*****STARS OVER EGER!! 20 Minutes of Relentless ROMANTICISM!

Benjamin Sajo

Hate to point this out, but I just opened the file and one of the melodic voices appears to be set to the guitar fret slide MIDI preset. Makes for a very strange sound. (I'm assuming you didn't put this in intentionally)

I'd check the file again and/or post a MIDI of it. It also seems that you saved the file in Sibelius 4 - if there is an option to do so, I'd save it to be compatible with Sibelius 3 as well, because not everyone will have upgraded.

Once you've corrected the MIDI patch issue though I look forward to listening. It looks very impressive from what I saw and heard so far. :wacko:

just wait, I'm putting up the mp3. I was too excited to post that, but it's up there now! It's because of garritan personal orchestra that the midi sounds wierd. So just listen to the mp3.

Wow, this is extremely exciting. My own distant Hungarian heritage is strongly beating listening to this piece. I enjoyed its consistancy through out, you have clear seperations between movements, and yet they are also alided so well. A true sign of a fantastic Romantic composer. The melody (or main theme, in this case) was consistant through the piece, and I loved the way it moved from instrument to instrument. It is clear to me that you have spent a great amount of time on this piece.

One comment I can make is that it is clear that you come from a Wind Ensemble type of background. You are certainly correct in saying that your style is similar to that of Dmitri Shostakovic, but it is also very reminiscent of Mark Camphouse (a popular Wind Ensemble arranger). I really enjoy this, and you will also here such tendencies in my own works where the emphasis is more on the brass than the actual string section. Try to discipline yourself, though, as most people will think of this as a large Wind Ensemble rather than a Full Orchestral setting.

The first movement was very romantic in style, and had a martial feeling from the beginning. I was a bit weary at your choice for instrumentation, as snare (or side drum) and piccolo can lead the listener to think of the Patriots of the American Revolution. However, the melody was obviously Hungarian sounding and worked out very well. I would consider using a different instrument, however, like a solo violin in a fiddle style. Also, when the low strings took the melody as the percussionists beat the time by hand-clapping, it just didn't work for me. Either the beat they were clapping was different than the beat I had in my head, or it was just off for some reason. I could really do without that section.

The second movement was rich and full of emotion and power. It grew and was built so well that it just exploded at the high point; a truly great sign of a romantic piece which I so seldom hear from any of the other composers here. This section especially reminded me of Camphouse and even David Arnold (who wrote the soundtrack to Independence Day). Brimming with color and passion, it was my favorite movement, and will have a live audience in tears.

The scherzo was also very enjoyable. You brought back the hand clapping here, and this time it worked. There was a definite sense of conflict in the ways that the passionate melodies of the strings never did quite lock in with the jutting and forceful chords in the brass, winds, and percussion. All this leading, as a good Scherzo should, to a triumphant finale of the fourth movement. This is definitely one of the finest pieces of work I have yet heard on this site, and I hope it achieves such praise from my colleagues. I hope to hear this live, some day, and I also hope that my comments are helpful to you.

Sean Christopher Stork

Nightengale Incorporated

about the percussion, I know EXACTLY what you mean. It's the cymbal rolls right? I don't know how to do the dynamics properly on sibelius, or not have it bang away like that as opposed to a smooth role.

I remember I added another line of percussion with bell tree and bass drum, but I figured out that that was useless though. I'm juar like you Nico in that I love honest reviews like that, so that I can fix it up for competitions sake. Where particularly does the percussion cause a problem though? Is it the symbols? I am actually contemplating on shrinking the percussion some more, I did much already. I remember reading in an orchestration manual that a lot of young composers overdo the percussion. I tried my best not to hear, but you know what I mean?

About the melody with the hand clapping near the beginning, that was intentional. A melody that SHOULD be in 4/4, but it's not, it's in 3/4, which the clapping keeps. It keeps you on your toes, if you know what I mean.

What about the brass? I am a trumpet player, and I was inspired by crazy trumpet stuff from Carl Orff and Respighi mostly, but it's all playable. Is it some of the clashy chords? Or is it the melody? Or what? I'm sending this into a MAJOR competition before the end of June, so I need to get all the bad stuff out of the way lol

About "Patriots of the American Revolution" part, Nightengale, the story is actually very similar in its revolutionary tone. The Turks have taken over Hungary, and they were fighting for independence. It was actually the Turks who INVENTED marching fifes and, well, march music to begin with lol

I've noticed that many orchestral works focus too much on the strings, which is a good thing, but I made an effort this time to actually make the winds "useful" lol

Thanks man, I'll make sure to check that. :huh:

Best of luck with Julliard!

This would sound really cool if you could add some kind of sound effect to make it sound like its in an auditorium rather than lots of it sounding like its being played in a room filled with lots of blankets and other soft materials that soak up sound.

As for the piece itself, I loved it (I'm sure you already knew that though lol). It is a little too romatic for my taste but I still like it a lot.

Nice Job though!

Very engaging. I had to break off about 12 mins for one of those famous home interruptions so I;ll take up later. I don't know the book but I found the music perfectly listenable, aided by your notes.

