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In anticipation for this year's Christmas Eve, I decided to try my hand at writing another religious motet. Considering the fact that the bulk of this piece has been composed merely in the span of yet another insomnia-driven bout of inspiration, perhaps its modest length may as well be a reflection of missed potential, as I reckon it could have been developed into a more complex structure should its latter half not have got stuck on a protracted pre-cadential spiral. Once again, just as with my previous vocal fugue, the main goal of this composition was to make the text as intelligible as possible (specially taking into account the musical history of such a well-known textual setting), that is, within the confines and constraints of an 8-voice motet. This has ultimately led to some interesting contrapuntal oddities which, despite the preservation of independent voice-leading and thorough avoidance of melodic and harmonic blunders, have produced a number of somewhat unorthodox unresolved dissonances throughout. Nevertheless, I believe such contrapuntal licenses are more than sufficiently justified given the scope of this piece, as well as the sheer volume and density of its texture all the way through. This piece was specifically conceived as a submission for this year's edition of the forum's Christmas Music Event, and shall be presented accordingly in its dedicated thread. YouTube video link:

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

hello wow another WIP?? and you havent even finished that symphonic variations and the piano suite?? well thankfully this piece is done, and i just need to fully score the thing and do some finishing touches. this is a vocal work for soprano, oboe, tenor sax., celesta, piano, violin, viola, and cello. the song is from an internet ARG/webseries, called Interloper, based around the Source game engine. i took the song's original melody and just develop the ever living fck out of it. vocal is from a voice synthesizer, singer: Sonata (http://utau.wikidot.com/utau:sonata) the form is....eh...yeah. but hopefully it's coherent. -------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION. (b. 1-121) > introduces the themes, containing three sections: 1st (b. 1-44) and 3rd (b. 97-121) sections are the same. the 2nd section (b. 45-96) is a variation/development of a motif from the previous section (the first three notes). i call it the "Look to the sky" motif, very important, appears everywhere. the oboe part of the 3rd section (b. 103) introduces the B section as a counterpoint. TRANSITION (b. 122-136), variation of intro first section. A. (b. 137-204) > pretty much the combination of the intro's three sections. vocal entrance (b. 151). 2nd section of the intro are woven and augmented between the vocal melodies. sax part at b. 180 is the B section, again, as a counter point. the vocal part sings a lot of the motif's variation. TRANSITION (b. 205-219), same as the previous one, different instrumentation -------------------------------------------------------- and that's the end for this WIP. lemme know what ya think! (ost starts at 29:50, lyrics appear at 30:09)

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, but one thing I shall mention again: with 8 voices or not, my tiny little compositions are not even worthy of being mentioned remotely on par with such jaw-droppingly all-encompassing artistry in music you have developed and refined to such a great diversity of effects. 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.

Hello, all. Coming at you with something a little different for the event, but I hope you find it at least interesting, even if you don't particularly like it. I've basically decided to get really good at writing for strings nowadays, and since I'm mostly an atonalist, cello is the easiest since computers can't play that kind of stuff; the implied timbres are super important. So enjoy hearing me poorly play this miniature fantasia on Jingle Bells. I promise there's a method to the madness 😄

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!

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?

For people that already know my work,i have started a new catalogue, so you will now often see LOB instead of SanWV.LOB stands for Liber Operum Barrosianus, just a fancy way of putting a catalogue name. I hope you like the piece! ❤️

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 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

Here's a little Christmas card for y'all I found from a few years ago. It's probably not the best fugue ever written, not by a long shot, but it's fun. Composed: December 22 - 24, 2017 at Austin Scoring: Keyboard solo Style: Baroque Duration: 2:09

Here is my submission: https://musescore.com/user/89049631/scores/29505320/s/jl-md7 And here is the pdf: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oi66fwxpfjm4bvBB6mYQ9d5GGz-afdB2/view?usp=drivesdk I hope you enjoy it! (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

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!

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

In the light of Suno usage on this forum, I found this video: Suno warning