Freeflow Phoenix

I haven't posted many concert works, so I thought I'd share this one written for oboe, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. The performance is by members of the Second Instrumental Unit. I left the .pdf as is so you can see how I normally format my scores when I bind them.

Freeflow Phoenix

that is a rather fine piece of music with some great depth considering how small the ensemble is.

I thought this was brilliant. Simply brilliant. I agree with unemployedcomposer...there is a certain depth to this piece that simply cannot be taught. It created such an etherial and gentle atmosphere that I immediately adored.

I thought the initially oboe figures could be extended and elaborated upon, just to dive even further into the essence of the piece. Kudos to the ensemble for a great performance, too.

Collin :)

There is a magical quality to this piece, I loved it, especially how you used the different tone colours; the oboe definitely sounded like a bird. In bar 60 I appreciated the chords in the violin and cello, and the ending gave a good sense of closure.

Wow, beautiful! Black Orpheus, I absolutely love your use of color in this piece. The way you treat the instruments is great! This really is a very strong piece. I like the transition to the piano solo part. I think, compared to the rest of the language that the piano solo is sort of weak compared to the rest of the piece, but it works. You also transition out of there and back to the ostinato is idea very nicely for the ending. Very strong. Congratulations, it's a very attractive work.

Thank you for the kind comments. Collin, extending the opening oboe solo is a good idea and it's something that I have considered. Morgri, I think you're right about the piano section. Maybe it is a bit short, but in the case of this performance it had to be because I was really crunched for time and I knew the piece had other places to go. There's nothing like a deadline to get the ideas flowing!

That was spectacular, Blackorpheus! You always manage to find great ensembles to perform your works. They played your piece beautifully!

I liked how the piano and string writing at page 8 was really interesting by itself but also transitioned so smoothly back to the main theme. Then, you ended the piece with that material and it worked wonderfully!

The score looks extremely polished as well. I didn't see any collisions or anomalies. Did you use finale or sibelius?

Excellent work, Blackorpheus!

-John

Thanks, John. I engrave with Finale 2009, but I wonder if it would have been easier in Sibelius. Page 6 of the score (8 of the .pdf) was a pain in the rear!

Wow, fantastic job, Orpheus! :phones:

--Such great depth and articulation! The way the music swells at the start is marvelous, and your musical directions simultaneously make a great deal of sense and are unusual and exotic at the same time.

--The way you present your idea is also accomplished: it's reminiscent of "Fantastia" in its color and expressiveness. Amazing how you made such a grand sound with only a few instruments: that's the sign of talent right there :)

Thanks for sharing, this is one of my favorite pieces on the site! :D

This is excellent! I am guessing that you are familiar with chinese instrumental music and you are imitating the suona with the oboe? The concept is similar to the Chinese folk song "Hundreds of Birds Worshiping the Phoenix." The Chinese title is something like Bai Nao Chen Feng..I know I probably butchered that and another video calls it Zuo Quan Tian. If you haven't heard of the piece, it is very coincidental as you have had the oboe really match some of the suona characteristics...

if you havent heard..there is the video.

This is excellent! I am guessing that you are familiar with chinese instrumental music and you are imitating the suona with the oboe?

Oh wow, thanks for that video. I think I'm familiar with every instrument in the ensemble EXCEPT the suona! It's beautiful. So I wasn't trying to imitate the instrument, but most of my recent music does pull from East Asian influences, especially Japan since I study the shakuhachi.

In Freeflow my original idea was to use the winds and strings to imitate the sho (Japanese mouth organ). The sho has two tall vestigial pipes (among 15 smaller ones) that are supposedly left in tact because they give the instrument the shape of a phoenix, plus the sho is said to imitate the sound of the bird. In the end I abandoned sho imitation and went for a depiction of the phoenix. Of course the phoenix could sound like anything since it's a mythical creature, but I thought the nasally sound of the oboe would make for a great bird cry. The piano tremolos plus sul ponticello strings remind me of rustling wings, and the clarinet's there for added melodic color and support. Maybe there's a conversation between two birds?

Wow pretty interesting...I think that piece of music was written over 500 years ago or so...apparently very famous in China...amazing sounds that we hardly consider as western musicians..it is almost a pity that they have discovered western music as their traditional music is so unique.

This is really great, I always am wanting to hear modern classical and that is exactly the kind of piece I am looking for. Beautiful and avantgarde at the same time. I love the way the oboe and violins sway up and down in pitch... gives it this spiritual, natural feel, and yet at the same time, at the beginning it was even a bit Gershwin/big city jazzy sounding, when it was just the oboe... I am finding it hard to describe what I picture with this piece. It's like some great beauty in the universe that I am having trouble connecting my mind to because of being detached from it for so long. Anyway, really amazing piece, I'm kind of more inspired to compose now.

Very lovely piece and at heart a nice mix of jazz doits with the folk like flavor so astutely pointed out in an earlier post.

Leaves wishing for more pieces like this to form a set - check the Varied Trio by Lou harrison I posted in rep or suggested works. I seems to belong in such a set.

One tiny criticism or question - why not offer more pitches in your pitch set? Maybe it isn't necessary - just need performers a little more familiar with improv as I think the clarinet or oboist played the pitch set bottom to top.

KingCrimson, that is quite the compliment. I'm so glad you were inspired.

Chris, thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to take a look at the Varied Trio. I think I can get plenty of variation from the pitches I provided in the indeterminate section, but you might be right about finding performers who are more comfortable with improv. Still, these performers did a fine job, especially the oboe player who didn't think most of the slides he worked out in the end were even possible!

I want to join this chorus of admirers. It was great! I liked the oboe glisando's. Well done!

yeah I agree you had great performers - to get an oboe player to do those slides and the players to do many of the techniques is great. Don't mean to be too nitpicky.

Beautiful music and score! The glissandi/portamenti of the various instruments are very memorable and helped me remember the melody each time it returned. I enjoyed the light, delicate texture throughout: nothing heavy (even the repeated chords at m. 48) and each note sounding as deliberately and carefully placed as it were... I loved the quiet piano chords, too. I really enjoyed this excellently-crafted, moving piece.

Absolutely breathtaking, Austin. I really loved this. Thanks so much for posting this!

Thanks, everyone!

What a rich sound world, you create tension without falling into cliches, I feel as if I'm being taken on a journey as soon as the piece starts, but I'm still given time to contemplate on what I'm hearing.

Wonderful use of tessitura and technique, you obviously understand how to manipulate instruments and sound incredibly well.

Also its so lovely to see a score that has really had a lot of time and thought put into it, makes the listening experience so much more interesting.

Love the music, thankyou for sharing.

Sophie

This is a very artful piece here. I like slides on the oboe. it sounds really Asian. Those quarter tones are amazing. I bet there are hard to play and and perform, even as a professional. There's a compasses of styles here. I hear Stravinsky with the theme. and Schoenberg with the harmony. I also sense of other composers here. 10/10

Thanks a lot, Aniolel! I'm glad you hear the Asian influence and appreciate the slides and quarter tones.