"Metus" Overture

Metus means anxiety... which is mostly what this piece is based upon!

New--- mp3 link --- I think the midi is better for now, though

Metus Overture --

This is an overture that hopefully will be performed by my school symphony orchestra. It is in G minor for the texture. After the exposition statement, It modulates to D minor, and I begin to vary the theme using textures/colors of the orchestra. During the soli sections after the exposition statement, there is a crazy amount of modulation, eventually landing on the semi-distant key of E minor. Through more modulation, it ends on an A major chord, setting up a soft and delicate contrasting section. This modulates to A minor, which then modulates to G minor, setting up a recapitulation. The recapitulation starts in Bb major, as previously done... this was pretty difficult to set up. It is a nearly literal recapitulation, and the B theme material is played lower in almost every instrument, giving a very dark texture. The recapitulation ends with a huge D being played by every instrument. The coda will begin soon. The coda is basically an exciting finish to this piece, starting at the end of the recapitulation of the B theme, not the beginning. Please tell me what you think.

I'm pretty sure that the score is done.

...

the piece is 11 minutes and 14 seconds long

Scoring:

2 flutes (perhaps)

2 oboes

3 Bb clarinets (mabye 4)

2 bassoon (only one will play it, though)

4 horns

2 trumpet (mabye 3)

2 trombone (mabye 3)

full string orchestra

timpani

UPDATED

Goodness: Beethoven doesnt happen to be your influence does he?

Hahaha, don't answer: WE ALL KNOW THAT!

It sounds fantastic. I absolutely adore it. Make sure you upload a live recording when or if you come to perform it :) Would love to put it on my MP3 player: YES. It IS that good.

Very nice.

I like it a lot. Nice use of the motif, and I like all the tutti sections. Keep it up, you have a very strong start.

Very nice work! It sounds along the lines of one of the early romantics (Schubert, Beethoven). This could definitely go somewhere (that is to say if you can develop the themes some more).

As an introduction, this is a very impressive and well-crafted start.

The best thing for you now would be to focus on the rest, as I'd be very happy with this if as a final product if I had written it. Well done if you manage to secure a performance as well.

Thank you for your comments.

I am wondering if the orchestration is a little bit too thick and the melody lines are too covered up. However, I know that in real life, these lines would be brought out by the players.

Also, I was wondering if any of you felt that the ending of the introduction was too abrupt and lacking a full ending of a phrase. I intentionally prolonged the ending of that last phrase for it to be resolved in the new tempo to get a feeling of continuity.

Nah, personally I thought the ending was good. You really need to leave such an introduction unresolved for it to be effective...

Ok, I have updated the files and I have kept the off-beat sforzandos near the end of the slow section in order to create tension building up to the faster section. The structure is a little bit different here because I don't immediately switch to the home key statement of the theme.. Instead, I introduce a variation of the theme in the previously set up major key.

seriously second time ive listened to it now, and I really like it!

Link?

I love the use of the orchestra in the piece. You still emphasize the strings in the opening, but they aren't made the centerpiece of the whole work, letting other instruments take the spotlight. There are some moments where the piece becomes very stormy and almost frenetic, and kind of force the listener into paying attention. I like the use of contrast with dynamics. Nice piece.

That looks like a great beginning, with nice ideas, and well, definitely Beethoven-inspired. It would be wonderful to hear a performance of it with that orchestra!

I think by working on some details you could make it even more effective in any case. Some things I noticed by glancing through the score:

- Write that your score is in C if it is (which it seems to be). Otherwise transpose the instruments.

- the dynamics in the strings from bar 7 to the fermata (actually until the next tutti fortissimo) seem to be inconsistent. Do the second Violins, Viole and Celli really stay fortissomo all the way until the next fortissimo and only the others go quieter? I understand why you want to keep them loud for longer than the rest of the orchestra, but you need to write when they should diminish.

- Orchestrate your dynamics more. Consider taking away some instruments in bar 8 for example and in all similar passages (maybe the brass). The fortissimo passages will have a much stronger effect if the brass isn't always playing. You could generally consider leaving out the brass (or at least trumpets and trombones) more often. Everything seems a bit thick and heavy, and your solos will sometimes have a hard time coming through (like the clarinet in bar 38).

- And if you have your trumpets play fortissimo from bar 18 (it does seem a bit like overkill) -at least- have your flutes play fortissimo too.

- always indicate how many of an instrument are playing a specific passage, with "a 2" and "solo".

- Are the 16th passages of the strings really all separated without slurs? I personally think many passages would sound better with some well-placed slurs.

- There's no dynamic marking for the woodwinds in bar 68.

- In bar 75 consider either having trombones and trumpets set in not on the first beat but a bit later, or even only in the next bar, to increase the crescendo effect. Or just let the trombones set in and only let the trumpets come in bar 76.

Very..dramatic indeed, I jumped quite a few times..almost got in trouble listening to it lol, but I enjoyed it....maybe an MP3? The MIDI sounds a bit malnourished...

The midi and pdf have been substantially updated, and the piece is almost done. I aim to start recapitulation starting on C min at the 8:00 mark-ish...

