''Musing'' for small ensemble

My head is preoccupied with a polyphony of thoughts
They alternate fore- and backgrounds remaining in the same space;
all having their own movement and direction.

The corona crisis evokes deep questions like: who am I as human, what am I doing as a composer, why do I make music. Contemplation and musing have become an essential part of my life.

Please tell me what you think. 🙂

Oh, Maarten, this is beautiful, and so touching. The B minor modality you've employed adds quite the sense of listlessness and wonder. I also like the way it builds as it progresses, but never too obtrusively. And your in-score directions are thoughtful and detailed.

The choice of instruments is eclectic, but I think they work well together. If I may be so bold, this is minimal music at its finest. Excellent medium to express your intended emotions.

11 hours ago, Tónskáld said:

Oh, Maarten, this is beautiful, and so touching. The B minor modality you've employed adds quite the sense of listlessness and wonder. I also like the way it builds as it progresses, but never too obtrusively. And your in-score directions are thoughtful and detailed.

The choice of instruments is eclectic, but I think they work well together. If I may be so bold, this is minimal music at its finest. Excellent medium to express your intended emotions.

 

Thank you very much! Yes, it is minimal in material, but not in the idiom of minimal music 😉 . It will be performed in real life in one month, so stay tuned!

nice piece. it me feel a hopeless wait. When I close my eyes, a post- apocalyptic movie starts.   

19 minutes ago, ClasiCompose said:

nice piece. it me feel a hopeless wait. When I close my eyes, a post- apocalyptic movie starts.   

 

Thank you! 

7 hours ago, Maarten Bauer said:

Thank you very much! Yes, it is minimal in material, but not in the idiom of minimal music 😉 . It will be performed in real life in one month, so stay tuned!

Good for you, Maarten! Yes, I'd very much like to see it performed live (or a recording thereof).

Fantastic piece, Maarten.

This sort of soundscape never ceases to be evocative, and such a good rendition of it sure makes this even more interesting. Time just flew by while listening to this, and there is nothing I could do other than get lost inside my own thoughts.

If there's one thing I'd say could be changed is the instrumentation/orchestration. I feel you could accomplish more by swapping the parts during the piece a bit. For example: Ask for the electric guitarist to play the violin part. The guitarist could use an ebow for a similar sustained-string effect. That would change a lot how the listener percieves the work. I other words, change the orchestration, but not the essence. Even change in register can render a great shift in texture, so I guess there is a lot to be done in that respect here. However, you probably have some very good justifications for this kind of orchestration, not to mention that this creates a very particular effect of it's own.

Btw, this rendering does this piece no justice. I'm anxiously waiting to listen to the live version!

7 minutes ago, Jean Szulc said:

Fantastic piece, Maarten.

This sort of soundscape never ceases to be evocative, and such a good rendition of it sure makes this even more interesting. Time just flew by while listening to this, and there is nothing I could do other than get lost inside my own thoughts.

If there's one thing I'd say could be changed is the instrumentation/orchestration. I feel you could accomplish more by swapping the parts during the piece a bit. For example: Ask for the electric guitarist to play the violin part. The guitarist could use an ebow for a similar sustained-string effect. That would change a lot how the listener percieves the work. I other words, change the orchestration, but not the essence. Even change in register can render a great shift in texture, so I guess there is a lot to be done in that respect here. However, you probably have some very good justifications for this kind of orchestration, not to mention that this creates a very particular effect of it's own.

Btw, this rendering does this piece no justice. I'm anxiously waiting to listen to the live version!

 

Thanks, Jean!

My music is always written with the instruments in mind. Orchestrating it differently would go against my idea of each thought being on itself, in one line.
I think I would degrade the quality of the composition by making it more ''spicy'' in orchestration.

I too would love to hear the performance, the midi isn't bad but well it's midi.

I love the atmosphere created, and by reading everyone's comments it seems like I'm not alone. Fantastic work here, what a cool stark piece that evokes such a strong emotion. I also really liked how you treated harmony, there were a few spots where an instrument would come in and those small subtle harmonies were a nice contrast to the singular longing melodies beforehand. 

I'm curious what your plan is with this piece. Is it part of a set? It creates such a cool world, but it is pretty stagnant as far as where it's going, and I wonder how it would stand alone? 

That aside, thanks for sharing. Great piece that I've definitely learned a few things from!

4 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I too would love to hear the performance, the midi isn't bad but well it's midi.

I love the atmosphere created, and by reading everyone's comments it seems like I'm not alone. Fantastic work here, what a cool stark piece that evokes such a strong emotion. I also really liked how you treated harmony, there were a few spots where an instrument would come in and those small subtle harmonies were a nice contrast to the singular longing melodies beforehand. 

I'm curious what your plan is with this piece. Is it part of a set? It creates such a cool world, but it is pretty stagnant as far as where it's going, and I wonder how it would stand alone? 

That aside, thanks for sharing. Great piece that I've definitely learned a few things from!

 

Thanks a lot! No, this piece stands on its own. The lack of direction and climax is just in fact what I want. The idea is that we get a short inside in thoughts, so this soundscape could go on forever. This duration is enough to not have climax I believe. It's not boring, it's just enough to keep the attention. 

@Tónskáld @Thatguy v2.0 @Jean Szulc
Last year there was a live performance (also livestreamed) in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. 
I hope you still like the music 🙂
 

Congrats on the performance. I was dubious whether the baritone sax was going to work in tone color but it did. You found a good player. What prompted you to add the pizzicato notes in the violin and the similar staccato notes in the sax?

Wow!

What an awesome performance, and the recording was fantastic. Each instrument was captured really well, and hopefully this was your vision! How did you feel about the performance? Was there anything you would change or reconsider? I'm not insinuating there should be, just curious to hear your thoughts with it's final form. 

Great performers too, congrats on completing the hardest step in composition with an actual performance. Well done!!