Hourglass Elegy for Brass Quintet

Hourglass Elegy was orchestrated in a way to explore different colors that expressed somber, hopeful, and even angry moods which one would feel after losing a loved one.

Hourglass Elegy for Brass Quintet

First off, the instrumentation...is Tpt tpt hrn tbn b.tbn? I didn't hear a tuba while I did hear two trombones, tenor and bass maybe. Any special reason for that? I'm not sure the substitution of a bassbone made for a better piece. I think the bass had too much brass in its sound when it had to turn up the heat, not to mention less of the rich overtones provided by tuba in climactic areas like around 2:30 and exposed areas like 0:30.

That's a pretty good group you got there! I know recordings can be painfully annoying to execute, especially without a lot of editting (which it appears there is none in this). So congratulations, it's a fairly nice demo you have here. Some of the unison tuning is quite iffy (2nd trumpet player! Gah. No sympathy from me) and a lot of entrances and cutoffs were off. But it wasn't enough to really detract from the performance, and the guys' tones are pretty solid. I really dig your horn player. And it musta been very fun for these guys to play. Not too hard, lotsa room for musicality. Very good for a balanced program. ++

Okay, now then, it's hard to say without a score, but I understand you gotta protect your interests.

1- Small thing: needs a caesura at 2:42. Perfect place for a contemplative silence and a huge musical opportunity missed.

2- I suspect heavily that there are quite a few areas (transitory) where the music really needs a crescendo marking to lead into the section and there is none. There were a few instances where the group seems to kinda pull back and then 'remember' to either pull up the volume or pull back when they got to the barline into a subito piu piano dynamic.

Now, that is not entirely your responsibility, but us non-conducted performing groups REALLY appreciate it when we're given good dynamic and flow indications in our parts. Good groups don't rehearse individual pieces very often, so we're basically sightreading half of our tunes: the more that's written the better, especially in a somber tune where motion is SO important.

Final, personal notes:

Good- I like the individual lines. They're all very cohesive and appropriate. A lot of your material here reminds me of the Kamen Quintet. Take that as a very good compliment, because that is an amazing piece. This is pretty darn good as an elegy.

Bad- That said, and don't take this the wrong way, I feel like this is a pretty shallow take on the various feelings one has at the loss of a loved one. It's all one tempo, it's all basically the same tonality with the same types of tension tones. I felt only one feeling, albeit very strongly: a certain somberness. Didn't hear the hope, didn't really hear anger, didn't hear (enough) contemplation, didn't hear questioning, didn't hear sadness(!). The piece in and of itself I feel is very strong, but IMO if what you set out to do is capture in music the complex moods of profound loss, you did an incomplete job.

8.5/10 at least. :) Thanks for sharing! I don't know how much it shows, but I do enjoy your stuff, man. Keep it up.

Its orchestrated for the tradtional brass quintet (2 tpt, 1 horn, 1 trom., and Tuba) how ever there were no available tubas at the time so a bass trombonist did step in. Nice ear. lol

And thanks about the Kaimen reference... a couple people said the same thing... I dont hear it though lol

:lol: Yeah, for a demo, I'd've recorded at a different time when a tuba was available. You do what you can with what you have, though.

[edit]Kamen: It has to do with the way it plays. You ever play that piece?

Never played it, just looked it up after my piece was referred to it.