Pastoral - Woodwind Quintet

 Hi all,

So once again - I reached back into my early works.  It's quite nice to review work from 10 plus years ago. 

This is a woodwind quintet - reviewed and tweaked.  I hope you enjoy the work.  For me it's special because it one of my earlier works.

All comments welcome ....

There seems to be a common harmonic thread or I guess what could be called your personal signature to some of your pieces - the constant alternation between major and minor modes.  I love the mood and effect that you achieve with this approach.  This doesn't quite sound like a pastorale to me however - I hear it more as a minuet.  It's very dance-like.  It brings to mind castles and medieval courtship.  But that's just how I hear it.  Great job and thanks for sharing!

P.S.:  I see you've also been busy dusting off some very old works and making the best of them (which is what I've been doing with some of my latest works as well).  I think it helps sometimes to reconnect with your past as a composer.

8 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

There seems to be a common harmonic thread or I guess what could be called your personal signature to some of your pieces - the constant alternation between major and minor modes.  I love the mood and effect that you achieve with this approach.  This doesn't quite sound like a pastorale to me however - I hear it more as a minuet.  It's very dance-like.  It brings to mind castles and medieval courtship.  But that's just how I hear it.  Great job and thanks for sharing!

P.S.:  I see you've also been busy dusting off some very old works and making the best of them (which is what I've been doing with some of my latest works as well).  I think it helps sometimes to reconnect with your past as a composer.

 

As always thank you for your thoughtful review and comments.  The more I review my older works - the more I see the weaknesses in them.  It's quite fascinating since when the work is composed - it reflects my skill level at that moment in time.  I am now going to seek a new mentor.  One of the objectives I have in mind is to continue review older works - to seek out weakness and improve them.  Just recently I listed once again to my orchestra composition "A Child's Walk" and heard aspects in the orchestration which I need to address anew. 

I also enjoyed the major-minor ambiguity, and I liked bars 10 - 25 quite a bit (although the repeated A-flats in the bassoon in bar 19 didn't sit so well). If you want a comment, even though this is an old piece of yours, I'd suggest breaking up or pausing the motion every once in a while -- like at bar 25, make that one bar of 9/8 and let the resolution to B-flat minor hold over for an extra beat before moving on.

Hi Tom,

I incorporated your two stated suggestions (bar 19 and bar 25) and yes - they improve the work.  I actually changed the meter from 6/8 to 9/8 for the piece and I think it has a better more dance-like feel now.

Thank you for taking time and offering some insights.

Mark

Agree with the previous commentes. It has some personal signature. Nice job. Sometimes i have a great desire to see little more instruments, and some kind of BOOM ... 🙂👍