Short Piece for Two Clarinets and Horn

Been working on a few chamber works for various combinations. Composed this lil trifle a few weeks ago.

Would love to have a good critique.

Thanks

Any chance of a mp3?

Ron

I have to get a new mp3 encoder...BUT... I decided to render with GPO and have made a .wav of it for you:

Short

bleh, pardon the technical errors with the recording... i'll see if i can find another MP3 encoder real quick... if anyone has a suggestion... i'd love to hear!

Can't give anything really constructive.

But I think everything flows together nicely.

Enjoyed listening.

Thanks sax.

sounds nice. but the clarinettpart sounds kinda hard. and after hearing the midi

i am questioning if it is enough time to breathe between the phrases. but its a nice piece of work. i liked it :)

thanks, i'm not a wind player at all - so i really appreciate any comment of that sort. I added breaks in the line periodically to allow time for breathing, if you can offer instances of difficult passages or a nice guide to this - i'd be very appreciative!

Very nice music, sound classical to me :)

Cute, but a few things to say.

First off, you're no breathing spots issue is fine... I didn't have much trouble playing through the phrases just a little under "tempo". Fingerings came out easy for all instruments. I just think it's too squeeky. I've never liked rapid high passages - even the best world class players seem to sound squeeky to me up there when articulated so quickly. I personally avoid it. As a result of this squeeky tendency, this piece seems a little too rushed to me. Just a few notches, perhaps.

Don't feel afraid to let the horn chime in on a sixteenth run every once in a while. Certainly not as actively as the clarinets, but horns are capable of articulating just as nimbly as a clarinet in the hands of the right person, even at the extreme registers. I'd suggest you keep it in the middle register, though, which means maybe Bb to say... F. A 12th across the staff. Just right now the horn part is a big boring. It's a weird instrument to use in conjunction with two clarinets, so let it stand out, don't just use it to fill out harmony parts.

For my taste there's too much Bb major (concert pitch) going on in here, but that's aesthetics. The written D# in measure 5 bugs me. Doesn't seem to be harmonically supported by the other parts, it's just kinda all on its own.

This piece doesn't sound like it would stand on its own very well, it seems very much like a third (rondo?) movement of a trio work in several short movements.

This is a nice little piece. I don't see any technical/breathing issues at all; it's perfectly playable.

I'll support EnigmusJ4's assertions that the horn part is a bit boring and that the harmonic framework is a tad dull. A related concern is that the technical difficulty of the three parts aren't very equivalent - the second part is very active compared to either of the two other parts. In such a small ensemble, it's generally best to keep the difficulty/activity levls comparable for each of the parts, both for the player's interest as well as the audience. Otherwise it looks like a solo with accompaniment.

Additionally, I'm concerned that the parts seemed to be "locked" into their own ranges... the horn generally on the bottom, the 1st on top, and the second firmly in the middle. I would like to see more movement outside those little boxes. It's perfectly okay for the parts to cross - put the 1st below the 2nd, put the clarinets below the horn. Doing so gives more interest, more motion, and helps refresh the ear.

Notationally it's very clean, you did a great job with the slurs and articulations! I would ask that you go through the score one more time; just a tiny bit more effort and the score will look quite excellent (mostly just a few collisions to fix up, and I'd like to see dynamics and hairpins adjusted to more uniform heights, etc.). I do find that the figure in m.51, 1st Clarinet is quite awkward on beat 2. Can I suggest changing the 1 16th and 2 32nd's into a 16th triplet instead?

I would love to see you re-think a few passages here or there with these points in mind.

This is a nice little piece. I don't see any technical/breathing issues at all; it's perfectly playable.

I'll support EnigmusJ4's assertions that the horn part is a bit boring and that the harmonic framework is a tad dull. A related concern is that the technical difficulty of the three parts aren't very equivalent - the second part is very active compared to either of the two other parts. In such a small ensemble, it's generally best to keep the difficulty/activity levls comparable for each of the parts, both for the player's interest as well as the audience. Otherwise it looks like a solo with accompaniment.

Additionally, I'm concerned that the parts seemed to be "locked" into their own ranges... the horn generally on the bottom, the 1st on top, and the second firmly in the middle. I would like to see more movement outside those little boxes. It's perfectly okay for the parts to cross - put the 1st below the 2nd, put the clarinets below the horn. Doing so gives more interest, more motion, and helps refresh the ear.

Notationally it's very clean, you did a great job with the slurs and articulations! I would ask that you go through the score one more time; just a tiny bit more effort and the score will look quite excellent (mostly just a few collisions to fix up, and I'd like to see dynamics and hairpins adjusted to more uniform heights, etc.). I do find that the figure in m.51, 1st Clarinet is quite awkward on beat 2. Can I suggest changing the 1 16th and 2 32nd's into a 16th triplet instead?

I would love to see you re-think a few passages here or there with these points in mind.

Thank you both so much for thorough analysis :)

I'm still getting used to writing for wind instruments, so I really appreciate your critiques. I will go through and rethink the passages and tinker more with it. I had thought perhaps of taking the horn and the 2nd clarinet part and intertwining the 16th note pattern between the two - but was concerned that it would be too difficult or 'muddy' for the horn player.