Vladisove

When it comes to the different sections in a piece, I totally get what you’re saying and I agree with you. But for me, the main thing is that it just takes me ages to write something. Composing a single opus can take me anywhere from two to three years. That’s why, after twelve years of working on music as a hobbyist, I only have six official pieces to my name. I always start out with big plans for more ambitious works, but to be honest, I just get tired of writing and end up scaling things back. Also, since I don’t have much technique or knowledge, it’s way easier for me to write slow movements. So those are usually the first ones I finish, and by the time I think about the faster parts, I’m already worn out from the whole “project.” I wouldn’t want to share my earlier pieces, because I’ve honestly been unhappy with them for a long time and I think they’re a lot lower quality than what I’ve published recently. Right now, I’m working on a symphony and I’ve really tried to rethink my whole approach—I’ve started working on fixing my issues with theory and technique, because I feel like my biggest challenge is keeping things structured and telling an engaging story with the music. I honestly think that’s more of a skill thing than a talent thing, so I’m hoping I’ll get better results in the future. And since it looks like writing this symphony is going to take me about five years, I’m afraid I probably won’t be publishing anything new for quite a while! As for using vocal parts, I kind of agree and kind of don’t. I think it really depends on the genre of the music. Personally, I’m mostly into large-scale symphonism from late German Romanticism and early tonal avant-garde. How often you use choir or solo vocals, in my opinion, depends on the structure of the piece. If you look at symphonies with big choral finales—for example, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony—you’ll hear that the choir only comes in for about the last 30 percent of the bars in the final section, and the solo vocals even less, maybe 20 to 25 percent at best. But if you take something like “Das Lied von der Erde,” the solo vocal part in the final section takes up about 60 percent. Still, in my own work, I probably should have given the vocal part a much bigger role, so the comment is definitely fair.

Thank you so much for your comment. Every bit of feedback means a lot to me, because after the passing of my beloved teacher—the one who introduced me to classical music and supported me in my first steps as a composer—I don’t really have anyone to discuss these things with. I already noticed a funny fact: people seemed to enjoy the second part more than the final one, even though I originally thought of it as the weakest. The last part, on the other hand, which I had high hopes for, turned out to have plenty of problems—the scale of it was simply more than I could handle. I also agree that I didn’t really follow the rules of orchestration or voice leading. Only after finishing this piece did I start to realize that when you compose, you have to keep in mind not only the listener, but also the performer. You can’t write the parts in a way that makes them want to curse you for the rest of their life. As for Donizetti—it doesn’t matter that his style is so different. He was a true master, which means there’s always something valuable to learn from him. Thank you again for your suggestion.

Very interesting! I will start looking into it right away. Although, I must say, I'm currently so deeply impressed by Mahler and so utterly dissatisfied with my own work. It's immensely difficult and agonizing as I try to develop a more competent approach to the new symphony. I'm having to fill in so many gaps in my technique.

Thanks for the nice words! As for the quick moves thing—it’s just that I’m not skilled enough yet. But you’re being so kind to me!

Hey everyone! My name is Vlad, and in my free time, I dabble in composing what I like to call "pseudo-academic" music. I have absolutely no formal music education—just countless hours spent listening to classical works. I’d love to share my Symphonic Suite from Freyja - Vanadis, a piece heavily inspired by Sibelius and Wagner.