I enjoyed the work. I was just curious about your rationale for using four horns. Is it a personal touch? An emulation? Or is it just tailored to a specific ensemble? I personally enjoy using three flutes and three trumpets on occasion, but have never had the urge to use more than two horns.

To answer your question:

It is a bit of each.

Personally: When I wish to write any lines in general, the middle voices should have movement and direction, so in brass lines, having a four horn section gives the ability to have movement in the middle, so the overall sound is lush, in my opinion.

Emulation: The great Herr Beethoven and Herr Schubert's use of the four horn section gives a brighter texture to me. I like that.

Ensemble: In our group, the winds are definitely better as a whole than our string section. Plus, our horn section is very powerful. Why not utilize it, I ask?

Above all, horns are beautiful and I love their texture.

The parts I heard were really good. I envy your skill! I don't know much about music theory so I'm going to stop trying to critique that type of thing for now. I CAN tell you, however, that the string parts are very reasonable to play and you should have no trouble with the strings next spring. As a viola player, I wish to thank you for giving the violas a nice part. I don't think it sounds poppy.

Also I'm apparently not allowed to use the pager thing until I've made at least 20 posts.

Thanks for the comment.

Quite frankly, there is nothing much to envy... I learned most of music through experience in ensembles and the internet. Again, I have updated the files quite substantially and I am about to end the first development to lead into the false recapitulation and a *short* second development.

Wow you are very skilled for your age if your profile age is correct. Your piece reminds me of Beethoven and that's a good thing. Good job!

I have finished with all of the melodic lines and harmonies of the piece. The timpani has yet to be written and the score has to be cleaned up majorly (adding slurs, other articulations, bowings, technique, score spacing, etc...).

Oh Damn it Mael!

I absolutely adored the entire thing, i can literally feel the jeebies jumping in my stomach!

HOWEVER! From page 68, i would probably consider that your coda/finale? am i right?

If not, I felt that from the forte pick up on that page (bar 458-end) was your finale.

So then i was like, woohoo, here we go...its gonna be an awesome finish...and then...I got to the last 2 pages...and yes, good idea to have the timpani roll us out, but...it was soo...like...ARGH, come on!!! SMITE ME ALREADY!!!!!

haha

I'm not saying it was terrible, Im just saying that I wish the final was more thicker, and awesomer than it is now.

Other than that, I can't offer any technical advice. But can I say: if this were to introduce an opera/ballet...it would be one of those overtures that completely outshine the rest of the show.

Frig! you are awesome!

If this doesn't get you fame one day, I don't know what will.

Kudos!

I am wondering if the orchestration is a little bit too thick and the melody lines are too covered up. However, I know that in real life, these lines would be brought out by the players.

Let me just comment on this one line:

Do NOT expect the musicians to pick up on where the major thematic material is and "bring it out".

Orchestrate your densities. If your theme is in a single flute, against the rest of a symphony, no matter HOW memorable that theme is, it WILL be lost.

If your thematic material is important, ORCHESTRATE it as though it were important.

NEVER rely on the musicians' ability to "bring out a theme".

ALWAYS write as though you will not be at ANY rehearsals and the musicians playing are from the Special Ed. class of your local high school.

Do not over indicate dynamic differences... orchestrate them instead.

If you have different dynamics in a passage for every part of the orchestra it is a SURE sign that you did not orchestrate properly.

Remember that a forte flute does not sound the same as a piano flute. If the passage is marked piano for everyone but that flute is marked forte, the sound will NOT be "soft with a flute coming out of the mix".. it will sound like a flautist blowing his brains out while everyone else is relaxing.

I just need to repeat one thing:

Orchestrate your effects. Do not just write dynamics and expect that to work. Balance the right amounts of instruments against each other for whatever role they have in the final orchestration.

I second what Qcc and Gardener said. Though, I'm more of the opinion that you should as well write ALL dynamic indications where you want the dynamic to change, etc etc, or people aren't going to have a clue on how to play stuff or there'll be stupid questions popping up every four bars.

Though yeah, orchestra usage could be better.

Thank you for you replies!

I understand what you three have said, and this post is going to sound wrong, but it is true.

That line earlier was just stupid of me to say! I was talking about the midi distortion, but I guess I didn't explain it properly in the thread. Sorry!

(This is the wrong part) I wrote the score as it is now for playback in midi. I know that this is completely and totally wrong, but midi doesn't really compensate for strong/weak ranges. I am under the assumption that to find a way to bring this out, the dynamics had to be different. I am confident that the parts are orchestrated in a way that will bring out the themes. If I am wrong, can you please point some parts out?

As part of the process of making the score ready, I HAVE MADE THE DYNAMICS UNIFORM LIKE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE. (The reason why I posted a score, though unfinished, is due to requests in earlier threads "Always post a PDF")

I really enjoyed it. As most people have already said, it sounds a lot like Beethoven. I really like your grasp of late-classical style. I think you might have used tutti sections a little too much though. A theme like anxiety might have lent itself to some subdued but tense parts, not that you don't have some now. I kinda agree with Goodridge; the ending seems really drawn out. Excellent job overall though. :)