Tribute, for String Orchestra

Edit2: Download Recording here

I managed to get 9 strings players to play this and record it for me today! w00t! I conducted (note: I'm a bad conductor) and that's kinda making the ensemble slightly less together... But that's my first time conducting too... so it was an exciting day today! I was kinda worried before, what would happen and stuff.. But I think it went fairly well! I enjoyed conducting and hearing my piece being played and at least some of them enjoy it! =D (maybe except for the poor bored doublebass).

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Edit: A better recording here

My friend has kindly made me a better sound thing from his sampler. It's sounding great, and erm, the middle section is a bit too fast. It's supposed to be a slight speeding up, but erm, somehow it came out as a CRAZY speeding up in his machine. Nevertheless it's sounding better.

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Instead of revising for my Musicology exams yesterday, I composed this piece for fun (I had my exam this morning and I thought it went okay, phew!). So yeah, this is finished in around 2 hours more or less.

The technique I used in the beginning is obviously P

Wow this is some really nice stuff, pretty impressive for two hours! Wish I could get this much material out in that space of time :P

I really like your harmonic language, your progressions are really interesting, and you handled it all really nicely. The piece wandered off focus a little here or there and some of your time sig changes didn't really flow all the nicely (some awkward gaps or notes that go on too long) but I really enjoyed it overall.

Also, I think the double bass should end on a low A, just for some extra finality.

good work!

I enjoyed how you decided to start the piece, having it morph out of nothing. There are some really nice dissonances in here. There are a few notes that are just being held, and I know there are moving phrases under them, but they seem to distract from the movement. The first break for silence in my opinion was a bit long. I think one beat would be sufficient there, maybe two. The first time I got to that section (without the score in front of me) I went to check if the media player stopped :P

Measure 53 seemed to be quite abrupt for me. As a whole, some of the major/minor changes didn't seem natural. The Measure 91 section is basically AWESOME. My last uber critical comment is that I felt the piece lacked direction. I really didn't feel much of a climax, which can be really powerful in a piece as mellow as this.

Now remember I'm being super critical. I find that the better the piece, the more I listen for those "little things." All in all, awesome job! Especially for two hours! JEEZ!

Nice work!

@jdbullen - Nah, it could have been better, but thanks! The harmonic language is really simple really, it's what I'm looking for anyway. But the wandering off focus... that's very me like... I can't really stay in one motif/idea like Beethoven Symphony No.5 did and stuffs =P I know some of the gaps are way too long, but to me it's necessary that they go that long. It sometimes is even shorter than what I would like them to be.

I did a revision of it this morning and I made the last chord different. Including the DB as you suggested. I think it's a great suggestion, thanks!

@jimmyjuicin - Critical comments are great =P thanks for that! Haha, well it didn't really morph from nothing. It's kinda paying a tribute to composers I love (but no Mozart xD), P

Just a quick note: I'm guessing your violins fifths are double stops and not divisi. I wouldn't base a considerable portion of a piece on out of tune fifth double stops. Use divisi instead.

In case you didn't know, fifths double stops sound a bit out of tune.

Nah, I know about that, they are mostly divisi. They only times they don't divisi is when they just stay on the same notes all the time. Either that, or I get them to double stop a 4th instead of a 5th (like at the end).

Thanks though =P

Steven, see, I told you it was goodness.

i love you steven tanoto.

This is gorgeous. The great thing about Arvo Part is that he can really make you stop, and just listen and occasionally even jerk a few tears. I think you have really captured this in your Tribute. The harmonic language you used is actually something I would have liked to grasp myself in my Horn piece, but alas I rushed it and so failed T_T

But I love the way that you let the melody sing out and it never once felt as if the accompaniment sounded awkward, nor were the harmonic shifts too abrupt. If the score wasn't in front of me, i wouldn't be aware that you were about to change key, which i guess is what good composers achieve without too much effort, but what i'm saying is that you grasped development and flow and moved from each homogeneous (right word?) structure with ease.

And that is my unintelligent comment for the evening.

Goodnight :)

Ah, thanks Mr. Goodridge! I love you too!

Yeah, the only very obviously P

bump: Recording added =D

I don't really know how to explain this in classical term because I never really went to school to learn music... so here we go.

There were parts where the music was a little bit messy.

Too much power in one part and not enough power in other parts.

it was hard for me to connect with the "scene".

however, the notes you chose made this part very nice.

I could be a dramatic scene in a movie.

Ricardo Gidon

Steve

I like most of your music and for 2 hours work, this is pretty good. But it could be so much better if you put some more work into the piece. Rarely does a masterpiece get completed in 2 hours.

Congratulations on getting it performed. That is always a great feeling.

Ron

Ah, the initial writing took 2 hours, but I edited it within the next few days. So, I did actually take more than 2 hours (I edited it after that). Plus, I know it's not a good thing to do, but I am doing this purely for fun anyway. Yeah, the piece does have a lot of holes and imperfection, but hmm, I think I've done enough for this piece.

Thanks for the comment btw!