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The reason there are no violins or oboes is that I wanted the brass section to provide the sparkle in this short piece.

it sounds very contemporary and do I see sevenlets? those are very fun again. It has the modern sort of feeling contemporary concert feeling it’s nice though just wish that there were oboes and violins just for those who can play those instruments and only can and then they are motivated to play the peace, but then they can’t. Whether or not if you forgot or decided to choose them out, there must be a reason keep up the great work as always.

Hello @Kvothe! Interestingly, your entry—which was the very first one submitted to the contest—and the last one feature the same instrumentation: a (piccolo) flute, a viola, and a harp (while @JDevorMusic added two vocal parts). Melodies Themes Motives and Harmony Chords Textures: There is a melody played primarily by the viola and sometimes doubled or contrasted by the piccolo. The harp serves as an accompanying instrument and plays arpeggios—either “slow” ones, explicitly notated in semiquavers, or “fast” ones, notated as arpeggiated chords. With these ingredients, the piece develops a consistent flow that is occasionally interrupted by moments of “pause,” such as in measures 19–24. There are almost no accidentals throughout the entire piece (except in the harp’s arpeggiated chords, for example in measure 23). However, this does not mean that the piece is written in C major (or A minor); rather, its harmony could be described as “pentatonic.” Form Development Structure Time: The piece has no „traditional“ form (such as sonata or rondo form), but develops the above mentioned melody and texture in a „free-flowing form“. And at the end, we have a kind of „fadeout“. Originality Creativity: This piece is unique among all the submissions and therefore creative, evidently due to its pentatonic sound and somewhat surprising instrumentation. Score Presentation: The score presentation is not very appealing to me. Especially the first page, with its large blank space, seems a bit “half-hearted.” I would appreciate it if the font size were larger for better readability, which, on the other hand, would lead to a more effective use of space on the pages. And, as far as I know, a viola part never uses a violin clef – viola players are „monsters“ at reading ledger lines for their higher parts. Instrumentation Orchestration Playability: An instrumentation, consisting of a flute, a viola and a harp should be a useful choice. The flute and viola can interact with each other as melody instruments, yet each has its own register, preventing any overlap. On the other hand, when played pizzicato, the viola can “communicate” with the harp—the most important accompanying instrument. As mentioned already by other reviewers, the particular piccolo flute is somewhat weird, since it is usually not used as solo instrument and has a register that is too high to be a good companion to the viola. Concerning the playability, especially for the harp, I see no issues with using the pedals, since accidentals are used very sparingly and, when present—as in measure 23—are separated by full measures of rest. I’m not sure if a harpist would enjoy playing broken chords in one hand and “fast arpeggios” in the other (as in measures 25–30), and the chords in measures 19, 21, and 23 seem too large to be played with one hand. Execution of Given Challenge and Taste: The piece has a playful character. However, I cannot recognize any (strong) connection to the topic of the contest: To take Paul Verlaine’s poem and create „Something“ in music. The mood of the piece does not necessarily evoke associations with a summer day or the beauty of a couple of lovers, nor does it have a typical “French” character. Rather, it reminds me more at the sound which is played (in an endless loop) in the background of a Chinese restaurant. Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.5 7 6.5 8 6 7 7 7 Average Score: 7.0

Hi, many thanks for your review. Great to hear from someone who's actually played the piece! I did try adding more of the trills and mordents initially; but they didn't sound good: so I took them out again. I feel like these are idiomatic for the harpsichord; but don't work so well in an orchestral setting. Especially given the very dense ornamentation of the original score. I can hear some issues with the pitching of the celli and violas around Bars 19-27. Can't seem to get rid of this problem, despite trying several different instrument libraries. Could be a bug within MuseScore, but I'll probably have another go at fixing it.

Hi I’ve really enjoyed these pieces you’ve mentioned. Video game music and the like is a subgenre that fascinates me, but one I know very little about. I’ve carried on listening to a few more tracks. I think the orchestration is very rich and colourful. It’s true that the brass really stands out. Thank you.

Stunning stuff. You had me captivated until the very end. The final movement is my favorite. Very well played, too! I must follow your work going forward. Thank you very much. PS i’m sending this to a friend of mine who plays the saxophone to have a listen.

