Hydra

This is the second movement of a Symphonic work entitled Pluto. Pluto is also the name of the 4th and final movement and has already been posted. Charon and Nix have not been posted yet, but will be in time.

The outermost of Pluto's moons is named after Hydra, the nine-headed mythological serpent that guarded Pluto's realm. Hydra was discovered along with Nix (the 1st movement and also a moon of Pluto) in June 2005, by the Hubble telescope. Charon (the 3rd movement) is the largest moon of Pluto.

This is about being pulled in 9 directions at once, my typical way of thinking. It is basically formatted in A B C B A with my favorite being the C. Hydra was also the serpent that Hercules had to slay as one of his tasks. Everytime he would chop off a head Two would grow back. Bad day at the office for him.

Any and all comments are appreciated.

Here is the MP3

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Will post score and midi soon.

I thought this was really great, starts with a kind of playful energetic feeling, and grows into something that seems really majestic and moving.

I guess that's really all I can say though, being the beginner that I am.

Ron, this is really excellent! The C theme is the highlight but the beginning is good and it builds nicely. The only thing I can suggest, having listened to it three times and enjoyed every second, is that possibly a recapitulation of part of the C theme at the very end might work. Great stuff.

To be honest, I didn't enjoy this movement quite as well as the fourth movement. While this is a kinda bad thing, you're fourth movement was simply put, amazing. So really, this movement didn't stand much of a chance at being better. That being said, I still enjoyed this one quite a bit. At first, I thought some of the ideas and sections sounded a bit disjointed until I realized that that was (hopefully) what you were going for. It fits perfectly with the 9 ways of thinking theme, and I think you pulled it off very well. I am not very fond of Wood Wind instruments as a whole but I think you did a great job at utilizing them. Really not more I can say about this piece, it was good but not quite as good as the Fourth movement. Maybe you intended for the Fourth movement to be best or maybe it was unintentional, I'm not sure. What I can tell you is I'm looking forward to the 1st and 3rd movements.

Hey Ron,

This is interesting! I can hear the amount work that has gone into this movement which in my mind makes it very successful!

The A part: I really enjoyed the very brief string interruptions of broad chromatic and just bizarre chord progressions; really wakes the listeners ear.

Part B: Sounds very oriental-ish. Enjoyed the fast staccato passages of the winds.

Part C: is also my favorite. Seems to be a little more relaxed and thought out.

Overall I think this is a grand accomplishment!

The Cons: Well, in my opinion you may be over using the winds, but more importantly, overusing the tempo and rhythms. Throughout the entire work I hear 16th(?)(fast) note passages by the winds. All I would suggest is that you may want to do some "weed whacking" and "trim up" some sections and create areas that give contrast to your "rapid" wind themes.

But I understand your style and I'm beginning to recognize your unique voice. Do what you think is best and what makes this work complete by your "ears".

Great job!

Michael

Herb,Tyler and CLT

Thanks for the listen and kind remarks. And yes disjointed (9 heads, right) and yet all flowing in the same direction was what I was going for.:thumbsup:

The A part: I really enjoyed the very brief string interruptions of broad chromatic and just bizarre chord progressions; really wakes the listeners ear.

Part B: Sounds very oriental-ish. Enjoyed the fast staccato passages of the winds.

Part C: is also my favorite. Seems to be a little more relaxed and thought out.

....All I would suggest is that you may want to do some "weed whacking" and "trim up" some sections and create areas that give contrast to your "rapid" wind themes.

I'll take the last first. Now that I've listened to it a few times myself since writing it last year, I have to agree that whacking some weeds is in order.

Part C wrote itself. I flew through it like a weed whacker thru butter. When something flows right, it usually seems to be that way.

Part A. I really enjoy putting strings where they are not ready to go. But in this case I think it works.

Part B took forever to get right. This is the part where I really tried to show the 9 heads.

Thanks again Guys:thumbsup:

To be perfectly candid, this is not the type of music I would normally listen to, but I nevertheless got the feeling that a lot of work and talent went into it. I have a lot of respect for composers who try to paint a picture of something concrete like a Hydra, rather than just the usual abstracts--love, anger, sorrow, etc. I don't know what I could personally suggest, because it is a compositional style completely different from my own, but I will listen again soon to see what jumps out. I feel unequipped to comment more fully right now, because it seems this is part of a larger work, and I haven't listened to all the parts yet. I'll look for those elsewhere on the site.