4 Lamento's

An old (2002) set of organ pieces I came across, and I wondered what you guys would make of it.

EDIT: I added a new movement since I do not think the old 4th movement really fits into the set. Its a simple choral on the melody also heard in the 2nd lamento.

4 Lamento's

Edited July 29, 201015 yr by jrcramer

JR -

Very nice works here. I love the overall tone of each. Are these live performances?

no. These are computer generated. When I wrote in Fin2002 I exported this to a midi. The only program I had to use soundfonts with was fruityloops. There I added a little reverb, and humanized the tempi to make it more realistic. I have put a lot lime in the the humanization so I take your question as big compliment

thanks!

There are extremely subtle rhythmic delays and changes throughout that sound like a human playback: very impressive! I'd have thought the same as Woodruff.

1st:

Really creepy piece: it sounds sort of like an insane lament, not like normal grieving at all (at least the first one does). When a mad man grieves... :ermm: Hehheh...um...

Anyways, very cool development throughout!

2nd:

Very calm compared to the first one: some subtle emptiness and grief pervade this one. Pretty good.

3rd:

Well, again, more emptiness, but I don't really have anything else to say :dunno: I think it's ok.

4th:

Psalms 51? How bizarre...it doesn't feel particularly strong enough to convey how sincerely repentant David was over his sins (especially after his affair with Bath-sheba). It just feels really ho-hum to me.

I think the first one is the best one: it seems the most evocative of the 4.

Thanks for sharing, these were enjoyable! :D

Thanks Serge.

About the forth. The melody is literally taken from the psalter of geneva, on which the psalms are still sung in the netherlands. I can imagine you don't think its strong if you are not used to the melody. To me the melody alone is evocative enough to remind me of the text... Matter of culture I guess ;)

in the lamento I :the interested users are used chord, and the counterpoint used in a very austere and archaic.

in the lamento II: very interesting rithm "ostinato" seems a shadow of a Bach prelude transported in the twentieth century...

thanks for your review, andrea

I agree with the bachian shadow. I like how this choralvorspiel is now, but I always regret that the ostinato theme of the beginning disappears and gets altered in broken triads...

Hello!

I liked 1 and 2 because the other two a bit formally derived from 1.

No. 2 seems very cool, right hand has a constant melody and the rest plays a bit in support.

The no. 1 has a nice counterpoint and a rich harmony. I liked the last line and end with its seventh and nobena.

Well done! (Sorry for my English, I would like to express myself better but I have to study more ...)

Greetings!

The first one is very beautiful, but sometimes the harmonic progressions seem sort of "square" to me (m. 7 to the first beat of m. 8 is a good example; my mind wanted it to go to a C# major chord). I don't mean "square" in terms of the harmonies themselves (the harmony I just mentioned is about as "predictable" as it gets), but where you place them. The only other place that gave me trouble were the last two bars - something is unsatisfying about the way you handled the last 4 beats of the piece; something having to do with the voice leading. In any case, the rest of this is gorgeous - it reminds me a lot of early 20th century French music (think Poulenc et al.)

The second piece is also fairly gorgeous, in a more severe way. The only thing that I took issue with here is the occasional use of parallel motion between the right and left hand on the last beat of a measure, which struck me as "out of place" in the music. (It occurs three times in the piece: m. 5, 8, and 18). Otherwise it's a very good work in terms of use of a sort of neo-baroque approach; and the spare texture is striking after the thick, chordal music of the first lament.

The third returns to the thickly textured approach of the first lament, but within what struck me as a more traditional harmonic context. This isn't to say that it's a bad thing at all - I'm always impressed by your ear for harmony, and it's often the first thing that I think of when your music is brought to my mind. I have no major qualms with this one.

The final piece in the set is the weakest, in my opinion. Although you make use of the stunning harmonies that I'm familiar with in your work thus far, there's just not enough going for this one to sustain interest for me. The right hand part in particular leaves something to be desired; not my favorite.

My favorites are the first two pieces; if I had to choose between the two I would probably pick the second one just because I like spare, clear textures.

Overall, good work. It's interesting to see the development that has taken place in your compositional style even since these were written.

Thanks Manam for listening and bumping this. It has been half year ago I posted this :)

I agree with the overall tendency to consider the 4th the weakest. As I stated to Serge before it is more because of the text I know lies behind the melody of the psalm that it appeals to me. Musically is not so much going on there. That is why I decided to replace it with a chorale setting I wrote around the same time on the same chorale on which Lamento 2 was based.

I am a bit suprised to see people tend to like nr 1 above nr 3. Maybe it is because I wrote nr 3 after a sad happening during a holiday (something I seldom do) that I am so attached to it, but I think there is musically something really nice going there. I am very fond of its structure ABA'B'. In A each statement is repeated exactly the same, where in A' it gets harmonically altered. Dont mind me saying it myself, but I think for example the F-natural in ms 47 is gorgeous :D

Needless to say I think lamento 1 is fine too. I think it is well developed, a little canon in the end, but the basic material is almost a bit boring to me. Glad you like it nonetheless :D

So much love in my heart for this :)