Symphony #2 in G Major

My Symphony in G, just completed today.

I may do a little cleaning up of the 4th Movement, but at least it's done. :)

Comments/criticisms welcome.

NOTE: I don't know why the post keeps garbling the order of the movements...just listen to them in 1. 2. 3. 4. order. Sorry...don't know what's wrong. :D

I wish I could listen to these MIDI files. I can't. They won't play on my Quicktime, which is odd, as I am able to listen to all other MIDIs. What the hell is a "MIME" type file? Don't even bother telling me actually--I'll find it pedantic. I do use an iMac from the eocene era, and OS 9, which I know is... utterly inexcusible... but I am after all a starving artist.... very starving.

So can you please send me these movements? Thanks. puck81@gmail.com

Brandon Homayouni

This is not just your files, I forgot to mention. I can't hear my own either, or anyone else's.

BBH

Hey, i only have time to listen to the first movement at the moment, but it's very good!

Well written in a traditional classical style.

I know I've only listened to one movement, but if you want a criticism, it would maybe be that the piece could be a bit more varied.

Very good work though

Great, man! You really are a composer. :D I wish i could compose like that! Allthough i like contemporary symphonic music most of all. Thanks for your work. I`ll listen to it all later, have to run to the performance!

Thats some amazing stuff. I don't have anything negative to say; it's great in every way. Love that Vivace :D

I'm thinking that you should write this out onto paper, bury it somewhere in Vienna, sign it as "Mozart", wait 30 years until someone digs it up, and then enjoy as the world delights at having found a new Mozart Symphony! But really, the piece was amazing, I truly enjoyed every moment of it. Fantastic work.

could you give me the correcto playback tempo for each movement??? Im hearing all at the same tempo as the first movement.

The first movement is a perfect orchestation for my ears.

Thank you

Miguelio

Miguelio, you must be importing the MIDIs into Finale and it's not carrying over my tempo indications, because otherwise they should play correctly.

The tempi are:

1. Allegro Spiritoso - crotchet = 132

2. Adagio - crotchet = 51

3. Menuetto - crotchet = 156

4. Allegro vivace - crotchet = 156

Ordinarily, I'd be glad to post the Finale files, but that pesky 1MB limit makes that prohibitive.

If anybody would rather hear the MP3s, here are the links:

http://rapidshare.de/files/4415493/Sinfoni...ritoso.mp3.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/4415612/Sinfoni...Adagio.mp3.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/4415734/Sinfoni...nuetto.mp3.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/4415937/Sinfoni...Vivace.mp3.html

Originally posted by J. Lee Graham@Aug 27 2005, 02:30 AM

My Symphony in G, just completed today.

I don't really have much to say that hasn't already been said, but if you had lived in Mozart's time, we would have been reading about you in a music history textbook! I really enjoyed this - I have only recently warmed up to the old 'classical' style, and I will certainly your mp3s to my collection.

Thanks, all of you, so very much. I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's all I've ever wanted with my music: to please myself and others with it.

I really enjoyed this symphony! It has been fun to listen to and it is definitely very catchy with very memorable themes (I heard some of the themes in my head later on in the day). Anyway, I would love to see the score sometime (maybe a PDF file would be more postable than a full finale file?). Also, I would be very interested to hear about how you composed it. How did you go about working on such an ambitious project? Did you compose the piece directly into full score, or work on a piano sketch first? I would be interested to know the various stages involved with its composition.

Looking forward to hearing your next symphony (or a recording of this one!)

-mike

Fantastic! Loved it. Especially the Adagio, perfect. Just the right change of mood from the opening.

I too would love to see a score, and even more a real recording; these electronic versions are never quite satisfactory substitutes for human interpretation. Please post one up if you can!

Adam.

BTW the mp3s are a different kettle of fish altogether to the MIDIs; I don't know if my MIDI program is rubbish, but it seemed to get all sorts of things wrong compared with the mp3s - tempo, rhythm, relative and absolute dynamics - everything basically!

P.S. just listening to it again! Lovely.

Thanks to both of you. Mike (Neuhausen), I don't know how I missed your commentary...apologies for not answering your question sooner.

Did you compose the piece directly into full score, or work on a piano sketch first? I would be interested to know the various stages involved with its composition.

My method is invariably to compose directly into the score. I almost never use piano sketches. They've never done me much good. Much of the time, I hear things in my head more or less finished, and I'm fairly good at transferring what's in my head onto the page; but sometimes when that fails me, I'll fall back on the skills and experience I've cultivated and channel through that. It's interesting at such times to hear what comes out that way that I didn't necessarily hear in my head, but which apparently comes from somewhere in my subconscious. Occasionally, what I compose in this intuitive way is better than some of what I actually hear in my head. Sometimes to get a different perspective, I'll do a fast sketch by hand - there are times when I just can't get something going in Finale, so I'll try to fudge it along that way. It often works. I'm convinced that a different part of my brain is engaged sometimes when I write by hand.

