January 25, 200917 yr A complete fugual movement based on the word "Amen." It's the final movement in a cantatta for Chorus and orchestra proclaiming the names of Christ. It is similar to many of the baroque finale Amen Fugues, with Handel's Messiah being the most noted. Please realize that the score is very messy because I haven't bothered to tidy it up yet; I finished it literally 5 minutes ago. EDIT: An updated score and mp3 are located below. PDF mp3 Suggestions welcome. Also, could a mod please move this thread into the Orchestral or Choral section? It's a complete work now.
January 25, 200917 yr Thats amazing! hahha! Well, seriously I am not very well gifted in music. It was just on the whole very hard to follow the score. Partly because my mousewheel cant scroll that fast. Anyway, its a good job! It scores less well on the dynamics part, I would have loved to hear more dynamic contrast, not just addition or subtraction of voices,but on the whole. Its very easy on the ear, too! :D
January 26, 200917 yr I like it. My one critique, is I didn't quite see or hear counterpoint in the voices. I heard instruments come in that had contrapuntal lines. The vocal parts for the longest part appear to be (and this goes off viewing the score as well) canonically imitating each other, yes? Regardless, good work... sounds great!
February 7, 200917 yr Excellent work. I especially liked the quiet passage and subsequent parts from about 3 minutes in. In a way it reminds me of Beethoven's handelian inspired works. Anyway, not much to criticise, it is very high quality.
February 9, 200917 yr First off: I like it. Second off: It sounds a bit too baroque. I get the idea of doing something in the vein of Handel or Bach, but they've been dead for centuries. Their counterpoint is their own and I think that while a neo baroque style is a great thing for a composer to go through (I've been there for a while now) it's important to realize that that we're not in the 1700s any more and that there are many many different harmonic textures one can apply to create a fresher piece. Your orchestration seems to be pretty well handled, but if you expect to perform this with anything less than a good college ensemble, all of the high a's and b's you have written for the soprano around measure 61 and onwards are going to give you a whole peck of trouble of them being able to hit it in tune and with the proper phrasing. This problem also carries through when you're thinking of the line they are singing: in this style (though admittedly I'm drawing from some principals of Renaissance counterpoint) it's better to have one "peak" note for the sake of the drama of the line. The high a is a gorgeous note when done well and can really sell the climax of the piece, but if you keep hovering around it and coming back to it, it really loses a lot of its power. Again, I liked the piece, but these are just my own two cents.
February 9, 200917 yr Justin This is a nice piece. Not as Fugal as a typacal Baroque piece, but enough to keep it intersting. Nicely done Ron
February 11, 200917 yr Some very nice counterpoint in there, with a hint of Bach with the orchestral interjections. Although the whole piece follows a Baroque approach to it, you can tell it wasn't written in that time frame. Elements of Classical and even Romanticism (Verdi opera in particular) add to the piece and there is nothing wrong with that. Well, unless you wanted it to be a complete pastiche.
February 11, 200917 yr Author I was writing in an idiom, but it was not intended to be Pastiche, so yes, there are hints of classical and romantic writing. Thank you all for your comments!
February 13, 200917 yr You have pretty good technique though I think you could start using your very solid technical platform to develop a sound that is more distinctive. There aren't many mistakes. Good work.
February 16, 200917 yr Not much to add to what others have said. Very good piece which shows very solid technique. Again just need to learn to stretch some more (yes even if it is a neobaroquish) I will say that in live performance you may want to trim a little the use of tympani. It is used effectively but I wonder if it may be a bit overused. Hard to say as your playback software is good. One way to stretch a little beyond your style of orchestration is write a piece where large phrase structures are not so strongly punctuated by brass and percussion. Say you have to create climaxes with strings and, maybe occasionally, reeds and your quieter sections be predominantly with brass, woodwinds and percussion. You would be allowed only one traditional climax and it cannot be at the end. How would you handle such parameters Justin?
