Adagio Lamentoso (dedicated to Gustav mahler)

Here it is my latest composition, an Adagio,for string orchestra, dedicated to Gustav Mahler.

In this work I tried to recreate the ambience of the slow movements of Mahler's symphonies.

I think this is the most intimate of my works.

Hope you enjoy it.

regards,

Bruno

Adagio Lamentoso

Full score

I can't believe that no one has commented on this yet.

...Honestly, people, have ye no sense of musicality?

This is among the most beautiful of pieces to which I have ever listened to. Absolutely, hands down. The only pieces surpassing happen to be by Mahler himself... I'm not going to go into a detailed breakdown (mostly because I listened to it last night before disappearing to bed, and my computer refuses to play it again at the moment), but allow me to say a few general things.

The harmonization was incredible, and absolutely reminiscent of the gently dissonant beauty that Mahler so delightfully employs. Many congratulations! The addition of the Harp to the (incredibly) varied strings alignment was amazing.

The orchestration was brilliant, though I found myself dodging back and forth to follow what was happening when. It'd be a hellish nightmare for a conductor to sight-read. But hey - most of Mahler's music was a hellish nightmare to read - period. In other words, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Finally, at the moment I don't remember specifically what themes I was able to pick out... but I remember feeling as though I was practically swimming amongst the harmony. At times, it got the better of the melody, but in this form, that's honestly okay.

I remember also feeling that the score was incredibly cleanly written. Such a nice thing - so many scores around here have serious need of revisionary mountains. Anyways, yours was excellent. Very to the point, indicative of MUCH more than most serious composers take the time to point out.

In short, I loved it. I've bookmarked your links; I hope you don't mind. The next time I'm feeling kind of down, I think I'm going to come and listen to this. It was absolutely wonderful; Mahler would have been proud.

Keep up the excellent work,

Dallas

Very beautiful and sweet! I really liked listening to that.

Just some minor instrument-technical things I noticed by glancing through the score:

Bars 62/63: I'm not totally sure how you imagined the glissandi to and from a harmonic. This very high b in the first violin could be played as a harmonic with a stopped fourth, so you could play that first glissando in bar 62 on the A string and then just keep your finger pressed for that lower b and touch the e above it, to create that high b, but that won't create a glissando of course. And the lower b in the second violin in bar 63 is simply impossible as a harmonic. (Unless you're working with some crazy scordatura I guess :P)

You have a couple more of such impossible harmonics, such as on the last page: The f (which appears twice) and eb in the second group of first violins. I'm not a string player though, so I simply might miss a possibility that exists.

It might generally also be good to write harmonics that aren't natural with how you should actually stop them. I.e. a note for the stopped tone and a diamond shape notehead where your finger should touch the string.

Something I noticed with the harp is in bar 4, the ebb. Since the three positions of the eb string of a harp are eb, e, and e#, an ebb can't be played, so usually you'd use a d. But of course you didn't use a d because you need that d tuned to db. So I'd recommend tuning the c to c# and replacing the db in that bar with a c#, so you can write d instead ebb in that chord. Writing for harp is a real pain though, I know.

Ahh this is perhaps the most emotional piece I have heard in these forums..beautiful...just beautiful...keep it up bmiranda!

THE MP3 FAILS TO WORK!!!!

Nick, that happened to me too. Just refresh the page, or go out completely and return. I did so a few times and it finally worked. I hope you get it figured out! You must hear this, lol.

Thank you to all for listening to my work.

A special thanks to you Dallas for your enthusiastic review, it's very good to see that my work touched you.

Gardener, a special thanks to you too for remind me about those errors in the score. I wrote a few notes about things I had to check but I confess I didn't do a final check before posting the score.

I corrected the harp ebb and a few harmonics on the violins (changed to artificial harmonics). Regarding the glissandi in bar 62/63 it's possible to execute however that was not the intention. The first B is natural.

I checked both links and they work fine here.

You can also listen to the Adagio on my Soundclick page:

SoundClick artist: Bruno Miranda - Bruno Miranda, neoclassical and film music composer

regards,

Bruno

What an ABSOLUTE BEAUTY!

This is such a heart gripping piece, really squeezes all emotion out of it. And the sound of the strings...is this GPO?

But, I dont have much to say other than I have it on my MP3 and will listen to it HEAPS. Fantastic. *gives 10,000,000 dollars as a gift* :P haha...ok maybe not 10 mil, but just know, I loved it.

What an ABSOLUTE BEAUTY!

This is such a heart gripping piece, really squeezes all emotion out of it. And the sound of the strings...is this GPO?

Thank you for listening. I'm glad you liked it :)

The strings sound is not from GPO but from East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Gold XP.

Regards,

Bruno

Oh... this is beautiful. Just fantastic.

What coincidence! What amazement! What splendor! What majesty!

What humanity.

