[Untitled Chamber Thing]

New chamber work slated for performance in May with me conducting. Note the score is messy and titleless. Suggestions on either front are welcome. Note also that the instrumentation is one of everything, no doubling at all.

Comments welcome but please make haste because this thing is due tomorrow. :)

the chamber thing.pdf

the chamber thing.mp3

Is this the score you're handing out to all those who're in the orchestra? If so, have you thought of separating the different parts onto different scores, as to make the score smaller for those who're playing it?

This looks fine for you to conduct, but I wouldn't recommend handing it out raw like this =P

This would be the conductor's score... lol. Parts will be extracted.

Alright, just checking :sith:

Are you able to upload the MIDI file for a bit? I can't DL music files (I use Linux)

hm...

lovely melody, but not so well worked out. It looks like a theme with variations, or something like a passacaglia. But in both cases there is not enough variation. The emotional range is broad enough to keep my interest.

I wondered how big the chamber orchestra was. I think woodwinds and brass 1 of each. But strings?

The buildup is well orchestrated. But from ms 28 the bassoon is between then trombone and trumpet. I think he is not heard. And how can the low d (ff) in ms 33 ever be effective???

The cBass is sometimes too soft to stand alone (so I've learned). I tend to use him to octavate the celli, bassoon, or trombone. Honestly I end up useing it the most as extention of the celli. So I compliment you on the effort to use the cb as a single intrument in its own right. But maybe in ms 50 add the bassoon ;) ?

compliments on the textural differences in ms 61, so the woods will not be unheard. But I have a bit pity with them. I think they'll dont like the tremolo's. I can imagine that around the c there is a new handposition. So the oboe shake could be problematic...

So far for now. Any feedback on the structure behind this is welcomed. Did I mis a B-theme? Or did you forget to write one? :)

Strings are indeed one of each. There's no B theme because the piece isn't long enough to support one. There's a hard limit of 5 minutes.

then why dont you elaborate the bass a bit more, and call it a passacaglia? its almost there...

Very poignant work here Justin. I agree with what Jr said above, your thematic material here doesn't seem to be worked to well. There's a lot of saturation in your ideas with this work - which, for me, just doesn't provide any sort of satisfaction. I would highly recommend adding a nice contrast within your parts OR utilize the theme in a new way. The harmony here is very traditional, are you going back to this sort of thing?

This is a very beautiful piece of music overall, Justin. I agree with what jrcramer said and think he brings up some good orchestration points. I would like to add that the harmonies are quite lush, romantic, or even a bit modern sounding. Reminded me of some beautiful slow contemporary band pieces. However, I think that with the small orchestration of strings, some of the high flute and loud brass passages are really "band" type orchestration or at least full orchestra style where they are really powerful things and I think that causes some of the big brass at the end to come off as corny, though it will indeed sound powerful.

Some things that seemed out of place with the style of the piece harmonically:

m. 17-the root position G minor chord feels stark, cold and out of place. One of those strange instances where something so consonant is a bit jarring. On the other hand, the F# in the clarinet in measure 19 seems out of place in a more harsh, dissonant kind of way.

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Wonderful work, Tokke!

I really don't have a problem with the way the piece unfolds at all: there's some lush dissonance in the piece, and the development spans a very good range.

As for a name... :hmmm:

I've never prided myself on my naming skills, but perhaps "The Ferry to Fantasia", or some such thing along those lines? It has such a melodramatic, colorful, rich sound to it, it sounds sort of like expressing an abstract, awe-inspiring realm of some sort. That's entirely up to you though :lol:

Thanks for sharing ;)