September 26, 201015 yr I'm not sure where this would be in a movie, but whatever scene it is, it is sure to change a lot or have a lot of motions/movement in it. A lot is going on in this piece. Tell me what you think. Le Cirque note: the pdf file at this very last 2 measures is not correct with the audio. The audio is how I want it, and I need to update the pdf. Sorry about that.
September 26, 201015 yr Overall, I really like this Caleb. A few spots have very sparse orchestration - which I think really draws some interest to this. Nice work!
September 27, 201015 yr I agree with jawoodruff, I liked it as well. Especially the first theme, which sounds kind of eastern to me - in a way the romantic/beginning of 20th century composers would write that way. It reminded me of Nielsens Aladdin Suite for example ('The Marketplace in Isaphan'). As to orchestration I don't know anything about that so can't comment on it. Well done
September 27, 201015 yr Author Overall, I really like this Caleb. A few spots have very sparse orchestration - which I think really draws some interest to this. Nice work! Thanks, Jason. Do you think the very sparse orchestration is a bad thing. Honestly I liked the sound of the parts in the middle where there is hardly any brass instruments and didn't know what to compose for them so, I simply didn't put any in, for the worry that it my kill the mood in that particular area.
September 27, 201015 yr Author I agree with jawoodruff, I liked it as well. Especially the first theme, which sounds kind of eastern to me - in a way the romantic/beginning of 20th century composers would write that way. It reminded me of Nielsens Aladdin Suite for example ('The Marketplace in Isaphan'). As to orchestration I don't know anything about that so can't comment on it. Well done Thanks, I'm glad you liked the first theme. It's what made me develop the other themes. I've never heard of that piece (The Marketplace in Isaphan) I'm going to youtube it and see what it's like.
October 3, 201015 yr II really enjoy the writing, the sparse orchestration actually creates a more intimate character for the piece. You don't ever have to fill every section to the fullest, some would say the I think the title fits nicely, I did get a feeling of acrobats doing constant flips and turns... it had somewhat serene cirque du soleil feeling. The rhythm is the star in this piece, the harmony takes on a secondary role and fits perfectly.
October 7, 201015 yr Interesting piece. As stated above, the orchestration is a bit unusual, but I think it works, because its a consistent characteristic and it does give the piece its own uniqueness. It would be nice to hear some fuller sections in this piece with a climax somewhere before the end. Some of your rhythms are notated a bit weird. I would recommend breaking beams to differentiate the triplets from the duple rhythms. This piece is off to a good start, but it could use some more work.
October 8, 201015 yr Wonderfully evocative, and good orchestration throughout. As someone who doesn't compose for Wind Ensemble/Band/etc.-- do you find that your repeated ostinato figures cause problems with breathing? I've recently finished a work for Wind Ensemble, and had a few commenters note that portions of the piece posted a challenge for player's breathing. Since they are very similar to yours, I was wondering if you've considered that, and if so, what your response is? Great work, this is one of my favorites that I've listened to in a while.
October 8, 201015 yr Author Wonderfully evocative, and good orchestration throughout. As someone who doesn't compose for Wind Ensemble/Band/etc.-- do you find that your repeated ostinato figures cause problems with breathing? I've recently finished a work for Wind Ensemble, and had a few commenters note that portions of the piece posted a challenge for player's breathing. Since they are very similar to yours, I was wondering if you've considered that, and if so, what your response is? Great work, this is one of my favorites that I've listened to in a while. Actually in fact, I sat down and played the Clarinet part and I found that it was a little hard breathing in some spots, not to mention fingerings were weird as well, but, that can all be fixed in due-course. I'm sure that if we varied the ostinato between instruments that would eliminate any hazardous spots. - Caleb
October 9, 201015 yr I really liked this! At first, I imagined it as a death march of sorts, but after the beginning, a whole new feeling sparked from the piece. There are some orchestration "mistakes" that I would look over, however I am a fan of the exposed orchestration choices and how you executed them! Good Job!
October 9, 201015 yr I don't have a whole lot of time to do a thorough review, but I'm gonna be a dissident here. I don't mind the sparsity in orchestration that much, though I feel like you went too far in that direction for too much of the work. You didn't explore very many voices through the work. I don't mind the unisons, but you have them *everywhere* to the point where at times where you even have tutti voices, you only have a handful of individual lines going on at once, particularly in the WWs. And I do like the ostinati, but it got tiresome to me rather early in the piece. It's not that interesting, and you compound the situation by never changing it at all. And a specific conventional thing. Don't have 1st and 3rd clarinet unison while 2nd clarinet is playing a diverging line. I don't believe I've ever seen that. I do like your concept. I think it's very fitting. I just feel like you cheated on the execution by keeping the voices so sparse and so unison. Thanks for sharing!
