How could I finish Dorian Fantasy?

Here is an mp3 file of what I have so far.

http://elzoog.com/DorianFantasy.mp3

It is through-composed so it has no form (although it is kind of a pseudo-fugue).

I think there are various ways I could go with this, but wanted to see if I could get more ideas.

Well, what do you want to say?

Well, what do you want to say?

What would be some logical ideas based on what I already have?

As far as "What do I want Dorian Fantasy to say?" (if that's what you mean) I think it should be somewhat open ended.

It doesn't sound ready to end to me, personally, but you can do whatever you want--there aren't just a "few" options, it's your world, we're just listening to it.

My favorite fantasia is R V Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis--you have a lot to work with, you could expand your statement, or restate your statement, you could bring things together or pull them apart.

If you want help in moulding your composition, then we're going to have to have more INSIGHT into what you're trying to express as an artist.

This open ended BS is not going to help you define your composition and if you can't answer the question "what do you want" then you can't finish your composition--maybe that's the open ended answer you want?

It doesn't sound ready to end to me, personally, but you can do whatever you want--there aren't just a "few" options, it's your world, we're just listening to it.

My favorite fantasia is R V Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis--you have a lot to work with, you could expand your statement, or restate your statement, you could bring things together or pull them apart.

My problem with Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is that I don't like the "form". What I mean by that is that the individual sections work in and of themselves, but there is no rhyme or reason as to what section follows another. So I listen to it then hear something and wonder "Where did that come from?". It doesn't flow naturally from what proceeded it.

If you want help in moulding your composition, then we're going to have to have more INSIGHT into what you're trying to express as an artist.

I want the composition to speak for itself. I don't want to mold it to any SPECIFIC emotion. Although the feeling I want to convey is "sad" I don't want to fit it to, for example, the sad feeling I got when I broke up with my girlfriend two years ago. Instead, I want it to say something different to different people. In other words, it's more of a "pure music" rather than "program music" (from a Romantic period perspective).

This open ended BS is not going to help you define your composition and if you can't answer the question "what do you want" then you can't finish your composition--maybe that's the open ended answer you want?

I have read some of your other posts so I sort of guessed this was going to be your response. I don't know that you can help me, so I will answer your question the best way I can and leave it up to you as to whether or not you want to respond.

I get the sense with Dorian Fantasy that I am going beyond what I have done before. It doesn't seem to fall within a "set plan" like a composition I would write for a university composition class. There is a sort of "plan" to it otherwise I could just put in random notes. But it is not a "plan" in the sense of it being Sonata form, or Fugue, or any other kind of form I am previously familiar with.

I am kind of inspired by J.S. Bach Well Tempered Clavier and it shows a little bit in the work. Having said that, I definitely do not adhere to a strict fugal form.

But unlike R. V. Williams, I want a section to arise naturally from what was previously there. For example, right towards the end I don't think it would be natural to throw in Camptown Races.

I think maybe getting a better idea of "what" might give me a direction to go though and that's why I posted it to this board.

Having said that, do you have any advice?

Well the problem is that you're searching for an answer but are bound by the paradox of form. You want something to be "natural" but you don't want it to be "formed." The problem is that the act of composing IS in and of itself forming. That's what this art is. I don't care what choices you make as a composer, I don't need it to even sound "natural" but I do expect that the choices you make be deliberate. That is what artists do, they make deliberate choices and those choices are a manifestation of an expression. If you don't know WHY you're making those choices, that is fine, but the bottom line is that it's your composition, it's your aural sculpture, and it is only so by the fact that you made the choices.

I could tell you what to do, but then I would be the one making the choices.

If you're not concerned with achieving a specific expression, then it doesn't matter what choice you make and you make the question of what choice is appropriate completely impossible for us.

I don't necessarily think that going into camptown races is going to be unnatural, so obviously you have a feeling, however undefined, of how it is supposed to sound if there are choices and directions that are barred or undesirable.

Follow your instincts, follow your notions of what sounds "natural" and the composition will be yours, at last.

As far as my other posts go, I write commercial music, but my education is in pure art and art as expressive communication (intentional or not)--in my heart, I'm a post-modernist. As far as critiques go, my job is to understand what you're trying to achieve and to guide you in the best way that I can. If you don't know what you want to achieve, then I can't guide you, and I can't make your decisions for you because that's your job. We don't listen to your music because we want to hear Dannthr's influence, we listen to your music because we want to hear YOU.

So follow your instincts, don't be afraid to be bold, and trust the choices or directions you set yourself up into--if you must, keep writing through.