Valse de Cirque

A little piece inspired by a work by @Noah Brode. Written in 1 day and orchestrated in 2, I'm sure it has its flaws before I send it off to the office, but would like to hear what I can do before that. Thanks! :)

Honestly, I am not that 'waltz person,' so I doubted if my opinion would be useful for you.

The music is good and I like the orchestration. I like how you add some more complex parts to the waltz. Everything sounds good to me, but it does not do anything emotional with me, - not to upset you of course.

In general, waltzes do not move me and I do nor know why. Maybe it is the rhythm or the often applied repetitions. Maybe it is the horrible experience with saxophone parts in walztes, of which the Radetzky March has become a night mare...

However, this waltz is of a different kind: I can listen to it without getting annoyed and I was surprised in a positive way about the more complex parts! I can imagine that many people would love to hear this music.

Well done!

Really, really nice. Your knowledge of orchestration really came in handy in making the waltz come to life -- I'm jealous of that. Lots of delightful parts, and I just loved the tempo changes toward the end. The primary theme was great. I do wish the secondary theme was a bit stronger, or maybe just repeated more.

Some quibbles: something sounded slightly awry with the woodwinds on page 15, but I couldn't put my finger on it; also, I think the chord in the horns on the final page may have been a bit overpowering, but that might just be a playback issue. 

Anyway, I'm glad my waltz inspired you to write this one. It's an improvement!

Thanks @Noah Brode and @Maarten Bauer; I just updated the title of the piece to something more fitting and interesting haha.
Noah, I actually liked your orchestration quite a bit more than mine overall; it didn't stick to the cliché as much as mine did. Do you know what was totally offputting about it? The change in tone? Register disparity?

I just meant the horns were overpowering as in too loud, but like I said, it might have just been a playback thing. 

Haha, I chalk up any orchestration success I may have to dumb luck. I don't know what's the norm, so I just guess at it, pretty much. I've read over Rimsky-Korsakov's book a couple times, but I get the feeling that it's the kind of thing you need to be able to learn with real instruments as a guide. 

On 8/4/2017 at 4:11 PM, Noah Brode said:

I just meant the horns were overpowering as in too loud, but like I said, it might have just been a playback thing. 

Haha, I chalk up any orchestration success I may have to dumb luck. I don't know what's the norm, so I just guess at it, pretty much. I've read over Rimsky-Korsakov's book a couple times, but I get the feeling that it's the kind of thing you need to be able to learn with real instruments as a guide. 

 

With all due respect, I'm a little confused. I don't know if it was clear, but those horn chords were kind of meant to be obviously jarring and dissonant compared to the rest of the piece. Do you just not like that effect or is it actually just playback?

Hm, yeah, I suppose that chord was just a bit too jarring for my tastes. I don't want that to be all that you take away from my earlier comment, though -- it really was a very well-written, polished waltz throughout. After listening again this morning, your main theme is in my head again. 

Well done.  I actually liked the strident horn parts especially at the end.  Wake the dancers back up!

@ilv

1. "slides"?
2. awkward how? Parallel 4ths? The ending? 
3. I don't really know what pauses you're referring to, honestly. The whole thing moves with exception of the fermatas.

After having listened to your Waltz for seven times, I actually like it very much!
This music becomes better every time you listen to it and you discover new things each time. That indicates that this piece is really good.

On 8/19/2017 at 8:02 AM, Maarten Bauer said:

After having listened to your Waltz for seven times, I actually like it very much!
This music becomes better every time you listen to it and you discover new things each time. That indicates that this piece is really good.

 

Well, I've actually edited it since this recording; like, the trombones in the 2nd A section are doubled in sixths, and the some of the harmonies were altered. Glad you've come around a bit though. :)