The Legend of Okanagan Lake (chamber orchestra)

A local chamber orchestra was accepting scores from local composers, so I decided to write a piece vaguely related to some local folklore. It was fun!

It's also in a loose sonata form. I don't usually bother writing in textbook forms like this, but my vague inspiration for the piece fit nicely into sonata form (the two themes relate to two different aspects of the lake--the mystery of the monster legend and the beauty of its surroundings). Following a prescribed form also allowed me to finish the piece quickly, and still allowed a good deal of creative freedom.

Even though it's only for 14 instruments (1.1.1.1/1.1.1.0/1/harp/string quintet), I found I was able to get a lot more colour out of this group than out of a full wind ensemble in another recent piece... those strings are just so darn versatile. I'm generally happy with the orchestration in this one.

But there are still some transitions near the end that bother me a little. Do they bother you?

UPDATED Dec. 24 -- fixed some repetitive/boring sections and smoothed over a transition or two.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it!

https://issuu.com/nicholasryankelly/docs/watermarked_thelegendofokanaganlake

Hey there,

This sounds really great! The orchestration is quite nice to listen to, and the overall effect of the piece is very nice. Your orchestration skills are far above mine, so I have no critiques. I think that the overall tone-color that you achieve is really pretty and easy to listen to.

Good job!

On 12/19/2018 at 11:46 AM, celloman99 said:

Hey there,

This sounds really great! The orchestration is quite nice to listen to, and the overall effect of the piece is very nice. Your orchestration skills are far above mine, so I have no critiques. I think that the overall tone-color that you achieve is really pretty and easy to listen to.

Good job!

 

Glad you enjoyed it... thanks for taking the time to listen!

I updated the piece today. I smoothed over some of the transitions and cleaned up a couple of parts that seemed a little repetitive. Hopefully the result is more professional-sounding!