Eaux Stagnates (Stagnant Water)

My latest piece! Quartal/Quintal harmony, with resonant/metal/"wet" instruments (Vibes, rhodes, bass flute, bassoon, cello, dulcimer)

I tried something special on this one:

As you may know, the "brightiest" mode is lydian. Why? We could say it's because there is more sharpen notes in this mode than in any other one. So, I tried to "augment" it even more, of course the problem is that the next note to be sharpened is C, which is the root! So I placed C# in higher register, and so on with G#... Ok, I know this is not very "theorically correct" but I think I achieved pretty much my goal, which was to go further lydian mode.

happy listening!

SoundClick song info: Eaux Stagnantes (Stagnant Water) by Christian Comeau - I'm quite a beginner composer. Still, if you want to hear some new classical or non-orchestral things...

eauxstagnantes.pdf

I thoroughly enjoyed this piece, I love the almost equilibrium achieved with so many dark instruments playing in such a bright mode. my only real qualm is more texural than anything, all of your instruments have unique individual timbres and yet don't blend cohesively(which works to your bennefit) that is except the bassoon. the bassoon blends too well with the cello at times and I kind of lose both under the rest, but if it were a dark instrument with a more unique tone to replace the bassoon, say, a bass/contrabass clarinet, this might realy make this piece shine. but, this is just my personal belief and I feel the piece as is, is beutiful. Great Job.

That was a great piece of music!

Unique choice of instruments (good luck in having it performed) and interesting approach.

The problem for me is that it tends to get somewhat repetitive (and stagnant) thematically and harmonically after a while...why not try another tonal center/another mode to add some different colours?

Wouldn't it correctly be "eaux stagnantes"? :P

As for the english translation, one would rather translate it as "stagnant waters", isn't that so? :pinch:

I have come because it has been drawn to my attention that your English horn part is written FAR too low. You have it going down to a concert G somewhere! English horns can only go as low as a concert B natural. I suggest changing the English horn to a bassoon. It would fit better, because you can keep the pitches.

Thanks for listening and for commenting! Indeed, I made a keyboarding error, it is "Eaux Stagnantes" and for the English traduction, I wasn't sure if "stagnant waters" was commonly used or not.

I agree with you, The Hourglass Mind (lol, funny name), I had an hard time choosing this melodic instrument; as oboehazzard noticed, I first started with a English horn, then moved to bassoon, for lowest range and more distinct timbre. I will try with other instruments (thanks for the bass clarinet suggestion, I am going to give it a try...) It was a challenge to have so much low-range instruments, balance wasn't easy. Fortunaltely, I didn't write that to be performed live, which would have caused a lot of trouble!