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Alex, A lovely orchestration, though, I have some questions in the selection of the English Horn; especially in the lower register ... the actual projection may be more covered in the ensemble. Mark

It’s a beautiful piece and your version is fantastic. It’s restrained and balanced, without any superfluous filler that ultimately makes it sound muddy and indistinct. And it sounds absolutely lovely. You’ve done a great job of separating the different voices implicit in the keyboard version, and that voice leading accounts for a large part of the orchestration’s success. In my opinion. I think the brass section is good, as it’s handled delicately and adds that touch of colour. I also really like the English horn, though I do tend to hear it more in solo passages than in the ensemble because it has such a distinctive timbre. Orchestrating a fugue is a bit different; I did one recently (by Bach). And well, I think with these styles you have to be very faithful to the original and add very little (in terms of melody or harmonies). And keep the parts very well separated. In this case, there’s an added difficulty because, although it’s a Baroque-style fugue, it’s clearly Romantic, meaning that, as well as the horizontal voices, Franck allows himself to add chords and thicken the textures as he pleases. A challenge that can be very rewarding.

Hi to all, Just wanted to post my latest orchestration attempt. It's the prelude from Cesar Franck's "Prelude, Fugue and Variation" (Op. 18). This is a rough draft for midi rendition: so I haven't added slurs, etc... Not sure about my brass passage in Bars 26-32? Perhaps I should stick with woodwind and strings? I wonder if I should attempt the fugue and variation too? Though they would be more challenging. Anyway let me know what you think? Franck - Prelude in C minor (orchestration) #8 (mid).mp3 Franck - Prelude in C minor (orchestration) #9 (score).pdf

Thank you so much for the kind words Luis. When I heard this prelude, I thought it was crying out for an orchestration: so I couldn't resist making one! Will probably have a go at the fugue and variation some time; though at the moment I'm working on an orchestration of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in B minor (Op.32 No.10), which is proving quite challenging!

I was trying to stick to the pitches from the original piano work: so the bass line is too low for bassoon. I could've used double-basses; but felt like contrabassoon would blend better with the other woodwinds. Double-bass can stick out sometimes when it's not balanced by the other strings, and has a more abrasive sound than contrabassoon in my opinion. There aren't many other options available for that low register. The only ones I can think of are harp, piano and bass marimba.

Hi all, Here's short lament I composed for solo Oboe .... when some notes during my warm up tweaked my interest. As always comments always appreciated. Mark (Oboe is computer generated...although I have played it 😉) Oboe Lament6-30-26.mp3 Oboe Lament6-30-26.pdf

A lovely, expressive little piece. It reminds me of those solo instrumental phrases that Messiaen would suddenly write into his works. I think it makes excellent use of the oboe’s most effective range, bringing out the expression in some of the high and low notes as well. As for the notation, well, it depends on how you look at it or interpret it. In my view, the piece is in D flat major. There are a few moments where it strays from the key (bars 12 and 13, and also 20 and 21) only to return immediately. There are indeed many passing or incidental notes. Even though a piece is for a solo instrument, the harmony is implicit (whether tonal or otherwise). It would be interesting to harmonise this.

I always noticed that the song "Wicked Child", which was the third level of the original Castlevania game would work perfectly with a swing rhythm instead. So I finally got around to making it swing.

Hey @BlackkBeethoven ! I listened to your most recent mp3 with the string quintet pdf above. Overall it's not bad. I'd say there isn't enough spotlighting on the material the listener should focus on vs. the background - everything is the same dynamic and there's no balance between melody and accompaniment. Also it often sounds like a chorale exercise - chorales are a good beginning way to learn harmony and chord functions but when used as a model for other compositions can tend to create a cookie-cutter, chord-by-chord approach to composition - there are so many other ways of arranging things! The melody can be in any voice. There could be more melodically meaningful counterpoint and cross pollination between voices. Approached from a motivic standpoint your melody is non-descript and proceeds along with a lack of intensity and purpose. Overall, the biggest strength and flaw at the same time is the focus on harmony. When writing good melodies there’s often a lot of repetition and variation and potential for reinterpretation in different harmonic contexts (while the melody notes stay the same or repeat). There’s also usually a sense of ebb and flow in terms of climax and denouement which I feel this lacks. What I mean when I say this is that your melody lacks the terseness of say a Beethoven sonata melody. Your melody is very pedestrian and there’s no sense of rising and falling, of breathing. It lacks definition and there's just a vague blob of sound proceeding along slowly and it's really hard for the listener to focus on anything and get anything out of it. Imo and when I work on melodies, I don't usually compose a piece based on the first melody I come up with but keep popping out melody after melody until I have something that I think is worth spending some more effort on to refine or complete. To me it seems you're 1) focused on harmony too much and 2) pick your melodies poorly/without good judgment and consideration. Those are my thoughts. Keep composing and trying and you will get better!

Update - This is the structure I'm aiming for A - B - A1 - C - (ending) A - is lilty and slightly energetic with lush harmony B - is a chorale, hymn-like section A1 - original material returns (melody), but it's reharmonized, and with a different rhythmic feel C - I'd like to attempt something more modern where I have a this rushing overlapping rhythmic lines (like everything happening at once) before we go into this big chorale finish with suspensions and the like. String Quintet No.2.pdf https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SGU8fq9dRSEkF3T4KUgSZGHTdR4RvFs_/view?usp=sharing I've been working on the piece and I have some notes: Pg 1 - melody here needs to be edited with my new additions. And my accompaniment is so SATB, it's not sophisticated string writing at all I want this section to feel lilty and more energetic than it does rn. Really lean into the meter (maybe up tempo to 64-68) So that when we switch to 6/4 we slow down and bask in these lovely chorale harmonies. Pg 2 same issues as above - m. 15, get this smoooooth so our transition is nice. Decrescendo and slow the tempo down slightly, maybe add a measure of rest Pg 3 & 4 I love this (note for everything, add bowing and more dynamics) Pg 4 & 5 - transition back to A (this is A1) needs to make sense. Put melody an ocatve higher for variety and rhythm needs to be 3, while melody is in 2 (hemiola affect) One thing I want to focus on is getting some more variety out of the sounds I'm getting from the strings. Different counter melodies (especially in A1), passing the melody, pizz., ponticello, sul tasto, etc. I have some ideas sketched on later pages that I hope to use to play with the rhythm and sound more. This could be nice 👇🏾 1234.pdf 👉🏾 This is the edited melody for A mp3.mp3

I would give it to the bassoon ... you may have to adjust the other lines. By the way - why the contrabassoon? The timbre to support the melody is not the same as a String Bass or bassoon in resonance. Mark

Thanks Mark! I just love the colour of the English horn: so try to use it as much as possible, Would you suggest I move these passages into the bassoon or bass clarinet?

Hello! This one of my pieces with lesser compositional quality... It was a very fun piece to work with so im posting it here too, just for the sake of it. Its for organ or harpsichord, in this midi recording its for organ wich i think fits nicely with the more contrapuntal style of this piece. This is a Fantasia (Back in the renaissance and early baroque era, the genre of the fantasia was just a broad therm for anything improvisational or without a structure) wich i used a renaissance popular tune called "La Bassa Fiamenga", You can find this melody extensively on various pieces of that time, and its one of the lesser known ones. Enjoy! Fantasia sopra la Bassa Fiamenga (2).mp3