Suite

Let me start off with the estampie. As much as I like your experimentation with old forms, I didn't appreciate the Estampie much. My conception of that kind of form is that of a relatively short piece. With the length you gave it, I had the impression of listening to the same material over and over again, without much development. (I don't know if that's the point, but I digress...) In any case, I don't think your first part lends itself very well to active listening. The odd pandiatonicism also confused me, since you usually write much more chromatic/outright atonal/a-modal music. It didn't go over very well with me.

The sarabande was a bit more pleasant. I liked it a bit more than the Estampie. I felt it had more direction, though it seemed to lack creativity - much of the same is present, and it doesn't seem to go anywhere until the last few measures. I guess more clarity would be of use here, since the MIDI is, as always, horrible at rendering anything . In the end, I'm not quite sure about the whole baroque esthetic choice, as the ensemble you picked seems like it could be exploited in very interesting ways. I guess the pieces weren't very satisfying for me.

The Estampie form is very repetitive. I tried to counter that repetition with counterpoint. Sadly, the rendering does NOT bring out the counterpoint the way it would sound in a live performance. I could, I guess, increase the volume of those parts in the rendering? I felt, personally, that the Sarabande was the better of these two movements. Yes, I am generally much more chromatic and atonal in my works but here lately I have been seeking to incorporate more modalism into my overall sonic pallet. Many of my works, of late, have spliced the two together quite nicely, I think. At any rate, I hope you'll like the third movement I have been working on. I'll be uploading that here this evening at some point.

Interesting piece. I think it would be even better if it were more thematically developed.

My works utilize motivic development far more than thematic develoment. Not that you wont find thematic development in these works. For example, the Sarabande presents textural variation over a ground progression - which would be a form of thematic development. The Estampie utilizes a break up of the overall theme into smaller motives - which are then manipulated through out the fugal textures in a manner similar to what one would find in thematic development. The third movement, which is more my style, utilizes fully motivic usage and development throughout. Generally, what I do, is take a set of motives and then base the entire work around those motives. I'm very much a fan of brevity, as well, so often you'll find me working with no more than 2 motivic units and creating a full work around those (or movement, as is the case with the third movement.) I hope that explains more my style for you. The audio renderings do NOT do well to present the work as it would sound live - thus, if one is using the rendering as a basis, you will miss a LOT.

That's great! It's a fantastic exercise in motivic development. But I guess it just depends on what your intended audience is. If it's intended for an academic audience, no prob. But I think it may be too inaccessible to be appreciated by the average music connoisseur.

True, I agree fully. The first two movements are way to consonant to be appreciated by the average contemporary music connoisseur. The third movement is more in line with those tastes. Again, though, this work isn't really meant in that vein. It's more geared at experimentation with older forms. Again, thanks for listening!

I'm not nearly qualified to comment to the depth as the previous posters, esp when comparing these movements to the prototypical movement of the same name. All i can say is it was a very relaxing suite to listen to and I enjoyed it.

At first listen, the sonority of your composition is very soothing to ear and puts a pleasant vibe to my mind.
I will say, I do think that your motifs can be developed even more. For example, in Meas. 43 Mvt 1, that would have been a perfect spot IMO to add a new counter melody derived from your main motif. You have more of a harmonic support than melodic which lends this piece to be more homophonic. This type of homophony also appears in Mvt 2,


I do understand that when we composers write something and call it done, we are moreorless likely not to change the composition; we just fix the technique on the next piece. Once again, just my observations.