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@gaspard has asked me to orchestrate another one of his Clavichord pieces and I was happy to oblige! You can view his YouTube video here: Character Select Screen And you can view his score here: It took me about 8 days to do this orchestration and I am presenting here two versions - one that repeats the piece from the beginning and one that doesn't. I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear any critiques, comments, suggestion or just observations that you may have! This is the 2nd time that I've orchestrated one of @gaspard's Clavichord pieces.

unfortunately @user011235 there isn’t any video game in progress. That would be amazing though. i wrote the clavichord version thinking it would be a character select music for such a video game though. So interesting to see what @PeterthePapercomPoser does with keyboard scores. The middle part really shines much more in the orchestrated version in my opinion. I used to do orchestration before the obsolescence of finale and I feel like peter has much brighter and friendlier symphonic takes whereas my ideas usually skewed much harsher. And some of the things Peter knows how to do I never got around to learning. The kid knows what he’s doing!

That's certainly interesting. I actually find the piano version less enjoyable due to how mechanical the tempo ended up making it sound. Though the tempo change between both versions was intentional, I found it hard to slow it down even more lest the overall character of the piece turned way too stagnant for most preferences. Indeed, the moral tonal-sounding final cadence was supposed to generate both a sense of conclusiveness and overal contrast as a sort of referential "wink" towards tonality, much like the ones Alban Berg tended to include in many of his own dodecaphonic pieces. Lastly, thank you for your feedback as always. It's certainly quite refreshing to find out about other pespectives differing from my own on what my compositions may bring to mind this way, without the contrivances and condescending language I have rather occasionally had to endure from other users in this forum less accustomed to the basic etiquette constructive criticism usually demands. Thanks for everything.

Nice Peter! I like the original too @gaspard, is there actually an early music video game in the works? Cuz i'd be very interested in that 👀

Hi again @Fugax Contrapunctus! It's quite an interesting idea! I know you're working with strict tone rows to have produced this, but my ear cries out for some 8th note or 16th note motion in this to relieve from the constant barrage of quarter notes. I actually like the piano version a bit more than the string quartet because the tempo is a bit slower and allows the ear to absorb the harmonies more. The ending is also unusual and breaks away from the pattern established in the beginning and is more interesting because of that. Thanks for sharing!

Hey @Fugax Contrapunctus! It's great to hear that some old juvenilia of yours can be rescued from oblivion and made somewhat acceptable after you've now gained some more skill! In my opinion, it does still lack some space and comes across as somewhat robotic and mechanical with the constant barrage of 16th notes, but I don't think I can say that about your more recent works anymore. Thanks for sharing this fugue!

Hi @Alant! Hi! For some reason, even though this is not a rag, it reminds me of The Spinach Rag from Final Fantasy VI. This has a very unique approach to both harmony and rhythm which gives it a very individualized, custom feel that's not found in many others works. But in it's current form, I think it is more like an experiment/idea rather than a finished piece. Have you thought of adding a slow section in the middle to create a ternary form? It would be interesting what kind of fun meters and rhythms you could come up with in a slow, lyrical contrasting section! Thanks for sharing!

Hey @Alant! I like this a lot. It does sound like it could be the soundtrack to a chill video game. I actually think a mixture of instruments would be favorable! I preferred the deepness of the bass in the first version, that was really nice, though i like a lot of the new stuff in the second version too. You could combine them. As for ideas for what could come next, if it were me, i might do a pause followed by a big tutti g chord, and then continue in G major. And maybe do some inversion and retrograde with the motifs you have?

Hello @Alant! Like @Thatguy v2.0said I like the 5/4 waltz, not very commonly found as in the 2nd mov of Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique. I agree with him too you can develop the piece to a longer one. I love the time signature changes you make after the opening bars! The C natural in b.11 gives a mixolydian feeling which I like as well Beware of those F naturals, as they should be written as E sharps since they resolve upward as a lower chromatic auxilary to F sharp. Thx for sharing! Henry

Thanks - yes I've had feedback like that about the rests and have since tidied it up - consolidated some of the rests and replaced others with breath marks. I hadn't realised how difficult all these tiny rests would make it for the singers. It might be a bit harsh to say "the whole system is flawed". As it's written atonally (as opposed to tonally but constantly switching tonal centres), I understand there are different and much simpler conventions for enharmonics - but I'm using them for the first time so wasn't sure I was getting it right. It seems that there is no key signature, and the expected enharmonics seem to revolve around ensuring horizontal readability (e.g. avoiding where possible consecutive different notes in the same line). I understand that if looked at through a tonal lens, it might seem overwhelming, but it's not a tonally written piece. I could share the web page where the track in embedded so that it's much easier to hear. I'll bear that in mind for the future, but I'm not sure I'm going to be posting any more music on forums. While I've had some excellent support and advice that's really thrown light on my blind spots and helped me to move forwards, there's also been (not here) plenty of small-minded, finger-wagging abuse, which is really disheartening and demotivating, and sadly, I don't think it's worth it anymore. This seems unfortunately to be the norm, and I've come across several composers who've either stopped sharing or given up composing all together because of it.