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Indeed. The similar timbre of other instrument families often makes the individual lines muddled amidst the density of the texture, as often tends to happen in my keyboard compositions even just for 4 voices. But the human voice still retains that distinct timbral quality to it, somehow capable of preventing its integration into a larger choral whole from forsaking the uniqueness of its sound and the meandering of its melody. A testament, perhaps, to how vocal music was upheld as the most sacred during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; not just because of the references to the purported sanctity of the natural human voice in the Old Bible and the Gospels, but because its endless versatility and potential in conjoining doesn't undermine the independence of each line nearly as much as it otherwise does for instruments. Thomas Tallis himself certainly took this to the absolute non plus ultra with his renowned Spem in alium, and yet, the fact that 40 voices singing simultaneously may still be perceived as individually separate with each listening instance still leaves room for even more ambitious polyphonic endeavours to be produced (although it would certainly be beyond overkill to even try). Thank you kindly as well! Though unfortunately I have bad news concerning the languages supported by the current version of Cantāmus: In any case, I'm sure a real choir would be far more adept at singing in Polish than the vaguely synth-sounding lyric renderings Cantāmus usually provides, though of course such an eventuality would come at a far greater cost. Perhaps an online choir with individual part recordings being carefully timed and assembled together might do the trick. Otherwise, a live premiere with a professional choir would be my best bet. Either that or browsing the Internet for competitors, of which I know none whose lyric rendering quality comes even close to that of Cantāmus.

Greetings Henry! Under normal circumstances, such egregiously positive feedback would have me including several rephrases of "thank you" in my response. In your particular case though, I feel it is only proper that I answer with a wholeheartedly humble 不敢當, and for good reason. Of those among your 6-part compositions I've had the awe-inducing pleasure of listening to, your mastery of complex textures across vast swathes of music is on a completely different level, perhaps even unrivaled, if I may dare. To mention the most prominent example, your String Sextet in G-flat major, does not merely fit the conventional definition of "masterpiece", but rather expands upon it beyond what was conceptually possible in my mind up until that point. Its technical perfection and measured balance of musical aspects excelled over everything I knew when it comes to structural integrity, modulatory prowess, stylistic variety, motivic resourcefulness, contrapuntal-device handling, internal narrative coherence, ...the list just goes on! Given I already wrote back then what was perhaps my lengthiest review ever on this forum, I won't repeat myself too much on the myriad wonders your work ellicited on me and continues to evoke every time I've listened to it since. What I am trying to say is: it means a lot to me to hear that you, whom I consider to be one of the greatest masters in our generation, are pleased with such a comparatively minor piece of mine, if there's even to be any comparison at all between this and your utmost proficiency in counterpoint both innovative and sublime. It may have two more voices than your 6-part compositions, but does it even matter when the brilliance of any of those far exceeds my whole production like a supernova outshining an entire galaxy? In the end, I can't help but appreciate the generosity of your remarks, even if I ultimately feel undeserving of them in the face of the insumrountable magnitude and unparalleled quality of your output. Thank you kindly, Henry. It is truly an honour.

Hi @PeterthePapercomPoser, thanks for the kind words. Yes, a lot connects to the original them in some way, but obviously in a way that's idiosyncratic to me, right? There are some very obvious things like this... ...and there are other pretty obvious quotes: mm. 17–18 are just the latter half of the main theme's antecedent phrase, mm. 19–20 are a condensed version of the antecedent as a whole (<E, G, C, D, E, F, (E,) D, G>), and the notes for the tremolo parts are the first three notes of the theme (<E, G, C>). But then there are just decisions that I made artistically. For instance, I think the idea that the main melody of the non-introductory carol can be condensed into a pentachordal diatonic subset with only one semitone is very fascinating, so I emphasized the semitone throughout my setting as like an opposite to diatonicity. So lots of semitonal dyads (both harmonic and melodic) all about. Sounds rough, which I like, and also meets the design philosophy. For example, passages like m. 16 where there are both ic1s and ic2s, which, to me, emphases that friction between the diatonic and chromatic. But, to be honest, I didn't think that hard about it, haha. Most of the time, I just kinda liked the dissonance 🙂 I think the fact that you can hear echoes of the original is way more interesting than having every single thing be attached to it. Thanks again for your eyes and ears!