I liked:

The build up (at 3,03) that led to a bald chord - no third, falling onto a diminished.

Contrasting section at 3.4 or somewhere near with some nice homophonic chording.

The slow episode at 5 mins approx came at about the right time and the dynamics were beautifully handled when the more assertive, faster theme returned.

Fast paced dance frament at 10.25.

Well, I'm basically saying I liked the work, will listen again with eyes closed - note-taking abandoned.

The timing of different episodes and their introduction were intuitively right. The instrumentation is well balanced and professional.

The percussion paused me to wonder but I accept what you say about the medium not allowing you to have it played to your taste.

Congratulations, anyway. An accomplished work.

M

Thanks for that comment.

My music teacher liked it a lot, but he said his only worry for that Montreal competition is that it all depends on the adjudicators frame of mind.

It isn't the most cerebral of pieces, and it doesn't wander off into atonalism, but it is serious music.

He said that the best part of the piece that keeps the interest is the driving, pulsating melody, in contrast to what a person on this board once said detracts from "Stars over Eger."

Which just goes to show how there is no real definite opinion.

I'll do my best to give this piece a proper review. Six years in the making, and there's no reason I can't spare twenty minutes!

I - Great intro! You do a good job of grabbing the listener's attention -- making the case for your piece, so to speak. But then I don't understand from 0:55 to 1:05 why you allow the phrase to sort of stagnate before a melody comes back in. There is a lot of energy and excitement in this movement, and to let it wane so much as one inch this early on doesn't make sense to my ear.

You do a very good job of balancing new material with a reworking of old material throughout this whole first movement. Your orchestrational techniques are sound; however, this movement may sound a bit more fragmented than you wanted it to and I think I know why. You tend to equate a new idea with a new orchestration. This is fine, but if you do it too much it loses its effect, and has the tendency to show your seams as a composer. You might consider sticking with the same orchestrational formula for a bit longer rather than flying from thing to thing.

II - To be honest I'm not exactly sure where II started. Was that your intention? Remember that in a live performance people are going to be looking at their programs, wondering where one movement stops and another begins. Just be aware of that. In fact I wasn't sure that we were actually in movement II until bar 181 (the harp solo). This is when it sounds like the "meat" of this section starts -- what with lowered seconds and all those wonderful little Hungarian melodic features. You might consider what the formal (as in form-related) function of bars 125-181 is, and then consider if it needs to be as long as it is to do what it wants to do.

I've little to say about the melodies and big, noble, processional material that follows. It is well composed, methinks.

III (I think) -- This scherzo-like section that starts around 10:30-ish is the best display yet of your orchestrational skills. It reminds me of good video game music (which, if you know me, is a very, VERY good thing.) I am glad that you do not analyze your music as you compose it, because if you did and were trying to place a chord on every single vertical moment, a lot of these new, fresh-sounding harmonies would never have seen the light of day.

12:38 -- Why the sudden slow down? You are aware that it is sudden, and if that is what you want, then by all means stick with it, but to me it was a bit shocking, and in a not-so-satisfying way. I personally would rather have heard a transition that was a bit more gentle.

Next, I like the way you toss the gypsy material around the different instruments of the orchestra. Though I must say, I was waiting for the whole orchestra to explode into some dancing, grooving version of the gypsy theme that made you want to get up and dance. (And I was hoping to hear it before the tempo change at 15:14!) In fact, if you really want to sell the audience participation bit, it might not be a bad idea to consider something fun like this right before you get the audience involved. That way, you have them (or most of them) smiling, and they will be less reticent to start clapping along.

The moment around 16:45 is to me one of the most profound moments in this whole piece (continuing all the way through to 17:20). I can't put my finger on exactly why, other that to say that it sounded like the right thing at the right time in the context of what came before. Sorry I couldn't be more specific....but I guess I really just liked listening to that part.

At 17:45-18:17, I think you could use your percussion a lot more effectively to build energy, tension, and excitement. I'm thinking some big bass drum hits, triangle rolls, and just noise in general to keep the energy sustained through the longer chords. It would set up the end (which is well-written, by the way) much more majestically.

This piece is an effort worthy of the highest praise. The thought, time, and energy that you have put into it is apparent, and it is something you should be very proud of. I would submit this piece to competition after competition until you can get it performed. If competitions do reject this piece, rest assured that it has more to do with the musical tastes/philosophies/opinions on modern composition of the judge(s) rather than raw compositional ability.

Wow, sir. That was worth it. Thank you so much. That was probably the most detailed review I got. Thank you :blush:

Are you Hungarian?

;)

Just 'coz I am... halfway :)

When I was in 6th grade here I never finished this book :( , though I saw the movie. I like the actual history of these events, but I wasn't really impressed with Gárdonyi.

Your work, on the other hand is great. I think your use of the percussion is cool in the beginning, which, btw, i like best. After that, maybe you do use too much of it, but it isn't bad. But who knows... I hate this machine sound, wish I could here it played by a normal orchestra. Anyway, is this MIDI and GPO combined? I suck really at GPO so can't tell.

Keep up the good work.