First Movement of First Symphony

I have started writing my first symphony and felt that I need outside knowledge to be sure I am on the right path. It is scored for two oboes, two horns, and strings (with continuo). I tried a classical-style approach. The movement is organized in sonata form, with two themes, development, and recapitulation. Any feedback is very much appreciated!

I am surprised this hasn't gotten any reviews. It's quite a charming piece and well-developed, in my opinion. It makes sense musically, though the instrumentation is a bit strange (a G horn is a pretty rare instrument — most horn parts these days are written exclusively for the F horn). I would say you're off to a great start.

Take care that you don't force your string players to switch from pizzicato to arco unreasonably fast. (See the viola line below.) They'll need a few seconds in between to position themselves for the new technique.

There are also a few places with dangling hairpins (no dynamics supplied on one or both ends). It's always a good idea to provide dynamics for your players so the piece sounds uniform. Below is an example taken from the oboe and horn lines. How loud do you want the note to be played at the height of the crescendo? How quietly at the end?

Great job overall. I look forward to the next installment of the symphony!

I like this piece as well and look forward to hearing more movements!  Will you write a minuet and trio or a scherzo-like movement?  Some classical symphonies would actually include other dances besides the minuet borrowed from the Baroque dance suite (such as a Gavotte in Prokofiev's 'Classical' Symphony No. 1).

Also, besides G Horns being rare (and only used for natural horns with crooks that needed to stop the notes in order to produce various notes outside of the harmonic series for each key that they had a crook for), they never used alto clef.  I can understand why you, as a composer who wants to keep their score in concert pitch would use the C clef for horns, since the horns in the range in which you're using them are mostly alto instruments, this is far from a standard practice (although one which I at one time or another have also employed before I decided against writing my scores in concert pitch).

Another thing - are you aware that you're using the solo instrument patches for your string instruments rather than the string ensemble patches?  This makes your symphony sound more like a string quartet with oboe, horn, and continuo rather than a true string orchestra.  This is an easy mistake to make in the Musescore instrument selection dialog window and one I've made myself.  Make sure to select the instruments labeled as "Violins" rather than "Violin" and so on for all the other string instruments.  On the other hand, you might want the solo instrument sounds if that's what you prefer - it does give your symphony a more Rococo flavor.

Thanks for sharing - I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I really like it. I'm impressed. I like the classical sound, also that it shows lots of creativity  in the orchestration, meaning that everyone is usually playing something interesting together. I also like that it has cohesion, in that it makes sense and flows along in a meaningful way.  Very well done.

I don't like the instrument sounds. They sound too artificial to me. I use a program called NOTION 6 which uses instruments of the London Symphony Orchestra and I suggest you look at something like that. Clearly you have lots of potential, but the fact that you put the Horns in G shows you also need to do some homework. Looking forward to what else you have.   Morgan.

Hi Morgan.

Just wondered if you've ever used Notion for iPad, as I'm thinking of buying it?

Am also considering the iPad versions of Dorico or Sibelius. 

Thanks for all the replies! I will take the feedback into account for my later compositions. I have already completed the other movements of the symphony and will post them soon.

On 5/31/2022 at 1:59 AM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Will you write a minuet and trio or a scherzo-like movement?  Some classical symphonies would actually include other dances besides the minuet borrowed from the Baroque dance suite (such as a Gavotte in Prokofiev's 'Classical' Symphony No. 1).

Since this is my first symphony, I tried to keep it simple and only composed three movements, however, I will be sure to write minuets for my upcoming classical symphonies.