Invocation and Dance for 'Cello Octet. (4'45")

Modern but fairly tonal. The cello has always been a favourite instrument. In this piece I don't use any weird articulations - bound as I am to the sample set anyway.

It started out as a longer work and after an amount of pruning I'm not too sure if it still works as a compact little piece with an intro, the dance and a closing cool-down.

Any comment would be sincerely appreciated, particularly about if it holds together or not. And thank you if you can give it time to listen. 

I've included the score to show roughly the layout but take no notice of it otherwise. I hate notation software. It made an utter mess of interpreting the midi export even though I took a lot of care with the grid, parameters etc. It messed up triplets, offset some of the staves, used double-flats, missed out notes, compressed the staves on some pages - many things. Being the work is unlikely to be performed I'm not ready to spend more time on it than I have. Besides, depending on comment here inter alia I may rework the piece and have to do the whole thing again.   So may I suggest the engraving doesn't warrant anyone wasting their time on it. Thanks.

I really like the latter half of this piece with its lyrical melodies paired with dance-like rhythms!  Very cool neo-tonal feeling that you achieve here.  It doesn't quite end on a conclusive gesture though which would have been really cool in that dance-like style imo.  I am guessing that the transition from the Invocation to the Dance happens at 2:26.  Your dance seems to constantly alternate between the tonic and dominant of many different non-closely related keys always modulating to a different key with each repetition of the main phrase.  I like that harmonic approach.  Thanks for sharing!

Many thanks for the comment, PeterthePapercomPoser. It affirms what I suspect: the opening doesn't balance well either in itself or with the rest.

As for the Danza, it's a pretty ordinary Latin rhythm and harmonic structure but trying to tail it off into an impressionistic "aftermath" was an awkward challenge.

Concluding, it looks like an exercise from which things can be learned but really needs to be put to bed. Not in my usual vein.

Again, thanks. Much appreciated. 

Hi @Quinn,

This is for sure enjoyable. I am the same with our Peter that I enjoy the latter half more, since I feel a clearer goal and movement there. The Invocation part is indeed an invocation asking for help for paths on where the music is going! The harmonic language is uniquely yours!

It's so difficult to write with 8 homogeneous instruments, even though cello is a wider range instrument, but you keep the timbre funny with your use of klangfarbenmelodie and extended techniques. However sometimes I feel like a call for a cello sextet instead of an octet can play this piece with some slight arrangements of the notes.

On 9/20/2023 at 12:30 AM, Quinn said:

I've included the score to show roughly the layout but take no notice of it otherwise. I hate notation software. It made an utter mess of interpreting the midi export even though I took a lot of care with the grid, parameters etc. It messed up triplets, offset some of the staves, used double-flats, missed out notes, compressed the staves on some pages - many things.

The score is indeed strange, as many notes are out of range for the cello which goes well below the C2. I think maybe you are writing for double bass first but the software interprets it as a cello?

Thx for sharing!

Henry