I rarely plan anything. I start with an idea that comes to me in a flash (often when I'm doing something else, and I have to jot it down on a piece of scratch paper), then go with whatever else happens in my head, or what seems logically to follow. I love sketching ideas like this...sometimes it's almost better not to have Finale handy, or even manuscript paper, to jot down that first inspiration. It's interesting...those quick sketches look almost like calligraphy, crude as they are - I'm experimenting with making them visual art. I usually compose the movements in order, and I usually hear things in proper sequence, but sometimes I'll get an idea for a secondary theme or coda, put that down, then bridge the gap between it and what went before. I've been doing this for so long that most of this process is intuitive and fairly automatic, as long as I can keep energy and inspiration going, which can be a problem.

I too would love to see a score, and even more a real recording; these electronic versions are never quite satisfactory substitutes for human interpretation. Please post one up if you can!

Adam, I'll try to get a PDF score together in the next couple of days. I need to finalise the score anyway and add in all the articulation details, etc. that I may have left off in places in my haste to complete the last movement...I actually have a conductor ready to perform it(Yay!).

BTW the mp3s are a different kettle of fish altogether to the MIDIs; I don't know if my MIDI program is rubbish, but it seemed to get all sorts of things wrong compared with the mp3s - tempo, rhythm, relative and absolute dynamics - everything basically

Hmm...they should be the same note-wise. Not sure what's wrong there.

This is so great!!!!

I'm a classical revavalist too and it was so nice to hear a piece in that style composed by someone who is still alive. I am going to put that on my iPod (if I have your permission).

I normally can't stand MIDI files, but your symphony is so wonderful that I'm going to have to.

Excellent piece! This is definatly one of the best pieces on the site, and I can't pick out any flaws whatsoever. My only complaint is that it sounds a lot like mozart. Its beutiful music most definatly, but if you could come up with some totally new ideas about composition, I think that would make the difference between you being a "really good composer" and having your name listed as one of the 20th century greats.

Thanks again, everybody. I've presented the score for performance consideration, and the conductor likes it. With any luck, I should hear it live this season or next.

My only complaint is that it sounds a lot like mozart. Its beutiful music most definatly, but if you could come up with some totally new ideas about composition, I think that would make the difference between you being a "really good composer" and having your name listed as one of the 20th century greats.

I appreciate that sentiment, and since I'm sure you can imagine that I've heard it before, I especially appreciate that you've put it so diplomatically.

I've written some music in a contemporary voice, most of which sounds ordinary and uninspired - largely because that's precisely what it is: ordinary and uninspired. I can force myself to think like a contemporary, but the results are far less natural than my classical voice, and it shows. As such, that output is unlikely to get my name listed among even the least of the 20th Century greats.

This music, however, may yet get me recognised as a capable, reactionary rebel. The fact that most of my colleagues in professional music find what I'm doing incomprehensible at the very least, while listeners love it, shows me that I might be on the right track...to say nothing of being true to my sensibilities.

What you said about "totally new ideas" gives me pause to ask the question: do you really believe there are any totally new ideas in music? Or are we all really looking backward, whether we like it or not?

I most certainly see your aversion to current contemporary music, but that does not mean there are no new ideas out there. Seeing your skill with consonance, homophony, and melody, I don't think that that is at all a path for you to follow. Everyone here is equally guilty for not doing something new, since almost everyone (myself included) do not have that sort of talent. I do believe there are new ideas out there. It just takes an excellent composer to find them. I do think tonality in its most conventional form is pretty much done with, but composers have repeatedly found ways to add to it. Especially because of the advent of electronic instruments, there are an infinity of possibilities out there. It just takes a great mind to find them, and I'd say you have the best chance of anyone on this forum of finding them.

Most of us are careful with each other here, but you are particularly adept at challenging without undermining. How refreshing. Welcome to the forum. :laugh:

Hi Just Thought id drop in a quick line

From 5 seconds onwards - very reminicent of Mozart's Piano Concerto No.26 but well even my symphonies sounds like Beethoven & Brahms :ninja: It can't really be helped can it. Us musical traditionalists know where/when the best music was :( . And what a great way to extend the first section at 00:46 secs ...... quite the novelty to modulate to # of the key your listener is thinking your going into .... I use it all time. Quite Good Mov.1 - Hav'nt listened to the other movements yet..... but i'm sure they will all be of the same uniform quality as the 1st Mov. Also another quick Question - How do you save Midi's from sibelius without the woodwinds having a mind of their own ?? - Sometimes the play the written in string tremolos, sometimes they become timpani and most of the time are way too loud and sound like an ear piercing trumpet (Mozart hated that - as do I).

Good Work .... Atleast I know there a 3 musical traditionalist on this site (You, Me & The Baroque Enthusiast).

I've only listened to the first movement and a portion of the second, which is playing now, but I figured I might as well share my opinions.

While I am not a large fan of classical music in comparison to contemporary, I must say that this is most definitely quality work and I am more than happy that you shared it with us. I almost at times wished for a little more polyphony, but I recognize that's not exactly what you were desiring to veer towards, and I respect that.

The phrase closest to measure 120 was my particular favorite moment, it was crafted quite well. The Adagio, which recently finished, was very smooth as well.

Kudos. My only wishes, as i've said, would be a slight bit more polyphony and extended harmony, but that's not in the direction you went in at all, and I respect that. If I could write melodies quite like that, though, I'd be very happy with myself!

Notice Matusleo how most of your paragraphs started with Ahs and Oohs. I'll just have to agree with your sounds, this work is definately orgasmic. :laugh:

:laugh:

Very well done and enjoyable.

-Randy