In Flanders Fields [OLD VERSION]

I will be the first. I think it is gorgeous and I cannot wait until you get it performed by the real choir.

There are about 30 million different versions of this out there for choir. It seems to be a popular poem to set to music. In any case, I hope the performance goes well, it looks like it will be a very emotionally charged piece.

Hmm - this isn't quite how I imagine a setting of this text. For me it is a much angrier and darker piece, and I feel you've missed an opportunity to illustrate many important images in the poem. I couldn't really hear the lark being silenced by the guns roaring, or the poignancy of the plea to the living in the last verse. Instead it was rather...tame, really, and very typical of the current style of choral writing - mushy, dense harmonies all the way through, with loads of added notes in every cluster chord. Now, this is only my view, but is that really how we hear the legacy of war? It just seems a bit too comfortable.

Two other things: 1. The main melody sounds like a cross between Parry's Jerusalem, the hymn In Christ Alone, and the soundtrack to Shrek. 2. I assume you personally know a Russian bass who can reach the low B in bar 27, because for the average choir bass that is seriously low.

Hi, I liked the piece, and I know the poem it's based on.

The poem is a sad, and beautiful piece of literature, I think you have captured this with your music rendition.
I suppose, this is a typical 'war' theme, and would fit very nicely into a film such as 'Saving Private Ryan', however: the good thing about this, is that you haven't used it as a cliche war soundtrack, it is your version of a beautiful poem. And I think that's great.

I do think you have got this piece almost perfectly correct. The poem, unlike a lot of war poetry, doesn't show us blood and guts, it just makes us feel sad, and sorry for people who died in the war. I would say that your rendition does this too, and in a beautiful fashion. Well done, keep it up
-Phil

I agree with Simon that the sound is too comfortable. it's tame indeed and I found it too cliche. It is so overtly epic after-war-like, partiotistic, verterans handing over a flag to a crying widow. I need to vomit now... I imagine this appeals to a certain public, liking sentimental romanticism, and maybe that is causing may strong reaction.

In a previous post you talked about older works, you then considered to be masterpieces but which you now regard to be of lesser value. After your recent piano piece, which sounded like progression, this sounds like it is of an earlier date...

This is a great sounding song. I love the clash in the song to get across that the setting is very emotional. The only thing that seems crazy to me is that you have sopranos sing a high B and the bass two sings a low D. I don't know maybe the high B and low D is no big deal for your choir just food for thought.

Well, Tokke, this is just lovely! I would spend hours picking it apart, but there comes a point when a piece of music needs to just speak for itself. The writing is breathtaking, and that means the only things people are complaining about are the range and interpretation.

I assume you have a choir that can DO those things: therefore this is not a problem.

I assume you're a competent person and can explain why you set the poem the way I did. I will not criticize the way you set it, even if I wouldn't do it the same way. I'm no English teacher, I don't believe one person's version of interpretation is more valid than another! If I did, I would probably be criticized for the way I set my poems.

But, if you are looking for a good way to test your interpretation skills, write a poem, put it away for a month, get it back out, analyze it, set it, then see how you might view it differently given time. It might give you insight into some choral tapestry you've never explored before. Me? I have done this before... I have marinated on a text for a while. But, it's just as good to dive right in and explore WHILE you're writing. I know when I wrote "Where does the Music come from?" I got to the middle part, liked it a lot, then went back and rewrote the introduction to flow better with the middle development section. We all have our processes, so don't go letting people tell you that the poem is sadder than you think it is or that the way you wrote it isn't tragic enough.

If that were so, I would say Bach didn't set some of his texts happy or sad enough. There's not a terrible amount of 60s fervor in his pieces! I dunno. Just food for thought.

Wonderful piece.

-Connor Lidell.

I really like your main melody, although I wouldn't mind something different at times. I really enjoyed your setting of the third stanza, and thought the uplifting melody line went with those words well. However, I do feel like you out on opportunities in the first two stanzas to really sell the unique things the words were saying. (For example, I think a new theme for the second stanza could be really bone chilling.)

I really like how you give the basses the melody. But mm. 39-41 seem really brutal on your sopranos, to keep them up there for so long. Even if they can technically hit the notes, I would be concerned that the range of tone quality would be incredibly specific and probably not what you want.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!