A Dream, For Oboe and Piano

What was originally going to be a song for soprano and piano, turned out to be a piece for piano and oboe. What inspired the piece was the Edgar Allen Poe poem, "A Dream."

I used some dissonances that were meant to evoke the unsureness of our dreams, and the sort of void that we have to cross in our minds to interperet them.

Here is the poem:

In visions of the dark night

I have dreamed of joy departed

But a waking dream of life and light

Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day

To him whose eyes are cast

On things around him with a ray

Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream - that holy dream,

While all the world were chiding,

Hath cheered me as a lovely beam

A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,

So trembled from afar

What could there be more purely bright

In Truth's day-star?

A dream.MID

a REAL dreahb.MUS

well, the piano part is... boring. The long held notes (some of them a bit too long) get tiresome.

The chordal colours, on the other hand are very interesting, except they're a little too haphazard. I sense some polychordal material going on, then chords that are too dissonant in structure to logically go with the polychords, then some obvious quartal structures... it's a good experiment, but lacks focus.

The sudden inclusion of arabic modality jars, as well. It comes out of nowhere, and seems to have no relation to the text either.

The "start and stop" rythme doesn't quite work to my ear either.

Notationally, watch those enharmonics. Sharp-to-flat movement (and vice-versa) is difficult to read.

There is definately material here to work with. I wouldn't toss it out, I'd start over and bring it together in a more convincing fashion.

I agree with QC on this;

a) your enharmonics are very difficult to read!

b) your harmonic material is quite interesting (yeah, polychord-ish by 5ths), but the excess use of it, not combining it with other harmonic material doen't work too well.

c) I also didn't like much the modal material you used.

d) the piano textures were too much on the 'minimal' side, especially rhythmically...that's not bad for me, but after a while, it gets a bit tiring...

Overall, there are good ideas that struggle to get out, but still can't. I think you need to re-approach this music with patience, keep what works and consider alternatives with what doesn't!

Cheers!

I agree. The piano part is a little bit boring after the first couple of bars and the long held note at measures 9 - 15 should be reconsidered. I think maybe trying to make the piano more of an active part too might help, instead of just filling in time. The piano semibreve chords might be better if they moved quicker to help it to flow. =].

I liked most of the oboe part though.

=].