"Pictures of Home" Song cycle for Orchestra Mvts 2. & 4.

So I've recently returned home for the summer from school and while I've had a house to myself I've decided to work on a song cycle for orchestra to paint a picture of the different places I've lived. It's generally surface level observation with the 4 places being 1. New York 2. North Dakota 3. Portland and 4. Emma who is the person who always makes me feel at home. New York is a jazzy movement in 12/8, North Dakota is a classic pentatonic melody, Portland is likely going to be more experimental and contemporary, and Emma is just supposed to make you realize how much I love her with each swell. 

With that I have started New York, finished North Dakota, and Emma, and am vastly afraid of Portland because it is likely the most complex movement. 

I started this as something to do while waiting for my summer job and now I will be very busy for the next few months so I'm not sure i'll get a chance to finish it soon, but am eager to share what I do have.

Very cool! Is Aaron Copland an inspiration at all? I love the Dvorak New World and Copland Appalachia depictions of the U.S. I've never been to North Dakota, but I've been all over the midwest... I'm sure it's similar in a way 😛 The percussion colors really add a lot to the overall scheme. Cowbells, shakers, stuff that sounds like pans haha... I love it. 

I'm guessing each movement will be a certain "color" right? If I were to be critical of the ND piece, it's that it doesn't have any contrast. But I honestly don't think it needs it if I understand your intentions correctly. 

The Emma movement through me off haha. I expected romantic and love themes, maybe something akin to a Rach piano concerto. But instead, I heard sadness, longing, lost love, melancholy, hope, despair, and probably some other things lol. A very "mature" work in my eyes, focusing on emotional color and intent versus logic and completeness, yet it didn't suffer from either. This is a nice complementary movement that to me goes along with ND nicely. 

You do a great job mixing. Even when the music swells to maximum, I still hear clarity in your voicing instead of muddiness (something I struggle with in orchestra pieces). Whether it's your actual orchestration or mixing technique, I'm unsure which, your music blends well and I think it creates the effects you desire. 

This was great. I always hate to hear that what you posted is incomplete, as I can't fully gauge your music as a whole without the other movements, but from what I've heard this is stand-out-from-a-crowd stuff, and I'm excited to hear your finished product.

Well done, thanks for sharing!