Exotic, for 13 Instruments

Hello!This is a piece I've been working on since mid-October. It's unlike a lot of most of my other pieces, as you will hear. This is for 13 instruments: Flute/Piccolo, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Chimes, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Piano, Celesta, Violin and Viola. The name comes from the sound I thought it had. My composition teacher at Juilliard worked with me a lot, and we came up with the final finished piece.Enjoy!Heckelphone

Exotic, for 13 Instruments

This is, in my opinion, the best thing I've heard out of you yet Heckel.

I really like how you develop and vary your motives in the piece -- in fact, the entire piece seems based around your opening theme right from the get-go, and this gives your piece a lack of that "random" feeling a lot of your pieces have to me, and that's a huge plus in my eyes. It also justifies its length. You can tell a lot of thought and effort went into this :nod:

Also, your midi was so ear-screechingly awful that I had to upload better qualities to save others from the midi portrayal presented here originally. Seriously, it's some of the worst aural butchering I've heard in a while :lol:

Thanks for sharing, this piece was a real treat! :phones:

Sorry for the midi.... I know how awful it is :P

Thanks for the review!!

I found this a bit of a mixed bag. There were some really interesting uses of rhythm and motivic development, but there were also times where the music rather lost its energy or resorted to somewhat predictable textures. One thing I do like is that you've not used the whole ensemble together much but instead tried to create many different instrumental groupings and all the colouristic possibilities that result from this. However, having said this there were times where the texture needed to get thicker and more complicated to keep the piece moving - bars 107-111 is just one example I can think of. At times your rhythms are rather basic too. However I agree that the music justifies the length of the piece, and you have clear motifs which contribute to the structure.

On a technical note, some of the string writing at fast tempo is very difficult - viola bars 86-89 in particular has lots of chromatic leaping around that may not come off cleanly in performance. A lot of the horn writing is also quite high, although you give the player plenty of rests.

It would be great if you had the time to look at my Sextet, as I think we both have similar compositional methods.

where is my son

Here, Angela. :P But please try to keep to the topic! :)

Siwi, thank you for your comments! Though you said viola bars 86-89 would be difficult. I play viola, and found this not as hard as it looks. The chromatic leaping is difficult, but nothing 15 minutes wouldn't fix.

I know some of the horn stuff is high, but I'm hoping that the rests before and after will help that. If not, I may edit some of that.

Thanks again for your comment! Going right to listen to your sextet.

Heckel

This is wonderful! I found the piece playful yet serious and thought-provoking. You've used the all the timbres so well; I especially liked the small bits of percussive attacks here and there amidst more persistent, sinewy tones. It's amazing to see a seemingly simple motif develop into an interesting (at all times) piece while cohering steadfastly to the idea. I also really liked the beautiful polychords.

:o

This piece is fantastic for you Heckel! You've grown a lot this year. Well done!

I have to say, the use of the motive, which was very elegantly treated throughout, was great. Its also easily recognizable with the rising Major 7th so you could pick it out even when it was underneath a bunch of textures. Your orchestration has vastly improved with the good use of the tuned percussion and keyboards. Some very interesting textures coming through in this piece because of that.

I have to echo Swili's sentiments regarding lack of energy at places, esp in the second return to the Allegro. You really were quite conservative in this regard and could have really went bonkers in places. This applies to your orchestration a bit too; rarely did you use the extremes of the ranges (except for color here and there), which can be a very interesting color in itself. High clarinet, for example, can sound very strident and loud, or soft and glassy depending on how you score its dynamics. Things like that would show maturity in the orchestration.

Keep writing good stuff like this and you'll be well on your way to outdoing any of us! Congrats and I hope your time in New York is helping your study.

Nice work Heckel. Agree with some commenters that you handle thematic material with greater economy and tautness than before. What is interesting is the motive is not varied greatly. Rather it is the colors you get from the 13 instrument that creates the most variety.

As for lack of interest, really I'd say uyopu just come too strong a cadential feeling about a page or so before the piece ends. You may want to reconsider your counterpoint/harmony just in a few spots to maintain some tension before ending as well as you do.

Strangely, the main motive reminds me a little of a motive from my wind trio - just the contour that is all. If you get a chance like to hear your comments on my piece for 2 pianos and percussion here in chamber works.

Hi guys!

Sorry I haven't been on in forever. Holidays and such got in the way, but I'm happy to be back!

Thank you so much for the comments! I'm glad everyone liked it :)

Heckel

I REALLY liked your motivical development and different approaches to it, as well as playing with the instruments to change timbres. I was saying the other day I'm not as familiar.comfortable writing/helping with orchestral works (though this is technically large chamber music), so I can't give much critique/help in orchestration. Still, I did like very much how I heard it (and would love to hear it live to see how these things mix).

As everyone said it's a very nice piece, I like the ensemble also. I found my self hungering for a little tutti somewhere in it. When you get the 16th notes in, it really seems like it's going to build up more, which I think you should satisfy at some point.

I'm not really convinced that it's in 5/4. If you want I can take a closer look at it, but it seems the accent notes are changing place a little to often to establish the meter. If the barlines are just to coordinate (and not real meter), you should just use 4 beats between each line.

Very nice though!

I know it really isn't in 5, but I don't know how to just have open bars. I think that I didn't choose to have a big tutti section because I only wanted that a few short times. I have a new version of this that has 8 violins and 6 violas, that the Juilliard pre-college symphony will read on March 12th. I will upload that recording.

Heckel

very interesting use of orchestral colors with these interesting flashes of lightning on the flute and oboe, the alternation of different climates and rhythmic expression gives variety to the piece

very interesting use of orchestral colors with these interesting flashes of lightning on the flute and oboe,

the alternation of different climates and rhythmic expression gives variety to the piece