Brass Quintet (atonal)

Hello everyone, I just had a burst of inspiration today morning and wrote this piece. It is a brass quintet and is pretty atonal. The main motif is the idea of perfect 5ths. The score is a mess but I plan to fix it up later. Enjoy! Comments would be great.

mp3 here: Brass Quintet.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

Thats pretty cool. Hard as hell to play though. I like the call and response stuff along with the echos of the 7's and 6's and what not.

Thats pretty cool. Hard as hell to play though. I like the call and response stuff along with the echos of the 7's and 6's and what not.

Thanks! but what's so hard to play about the piece? It doesnt seem that bad to me. Since you are a horn player though you definetly know more than me as to the difficulty of the part. Could you please tell me which spots are difficult so that I can fix it up. Thanks

It's interesting. I'm really impressed by the use of dynamics, since I don't really use them. But I feel the tempo wasn't fast enough for what was written.

I'm not sure about how many times the triplet 16ths are used... it's a bit monotonous.

Really nice and interesting though!

It is not unplayable, the fast 7th skips would be a problem. We all now horn players will eventually crack something. But with practice it wouldn't be too hard, just getting everyone to play it with the same percision as the midi but with human input.

I personally enjoyed it....

Wonderful ideas....

A pesante atmosphere which makes me scared ! Dissonants harmonies have a nice effect, then the timbre becomes "cuivr

Hello everyone, I just had a burst of inspiration today morning and wrote this piece. It is a brass quintet and is pretty atonal. The main motif is the idea of perfect 5ths. The score is a mess but I plan to fix it up later. Enjoy! Comments would be great.

mp3 here: Brass Quintet.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

My review:

I won't comment musically because your doing fine there. I'm not gonna critique something I know little about, atonal music, and its writing process. So this is mostly techinical stuff.

Overall your mute changes are far too quick and some are impossible.

Bar 10: Use the + sign for a stopped horn to be more clear. Note that the stopped sound and the con sord. sound of the horn are very different, the former being much more harsh and brassy, not necessarily quieter. Also, stick to one language for terminology. Don't write "stopped" in english then use the itallian "normale". It looks funny. The tempo marking is a bit ambiguous. For clarity, add a metronome marking that ways q=100 just to avoid confusion. You sure about a tuba mute? They are the size of a small child and very clunky. While they are used rarely, it's very cumbersome taking a huge block of time to add and remove it silently.

A side note about the dynamics here: You can (though not required to) use the niente sign which is an "n" in the same dynamics font. (It does exist in Sibelius' expressions menu or CTRL+N)

Bar 15: It's not clear where the dynamics peak in the Tpts. Tie together notes in rhythm to show exactly where that forte lies.

Bar 18: straight mute designation is unnecessary. Con sord. is by default a straight.

Bar 18-28: A lot of these 16th rhythms are hard to read because of the rests. Beam the 16ths accross the rests to show the beat paterns more clearly. Or consider more complex time signatures.

Bar 29: Trombone part is doable for a good player. Add a few cautionary accidentals. (G-natural) Tuba mute will not come out that fast. It needs at least 8 bars or so.

Bar 33: Ambigious rhythm in Tuba.

Bar 34: Again, an ambigious tempo marking.

Bar 35: Cups? Really? Seems strange to me. Straights fit the style of the piece better IMO. I hope you realize that it will not sound like the GPO sounds there at all.

Bar 35-45: Consider some more complex time signatures to make entrances easier.

Bar 49: Pointless q=q marking. Tuba is already open. (Copy + paste artifact?)

Bar 51: Only three slashes in trumpets for flutter.

Bar 51-53: Ambiguous beamings with the triplets.

Bar 64: Don't give the option for the octave. It would ruin the effect of the climax IMO. Plus, D isn't that high for someone who is able to play the rest of the stuff in this piece.

Bar 66,68: What do the moltos apply to? Not clear.

Bar 69,71: :blink: Umm, you want to insert the mute while playing? Forte? That ain't gonna work. I understand the effect you want but you have to give the trumpets a breath to stick that thing in their instrument. Drop those first loud halfs somehow and then have the muted duet on the second half.

Bar 72: Tuba needs more time. Even the trombone and horn are pushing it there.

It's a good job indeed! Well done and happy composing!

Justin,

a very helpful review. Thanks a lot!

[quote name='Rapha

Unfortuntely I'm on dialup, so I can't listen yet. However, just looking through the score, while I'm skeptical of your voice leadings and manipulation of pitch materials, I'm seeing some really solid and interesting things. I also like the very Xenakis-like sonic things going on with dynamics, like at mm. 42-50ish

I'm skeptical of your voice leadings and manipulation of pitch materials

Hmm, could you elaborate on this further? Thanks for the comment though

Hmm, could you elaborate on this further? Thanks for the comment though

I'm just saying that on first glance of the score, the linear motion seems suspect. I'll be more than happy to give you more insight when I have a decent connection. Keep writing.

I'm just saying that on first glance of the score, the linear motion seems suspect. I'll be more than happy to give you more insight when I have a decent connection. Keep writing.

I'm looking forward to that.

Thanks

TTMaster, this is a great piece!! Especially as a brass player, I love seeing good efforts being made for quality brass quintet literature. In fact, PM me, I'd like to play this or at least get it performed.

There are some notational issues and inconsistencies, Justin Tokke touched on most of them, however the MUSIC itself is great! This is very idiomatic for the brass quintet too, you're a good composer my friend, I like you and your music.

TTMaster, this is a great piece!! Especially as a brass player, I love seeing good efforts being made for quality brass quintet literature. In fact, PM me, I'd like to play this or at least get it performed.

There are some notational issues and inconsistencies, Justin Tokke touched on most of them, however the MUSIC itself is great! This is very idiomatic for the brass quintet too, you're a good composer my friend, I like you and your music.

Thanks Greg, I'm glad you liked it.