Only the greatest of the late Romantics could have envisioned such intensity and deep love for humanity and existence. I don't hear "lamentoso" so much in this piece (precedents set by Tchaikovsky's 6th) until the development arrives, but that does not preclude it from being considered beautiful and amazing. The violin soli and cello ideas in particular stirred me to a height that I have not felt since I first heard Tchaikovsky's sixth and Mahler's fifth. Those two symphonies created a lasting impact upon my life and set my path onto music FOREVER. Anything which reminds me of those symphonies desires the greatest adulation, praise, and attention.

The reference to Mahler's first symphony towards the end of the middle section (I have not read the score), with the highest A possible - if only for a brief, beautiful moment - is truly heart-wrenching. All the memories of "Titan", the Tra

This piece is really beautiful. It reminds me a little bit, very little bit of Ennio Morricone "Gabriel's Oboe".

Again really beautiful, really enjoyable, I feel the Mahler. As goodridge said, very heart gripping. I loved it. The only thing that bothered me was at mes. 12, the A nat, for me, felt a little to sudden during the mood you were creating at that time. But than that was it. A truly beautiful piece.

Nice work.

Scott.

Oh... this is beautiful. Just fantastic.

Thank you Jair.

...

I can say nothing more of this music other than that it is a testament to humanity and time immemorial, much like Mahler's statements of sorrow, love, hope, death, and glory were. From all that rests at the very bottom of my musical spirit, and the very CORE, I thank you for this.

Dear Ian,

I thank you for your passionate review of my work. There's nothing more important for a composer than knowing that his work is appreciated and, specially, that his creation touched the soul of another person.

Your words describe perfectly the feelings I tried to transmit by this piece.

I have a deep passion for Mahler's music, it taught me a lot and, to a certain extent, I can even say that it also affected my personal life. So, this work is above all, the way I found to express this passion, because there are certain things that words can not describe...

Kind regards,

Bruno

This piece is really beautiful. It reminds me a little bit, very little bit of Ennio Morricone "Gabriel's Oboe".

Again really beautiful, really enjoyable, I feel the Mahler. As goodridge said, very heart gripping. I loved it. The only thing that bothered me was at mes. 12, the A nat, for me, felt a little to sudden during the mood you were creating at that time. But than that was it. A truly beautiful piece.

Nice work.

Scott.

Ennio Morricone's "Gabriel's oboe"? Well that's a quite different mood, don't you think? :)

Thank you for listening and for your comments.

regards,

Bruno

Ennio Morricone's "Gabriel's oboe"? Well that's a quite different mood, don't you think? :)

Thank you for listening and for your comments.

regards,

Bruno

I did say very very very little, didn't I? :)"

i have nothing to say except this is one of the most beautiful pieces ive ever heard

i have nothing to say except this is one of the most beautiful pieces ive ever heard

Thank you for your compliment.

Regards,

B.

I am in awe. This is absolutely beautiful. The handling of the strings is exquisite, the themes are gorgeous and the harmonies are heart wrenching. On a more technical side, your insertion of 5/4 works absolutely perfectly, flows beautifully. A stunning piece. You have a bright future.

This reminds me alot of Tchaikovsky's work, None but the Lonley, I think it's called.

Well, I listened to it, and if your intention was to imitate Mahler, you have succeeded. However, it wasn't completely Mahler. There were a few spots like where there are running 16ths that actually sounded very Brahmsian, and the sole harmonics just standing in the middle of the piece. In fact, harmonics in general are quite rare in Mahler's "solo strings" pieces or movements. The harmonic language and orchestration are clearly lifted from Gustav; the melody changed hands every two to four bars, there is a lot of divisi (some would say excessive), there's excitement and progressive tonality so quintessentially Mahler. So props to you on that side.

Here's the down side: the ending. It killed it for me. Every thing was Mahlerian until that darned ending. Mahler has never finished a movement like that. It sounded way out of context because nothing like that happened before in the piece. It was nice on it’s own, but does not work here. If I were you, I would have kept dying out with the same material just before that ending/coda thing i.e. Mov. 4 of Symphony No. 4.

Don’t get me wrong you have a real gem of music here, and Mahler is my favorite composer. Its original material in the style of a master composer; some would call it pastiche. Fix that ending and I’d buy it for my string orchestra if I had one.

Sorry to be a bit of a party pooper, but I personally don't see the point of writing a piece in such a derivative Mahlerian idiom. Why would one want to go back to a musical aesthetic of the past? What's the point of doing again what Mahler has already done (and done better) more than a century ago? Isn't it a more natural thing for a composer to express himself according to the coordinates of his time and try to search for an original musical language?

Don't get me wrong, Bmiranda, I'm not bashing you as a composer. The musical writing is definitely skillfully done and you have succeeded in getting very close to Mahler's musical aesthetic. But I just don't understand why someone would want to imitate the language of Mahler in the first place (or, for that matter, the language of any other composer), except for the sake of stylistic exercise.

that's insanely good, words can't describe it

Justin,

thank you for your review.

Here's the down side: the ending. It killed it for me. Every thing was Mahlerian until that darned ending. Mahler has never finished a movement like that. It sounded way out of context because nothing like that happened before in the piece. It was nice on it