Hi @Fugax Contrapunctus! Only in choral music can so many individual lines at once still retain their individuality. The tone colors of the different voice types are different enough as to grant them distinctiveness even when they're really close together or even overlapping. And here I thought I was working with a lot of voices in my recent Christmas Mash-up for SMATBB!!! Although even in that 6 voice arrangement, I sometimes use divisi. Thanks for sharing this wonderful choral work! It makes me wonder how apt Cantamus is at rendering words in other languages (like for example Polish since my Christmas Mash-up's so far feature Polish, English and Latin lyrics). Great job!

LoL!

Hi @Monarcheon! At first I was very puzzled by this piece as it was very difficult for me to hear how it was at all related to Jingle Bells. But I have since listened better with the help of the score and I can confidently say that I do hear it. You have cleverly fragmented the theme and augmented each fragment into its own unique musical gesture. The extended tremolo on one note I perceive as a development of the basic repeated notes "Jingle Bells". While the tremolos between two different notes I perceive as a development of "Jingle all...". "...the way" is developed in measure 10. I maybe would have liked for the associations to the original Carol to be more obvious but you certainly bring your own particular style to the season! I love your setting of "Dashing through the snow..." in measure 23. Some of the remaining material still puzzles me however in how it is related to the Carol - did you take a lot of liberties with it? Thanks for sharing this wonderful recording! I think your performance is excellent and really brings out the unique creepy tone colors of sul ponticello and sul tasto and harmonics and tremolos all put together and what not - it's an extended technique frenzy! Makes for a particularly spine-chilling Christmas! Haha

No, think German. National Anthem material! Aw, s*it, I gave it away!🤣

La Marseillaise?

Hi @L.S Barros, I do like the piece! It's simple and easy but also enjoyable and light hearted, and the dance rhythm is well noted. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @ferrum.wav! I thoroughly enjoy this one! This combination is fascinating and I especially love the celesta throughout the whole piece, it really gives an imaginative sound here! The motives are very apparent and coherent in the whole piece. Really the only thing I am less agreed with is the introduction of the voice at near the end of the piece. When I am listening to this, I am truly shocked when a female voice appear and sing the lyrics! Maybe it's just the poor AI generated sound, but I do think you can just remain instrumental music here since it's so well developed and colorful before the voice emerges. Or if it's a real voice it will be much better, but I think instrumets alone would be enough. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Monarcheon! It's so smart and creativer for you to divide the original Jingle Bells melody to different segments and place between interlude passages like the tremolos. Those techniques like sul ponticello, tasto, vibrato and harmonics are really used with great effect, and as you say, the implied timbres are super important for this to really give a refreshingly new look to an otherwise clichéd melody! You are just too humble! Your playing is so good here and I promise I enjoy it wholeheartedly! Thx very much for playing this yourself, the computer rendition would be umch worse than your playing! Also, thank you for joining the event and becoming more active again in the forum! P.S. Honestly if Peter didn't sneak in giving you a badge first, I would give you one too! You totally deserve the "String Aficionado" badge! Henry

Hi Pabio @Fugax Contrapunctus! This is an absolute achievement to write an 8 part counterpoint with this beautiful effect! I myself wrote a 6 part one and felt like it's killing my brain, but an 8 part would sure will my whole body! The rhythm is so well used here to create space for each voice's counterpoint so the whole thing is smooth and flowing. Since it's an 8 part motet, all those "oddities" aren't odd at all! With more voices for sure the "rules" can be more lenient. The sonority is very rich and nothing feels wrong here! And this one is very fitting to the Christmas setting! Thx very much for submitting this wonderful piece and joining the event! Henry

Hi @J. Lee Graham! This is a really enjoyable fugue using the festive tune. I agree with all things said above especailly what @Monarcheon and @muchen_ said. The use of schematas like the Monte is very well noted throughout the piece. I can't stop myself to post one of my earlier piece here two years ago, because I also use a Christmas tune (Jingle Bells) plus parodying one of @Thatguy v2.0 tune for a double fugue haha: Thx very much for sharing this funny piece and joining the event! Henry

