Prelude for Strings

Hi I want to share a piece for strings I recently composed. It is a slow, adagio like piece.

Besides the actual composing I also put alot of effort in the dynamics and expression of the instruments. Since I probably will never write music for a real orchestra I want the sound to be as authentic as possible.

I am struggling with a few things, particulary with the volume and expression of the climax around 1:20 and some dissonances like at 0:49.

I am quite happy with the coda.

Any thoughts, ideas and criticism are welcome.

Do you have a score to read while listening to the music? This makes the reviewing process a lot easier.

No not really. Altough I know basic music theory like chord voicing, substitutions, cadences or scales I compose by ear, trying to catch whatever I hear in my head with trial and error most of the time. I am very bad with classic music notation and can't write scores but I am willing to learn and look deeper into it.

This is what (all voices layered together) it looks like in my DAW but I doubt that helps...

The dissonance at 0:49 was actually quite well; it smoothed right into it. The introduction set the appropriate mood. 

As for 1:20, the climax,  maybe less of the bends and more of the moving parts; or maybe treat the bends as a counterpart, and let the main part be heard.

The ending was cool, very mysterious. It felt like going somewhere beyond or maybe at a different dimension. I feel like it would be perfect for an intro to some film. Well done.

Alright, then I will also give my feedback based on what my ear hears.

The piece is wonderful. It tells a story containing many emotions and atmospheres. Beautiful harmonies. There is a present climax, which is great. The sound of the instruments is beautiful too.

I particularly like the glockenspiel at the end of the piece. Regarding orchestration, I think you can do a lot more. Adding percussion will create an extra dimension. This glockenspiel added it, but only at the very end. In my opinion, you can do more than only using strings.

Good job!

Thanks for you reviews guys!

I agree it would be a nice soundtrack for a movie. (I love John Williams, after all it is his music that firstly triggered my interest in classical music as a child :D)

I decided to let it as it is and move on to other projects where I use full orchestra and also trying to get a bit more daring. The Glockenspiel is actually a celesta vst which is freely available for download. Sounds very beautiful, I associate kindness, wonder and innocence with it. Write me a DM if you want to know where to download it.

Hey,

New to this forum but lemmie drop right in.

I enjoyed the overall experience. Until the halfway mark it reminded a lot of Many Meetings by Howard Shore.

At around 1:17 you started increasing in intensity and I wanna point out that I started the track with a comfortable volume and that part (at my volume setting) was really loud. One factor is the peaks in the higher frequencies, I recommend gently eq'ing some pressure points (of course without destroying organicness, as that is what you want to emulate).

That section at around 0:47 didn't sit well with me. It was - to me - to dissonant.

Towards the ending it started getting a bit messy, composition-wise. It might be the positioning (volume, stereo image) of the sounds that causes a bit of crowdedness.

I definitely wouldn't give up on this piece, if you let it rest and jump in fresh you can do some amazing stuff with this.

Peace

Really enjoyed this, not much I would change personally. I am wondering what software you use for the strings? I use miroslav philharmonic 2 and I struggle sometimes to make it sound like I know it should.