Strit (Drudgery) for SATB Choir and Piano

Long time, no see, everyone. Life has unfortunately pulled me away from here—and from composing, in general—for the last few months. Sigh. Sad times.

However, I've broken my fast with this choral setting of an Icelandic poem. I apologize in advance for the quality of the recording; I had to sing all the parts myself and render them accordingly, which messes with the frequency:length ratios, so in some parts the voices don't quite match up. Next time I should hire a mixing artist, lol. And a professional choir.

Anyway, I've attached the score so you can see how the piece should really sound. The harmonies are based on altered scales and may be rather harsh to some ears. The poem itself is called Strit, which means 'toil'—it's a poem that explores the vanity of all that we do here on earth. I tried to capture some of the bleakness in the harmonies and repeated phrases.

I hope you enjoy, and feedback is always welcome!

P.S., it feels good to be back

Edited May 21, 20205 yr by Tónskáld

Welcome back, glad to see you.
Love the 4-18 sound you use and how it's voiceled around the piece. Main issue I here personally are some moments of phrasal climax seem undercut by some element, be it lack of submetrical assistance all the way to a sudden texture change. Might also question some of the responsorial textures you have betwen choir and piano (the blend becomes far smoother as the piece progresses); overall though, this is a really nice work. 

4 minutes ago, Monarcheon said:

Welcome back, glad to see you.
Love the 4-18 sound you use and how it's voiceled around the piece. Main issue I here personally are some moments of phrasal climax seem undercut by some element, be it lack of submetrical assistance all the way to a sudden texture change. Might also question some of the responsorial textures you have betwen choir and piano (the blend becomes far smoother as the piece progresses); overall though, this is a really nice work. 

 

Lol, I don't know what most of that means, but I get the general gyst, and I greatly appreciate your taking the time to comment!

Edited March 6, 20206 yr by Tónskáld

5 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

Main issue I here personally are some moments of phrasal climax seem undercut by some element, be it lack of submetrical assistance all the way to a sudden texture change.

Would examples of this 'phrasal climax' be mm. 9-10 and 24-25? And what do you mean by submetrical assistance?

Lol, as you know, I'm a huge fan of this start-stoppiness in my works. We'll blame stylistic preference and not lack of experience. 😉 

so mysterious and beautiful! the harmonic complexity and the richness of texture are stunning

1 hour ago, Tónskáld said:

Would examples of this 'phrasal climax' be mm. 9-10 and 24-25? And what do you mean by submetrical assistance?

9 and 45 were I think my two biggest points. 
9 because you have a good eighth note thing going then you augment it right before the climax; seems a little counterintuitive.
45 because the texture of the build skyrockets maybe a bit too much from the eighth notes prior, but, as you say, perhaps it's preferential. All my job is is to point some possible things out.

6 minutes ago, Monarcheon said:

9 and 45 were I think my two biggest points. 
9 because you have a good eighth note thing going then you augment it right before the climax; seems a little counterintuitive.
45 because the texture of the build skyrockets maybe a bit too much from the eighth notes prior, but, as you say, perhaps it's preferential. All my job is is to point some possible things out.

No, I always think you bring up great points of discussion. I'm just not versed well enough in musical jargon to follow you sometimes. Appreciate the clarifications!

nice!!!!   mysteriously ominous but yet ethereal

8 hours ago, maestrowick said:

nice!!!!   mysteriously ominous but yet ethereal

Thanks, @maestrowick! I like your description—ominous yet ethereal.

For those following along at home, this work uses the following eight-note scale:

This is a symmetrical scale, meaning that if you drew a line between the 5 and 7 above, the intervals on either side mirror each other perfectly. It also means there's no sense of key, and that's quite true; this piece isn't in a conventional key. (Whole tone scales are another well-known example of scales of symmetry, although there are only six notes in whole tone scales. Debussy was a frequent user of WT scales.)

I'm curious to know how others perceive the tonality of this piece... Does it sound completely atonal to you? Does it sound like a tonal-atonal hybrid? Or does it just sound totally weird?

Thanks in advance for your input!