Hi @TristanTheTristan, This is a nice classical style piece of music. It reminds me a lot of Bee's Emperor Concerto. Is this one related to the Christmas theme? I notice some of the playablitiy issue, for example in b.25 2nd movement the left hand will be too fast to be played. There are a lot of themes and texture throughout the piece. I don't take lots of effort into reading the whole music, but how are those materials related to each other?😗 Thx for sharing and joining the event! Henry

Hello @Musicman_3254! Welcome to the forum and thx for joining the Christmas event! That's a really long submission and honestly I only listen to the first few minutes for it haha. It's nice to use an orchestra for it. Base on what I heard, maybe you can add some more layers in the music! Thx for sharing. Henry

I certainly like the dreamy effect and the imitations between the instruments, as well as the polyrhythms. One thing I love less is the parallel octaves between the instruments' imitations, for example in b.2 and 3 bewteen soprano and violin. I think the instrument combination is creating great effect here, as I like the guitar here. Thx for sharing! Henry

By the way, can anyone guess what famous tune the main theme of the minuet is based on?😉

Greetings and apologies for my late response. The entire piece has been transposed one whole step upward in order to accommodate for the English Horn's playable range without altering its melodic line, as any other change to the main motif would undermine the periodicity expected of strict canonic imitation. Thank you for your patience in pointing out my mistakes. I hope this last modification has not negatively affected other instrumental or vocal ranges too much, though as far as I can tell every part is feasible now. Otherwise I'll have to apologize to The Sopranos as well. 😅

I like these chords - movement between voices and some dissonance

Congrats for turning such a cheesy holiday tune into something very enjoyable!

This is definitely one of your more interesting ones. I like the rhythm you chose for the piano part, very neat, and I think it pairs well with the cello. I will note that this sounded more on the eerie side to me than on the romantic side, but I suppose that's the way the die rolled. Also, the way you end the piece, you leave everyone in suspense!

I come to you once again with my 12th Muzoracle casting! This time, Jen asked the Muzoracle "who, when, and where will I meet my soulmate, romantic partner?" (Muzoracle is a storytelling/fortune telling/divination tool similar to the Tarot card deck, but with cards with musical concepts and 12-sided Musician's dice and Solfege dice. Perhaps it may be thought of as a special musical Oracle card deck.) My interpretation of the cards and dice are displayed below. Since the casting featured two cards in the suit of Voices, I used a Soprano and an Alto. Also, there were three cards in the suit of Strings, so I used Violin, Cello and Guitar. Finally, there was a card in the suit of Percussion, so I used the Piano. I chose the Piano and Guitar because Jen has played these instruments in the past and she also happens to be an Alto. If you'd like to find out more about Muzoracle and how castings are interpreted go here: https://muzoracle.net/ This short musical interpretation of Jen's casting is about ~2 minutes long. Since the black 12-sided Musician's die landed on G, the piece is in the key of G which pertains to the throat chakra. I created the following melodic/harmonic underdrawing guided by the cards and the dice. Since the first card drawn was a Conductor of Voices card, I started with a lone soprano singing a chromatic neighbor tone to B, A#. The Violin and Guitar come in next since the Minor 2nd of Strings was drawn in the 3rd position. Following is the Alto which joins the Soprano since the Minor 2nd of Voices was drawn in the 4th position. Finally, the Piano comes in when the Tritone of Percussion card was drawn in the 5th position. The whole piece is repeated since the De Segno al Fine card was drawn in the 7th and final position. If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading! And I hope you enjoy listening to this short vocal chamber work I wrote to represent Jen's Casting. Comments, critiques, suggestions, or observations are of course, always welcome. Thanks for listening!

Hi, I personally like the change at 4:37 ... I think you need to empower it more ... bring it out; rather than reiterating the very slow buildup in the beginning. Personally, I would bring in the new thematic material sooner to provide contrast - it has a nice mysterious quality to it. Mark

Lovely little piece. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a chain of secondary dominants works so well as a fugue subject, but I think you bring out its fullest potential. It makes little moments like mm. 32–33 so lovely because it's so diatonic but keeps the spirit of the sequence. Really cool to see what parts of the theme you kept and selected in certain parts. I think m. 37 is the only bar that I'm not as big a fan of: the P5 (vaguely on ii?) into A4 (vii˚) feels a just the tiniest bit awkward because (I think? I've been having a hard time trying to think of a reason...) the third is neglected twice.

My submission for the event can be found here: