point so it isn't grazed over so briefly. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to do about it.

Thank you for confirming the playability of the high 'cello parts, I wasn't entirely sure I could write whatever I wanted up there, but I heard some high 'cello before, it was a beautiful sound and I thought I'd give it a shot. Same with the contrabasses, 1st bass goes pretty high too, I wouldn't have wrote that if it weren't for actually hearing a bass playing that high, I guess you could call it inspiration. Or, if you're an amateur bassist, a pain in the arse to read tenor clef.

I'd rather not transpose it into a lighter key, I like it fine the way it is, I'm fond of dark major keys, I was trying to avoid any potential open strings. Would it be fine if I transposed everything up a tone? This would put it in Bb at the beginning, and Db at the end, is that a little better? If I transpose too high, the 'celli and basses will be struggling with the resultantly higher notes. So is Db better, or would you rather see C# major? Personally, I would go for the Db.

As for the string crossings, I can't change that now, but I'll keep it in mind for the future. That's just one of the challenges I fell victim to in writing for a bunch of low instruments.

very fine work J4...the only thing i wouldve added was hendrix doing bomb and scream effects

EnigmusJ4:
Some thoughts--
1. Don't worry about the difficulty. As you said, most bassists will love you.
2. I'm not sure if the spacing between voices will create some muddiness, especially the lower you go. The sound file, which actually had some good cello/bass patches (as far as artificial sounds go), seemed that way at spots. But it could totally be that the file was non-acoustic.
3. Some of your "blue notes," esp. the chromatic passing tones at the end of the second line of the "auld langs yne" (I know that's not the right spelling...) tune, sounded a little out of place. I guess I'm a purist, but I even try to avoid too many major 7th chords if I'm trying to write a serious or nostalgic (not warm-and-fuzzy) piece. I don't know what you intend as a mood or if you agree with me. Just giving you my 2 cents.
I'll post more if I think of it.
I'd love to play this! Not sure if we could get it on a concert, but we have the personnel. Are you going to edit it any more? Not an insult, but just wondering if it's in its final form.
Brooks