Hi again! Since the last post I submitted here about a piece of mine was roughly a year ago, I thought it was perhaps not the worst idea to publish another now. Bad timing, I know, since there are still days to close the voting process of our "From Nothing, to Something" Summer competition, a competition I sadly did not take part in (sorry :'/), neither as a contestant nor as a reviewer. My activity in this forum has dwindled too much, and I do hope to fix it little by little in the future. Today I bring you my 7th waltz for solo piano for you to have a listen, review, comment, destroy, whatever! I will be leaving the PDF here, as well as the mp3. For those interested, I would like you to see the video format too, which has been done with a tool that Victor Reny at free-scores.com has been developing: the OPUS reader. I believe it uses verovio for rendering, and this library and Musescore 3.7 don't get on well with each other too much but still, I think when the software matures it will be neat. @chopin this may be interesting to you, since it's coded in web and your enormous work in MJ perhaps could interact with webtools like this better than Musescore, in order to create these visual effects. If it's not of your interest, sorry for the ping man! That said, here is the work. Hope you find it decent! Uploaded it with 2 pianos, just in case you prefer one timbre over the other 🙂. All should be in the attached files at the bottom of the post. 98 - Vals del Tentetieso [v1.1].pdf And the video: Vals del Tentetieso | Valses para piano | Om. 98 | #piano #vals #waltz Again, many thanks for reading & listening! Best regards and see you in the forums, Daniel–Ø. Vals del Tentetieso [v1.1].mp3Vals del Tentetieso (Érard).mp3

Hi Luis. I don't know whether it be the music itself or the soundfont/VST chosen, but this sketch reminds me a lot of Dragon Quest VIII music, and that faint reminiscence alone makes me interested, and makes me like it too. Leaving you some examples here (but with an actual orchestra), if you don't mind, but since I feel I repeat myself a lot, perhaps I have stated this somewhere else! That aside, I quite like the glissandi in the harp and the percussion meshing very nicely in the composition. Thank you again for continuing to share your work here, Luis. Dragon Quest VIII Symphonic Suite - Cold and Gloomy ~ In the Dungeon Depths Dragon Quest VIII Symphonic Suite - Ruins of Darkness MIDI one, just in case: Dragon Quest VIII OST - Disc2 - Track08 - Ruins of Darkness Kind regards!

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 9.5 9.5 8.5 10 8.5 8.75 8.75 Avg: 9.06 All movements are done well. You have excellent themes, appropriate and interesting harmony and very clear form. Your audio and dynamics are also excellent. And I normally don't compliment engraving of music, but in this case as far as the score goes, it looks really professional. Did you use Dorico for your scoring? Let me comment on harmony so you understand why I marked so high. Even though your harmony may not be as crazy as let's say, experimental or modern music, I feel you used appropriate harmony which complements your themes beautifully. It also helps that your movements are contrasting each other with style and mood according to the poem's stanzas. And one more point about your harmony, in my view, you are using it to portray mood correctly, while not sacrificing the integrity of your music's theme and structure. And as mentioned before, your themes are very fun and catchy. Honestly I couldn't find a dull moment, you knew just the right length before concluding each section.

If you are interested, this is what Rimsky-Korsakov says about melody in octaves using woodwinds: The use of two instruments of the same colour in octaves, e.g. 2 flutes, 2 clarinets or 2 bassoons etc., if not exactly to be avoided is certainly not to be recommended, as the instruments, playing in different registers will not correspond one with the other. Suggested combinations: Fl + Ob, Fl+Cl, Fl+Bs, Ob+Cl, Ob+Bs, Cl+Bs In his book, he also discusses doubling the melody in the very high register (with the piccolo) or in the low register (with the bassoon, contrabassoon or bass clarinet). He also mentions some combinations involving two instruments from the same family that do work (because they are actually distinct, such as the flute and alto flute). As well as doubling the melody in three- and four-part arrangements, etc. And with examples of everything. A classic but essential treatise. Alan Belkin also explain this issue: Professor Belkin Notes: There is in fact a good argument to be made that the WW are not one group at all, but rather, three (oboes and bassoons counting as one – double reed – family, with the English horn as intermediary). Unlike the strings, woodwinds do NOT behave similarly to one another in various registers. For example, flutes get softer as they get lower, whereas oboes/bassoons get louder. This diversity of color and of register is the main cause of the difficulty in writing well for winds. The beginner is advised to think of each woodwind instrument as really three in one: a high instrument, a medium one, and a low one. Although the transitions between registers are of course not really so drastic, combinations of woodwinds with each other and with from other families work differently depending on register. For example, a low flute melody requires a different accompaniment from a high flute melody. This is also the reason that it is actually easier to score for a larger woodwind section than a smaller one: When the auxiliaries are available, the range available IN ANY GIVEN HOMOGENOUS TIMBRE is much increased. A chord scored for alto flute, regular flutes and piccolo will present less problems of blend and balance than one scored for 2 flutes and 2 oboes. Of all the woodwinds, the oboe is one most likely to cause problems for the beginner. It is a natural “prima donna” and, while its melodic character can be wonderful in the right melody, it does not blend easily with most other timbres in the orchestra (exception: oboes blend quite well with SOFT, muted trumpets).