Requiem Mass - First and part of Second Movement

Having just performed Mozart's Requiem (playing the Alto trombone part on the Tenor trombone =S I decided to write my own requiem mass. Words for the first part are the words of Phil Collins's Against All Odds translated by me into Latin, for the second part it is a traditional Kyrie elaison (but with the occasional outos oun men de thrown in to make it look more Greek). I rather like this - I think it to be one of my better compositions. I rehashed some old chords towards the end, because I thought it fit the mood. First movement ends on the big G Major chord.

Instrumentation:

SATB

Piccolo, Flute, 2 x Oboe, 2 x Clarinet, Bassoon

3 x Trumpet, 4 x French Horn, 2 x Trombone, Bass Trombone, Tuba

Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, 'Cello, Double Bass

Timpani, Snare Drum, Cymbals

Piano

Fanfare for Winter.mus

Enjoy!

Nice piece you've got here. Although not my style, I can see you have skill.

But you must consider your orchestra: You have a very large brass section. This must not be forgotten when writing for chorus and orchestra...because it would not take much for the brass to overpower...well, everybody. And that's just what it does. Like in ms. 14, you would not hear the chorus no matter how soft you told the brass to play. Also, the chorus is usually situated behind the orchestra, farther away from the audience in a performance. I really don't think this would work, balance-wise.

But the music seems well-done, and I can't really think of anything to say in criticism. Good work.

I like this but it, unfortunately, sounds alittle too blatent in the chords in that there are only chords and scales. I really do like this alot. I too am writing a requiem but I'm doing the standard one with the same old Requiem libretto. You can look at it if you wish it's in the orchestral sub-forum. Also, it sounds like there is some perpertually pitch changing drum playing which I don't think exists.

I know it is. That's what I mean, it's often playing the melody; I'd like to see the percussionist play all the timpani at once.

Berlioz's Requiem (mainly the Tuba Mirum) has 32 Timpani... :innocent:

That's...odd. On the MIDI, the choir has for some reason been replaced with trumpets. Also, about overpowering Brass - you _can_ play quietly on a brasss instrument, honest! =P Just hardly anyone ever does, don't know why, they sound a whole lot nicer quietly

Huh. Sibelius-made midis. Never trust them.

As many other posters have pointed out, it's basically a mishmosh of chords strung together. On my first listen through, there wasn't much to follow melody wise, and since it lacked a melody, it also lacked a counter melody. Even your chords were a bit muddy because of unneccesary or excessive suspensions. For example, around 20 seconds in when the strings come in, the suspension eight notes played by what soudns like a viola and cello don't mix; the cello plays Bflat A G F, and the viola plays d c c b flat against a series of G minor chords. Other sections like this are also unclear. Also, your faster rythyms overuse the scale technique and the ear quickly tires of the sound. When the scale sixteenths and thirty seconds aren't being played, we're left with only quarters and eight note chord progressions plagued with the problems I listed above.

My suggestion is to rework it. As it stands, there's no discernable theme to it. Certain chord progressions are over used (specifically the deceptive cadence and the ever popular V-I), as are the rythyms (straight quarters, straight eighths, or sixteenths.) The intervals used in a lot of your instrumental parts are bizzare and don't make sense. Overall, it sounds too much like the same old and it sounds "nice" but it's boring. You need to use something new to make your requiem stand out; as of now, it sounds very very generic.