Spring Overture

This is an Overture I've written for a hopeful performance by my highschool orchestra.

I had to obviously write for their capabilities, and instrumentation.

(on that note, anyone who has experience with transposing, and clefs etc. for horn in Eflat, please let me know. I'm thinking bass clef)

This is in sonata allegro form, although the development is short, with an andante introduction.

As this is written for performance, I would like your opinions. Is it enjoyable? Do you think it will be effective?

Parts of it are still slightly rough, and I will be fixing these up in due course.

Thanks for listening!

Start Player

Spring Overture finished.mid

Spring Overture finished.sib

Im writting this review as I listen, so things might be a bit brief. Then I'll go back and listen again and see if I missed anything.

The introduction is a little rough. I'm not really sure why.... things don't just sound to... match up. Anyway, all of that is instantly clearded up when you get to the Allegro! Nice violin introduction and the ochestra sounds lovely when it comes in. One thing is where you have those few rests. I think that it might sound a bit better if you still had the orchestra playing but just put in a decresc. (mm 23 I think) The next theme with the woodwinds is superb. I love this piece so far!!! :D You have some really nice harmonies with this section. I especially like the B natural in the flute. I gives it a nice classical punch. ;) Oh wow. This next theme with the clar. is really really nice. You set everything up wonderfully. It sounds really good with the whole orchestra and then when you add the syncopations in there it sounds like very early Mozart but with your own touch in it.

The developement is short, but I think it is very effective. This harmonies sound really awesome. For some reason, the development reminded me of The Magic Flute and Obduction from the Seraglio. :whistling: lol. Anyway, onwards!! The recap is just as nice as the exposition and I'm glad it's there because I liked the themes so much. Ah, and there's that syncopation part again. :D lol. The end is perfect for the piece. I like the way the basses are doing the pickups do the Ebs.

Overall summary!!!!

I love it!!! In my opinion I would say that its your best work yet. I like it alot more than your Klavierstucke. And its so much more classical!! Yay!! Keep moving in that direction. lol. I totally think that this piece would be awesome if performed. I would go see it.

Good job, Daniel!

Thanks a lot, William :whistling: I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I do understand what you mean about things not matching up. Most probably this is little rests I have left to allow wind and brass players to breathe, and yes, it doesn't sound that great.

The developement is short, but I think it is very effective.

Thanks. I'm glad to hear that, because I was worried that it was a bit too short.

The end is perfect for the piece. I like the way the basses are doing the pickups do the Ebs.

:D I hoped people would appreciate that.

Thanks for taking the time to listen and review.

This was an enjoyable piece to listen to in the classical style. Is there a way to make the scorch viewer bigger, I can barely see the notes. Can you put a pdf up, I would really like to see the score. The themes were catchy and nicely developed.

Also do you have a mp3 version available? This is one of my favorite pieces I've heard on this site.

Thank you :D

No - scorch always makes things tiny. Otherwise it would be useful, and not free :whistling:

I will make a pdf once I'm finished tweaking it.

Pleased that you enjoyed it!

And they were complaining about the difficulty? Good grief. Nice work, especially considering the (profound) limitations of the ensemble!

Thanks, guys :D

Excellent news - I just showed the piece to the conductor today. She thought it was great, and has no problems with, and is actually looking forward to performing it.

I have to transpose it into D, for the strings though, but that's a fine compromise by me. Just unfortunate for the horn and winds :blush:

I like it:) but I don't have that much to review it :blush: I'll try to find sometime soon :D

And oh, will you upload the live performance later on?

Me like, I think, I don't usually like major keys, one thing that is poking at me is the final chord, it's calling to me that it should be lower, the high woodwind sound unfinished in that register!

Glad you two liked it (or thought you did :()

Yes Saiming - I will try my best to get a recording, and upload it.

The performance is not til.... Spring though.

I understand what you mean Alex, and I will certainly think about it.

Thanks for taking the time to listen, and comment :huh:

Glad you two liked it (or thought you did :w00t:)

Yes Saiming - I will try my best to get a recording, and upload it.

The performance is not til.... Spring though.

I understand what you mean Alex, and I will certainly think about it.

Thanks for taking the time to listen, and comment :D

Spring, some months 'til then. Hope you don't forget.

Hmmm... Nice opening. I like it when it gets louder. Very nice. I think something might happen a little more with the strings coming in at Allegro... Maybe some wind instrument/brass to accompany it? The rest at 1:01 is too long I think. The jolt at 1:12 or so shocked me. Maybe a quick 1 measure build up or something? Again, at 1:15, the rest I think is too long. The melody at around 1:20 is great. Specially the flute. I think the 5:10 rest didn't work... Maybe try changing time signatures, then back? Iunno. Nice ending I think.

Hmmm... I think it was enjoyable overall. I think that allegro theme came back the same way a tad too much... Maybe switch some stuff in the allegro the 2nd time through, as you don't have a repeat sign. It might be nice to the ear... Maybe in a minor in some parts or something? Just a change. I thought it was nice though. I really think you should try to get a recording, as I'd LOVE to hear it performed by an orchestra.

Nice job as usual Daniel.

- Leon

This sounds fasinating to me. It makes me wish my old High School had an orchestra. Well done.

However, I found the finale to be a bit weak (take no offense). In symphonies, I am used to hearing/composing gallant endings that set themselves aside from the rest of the peice. Or it could just be my MIDI device. I will try lisining to it with my softsynth later. :P

High-schoolish of course but livelier and more interesting than other things I've heard.

Thanks you two.

I've made an mp3 of it now, but the solo violin is played with an orchestral violin patch because Kontakt sucks.

Start Player

It should be possible to change the patch manually.

This might have changed from Sibelius 3 to 4, but try Windows -> Mixer. You can manually set the patch for each stave there.

Also, I'm hearing what sounds like background interference on the recording. How did you produce it? (the recording that is...not necessarily the interference :))

My version of Kontakt doesn't have a solo violin patch - that's why.

As for the interference, that's just down to my laptop not being well screened, or whatever the word is. Basically it's very electrically noisy. Plus it probably lost quality when I rerecorded it to make it a small MP3.

I record it with Kontakt, which makes a 70Mb MP3, then I rerecord it with an Mp3 recorder (this stage is bound to add plenty of noise) to get the file size down to something acceptable.

Edit: I hear it now... it's harsh. I will rerecord it later on.

I didn't notice it at first because with the volume past a certain point on my laptop, I always get that noise. :S

Hmm, Kontakt really does suck then. :ermm: One possibility would be to record the output from Sibelius with Kontakt minus the solo (or not) violin, then record the solo violin using standard MIDI output, then combine the two in an editor.

If you want to lower the quality of an MP3, you could use an application like CDex to convert it back to WAV, then to MP3 again at a lower bitrate. There should be no funny business if you use that method.

As for the interference always appearing on your laptop with the volume set past a certain point, all I can really suggest is a hardware upgrade. I'm guessing you have some kind of onboard sound configuration - these aren't usually all that good, though to the best of my knowledge they're also not usually quite as bad as what you described.

I'm waiting to get a new laptop, which will hopefully have proper sound stuff, including a sound card.

I am now converting it using a convertor thingy, but I've only got a demo, so I'll maybe look into the one you mentioned.

Edit: I made a new file and reuploaded - it should be fine now.

Attended a rehearsal there today.

It doesn't sound too bad, but obviously it could do with a lot more work.

Unfortunately the concert is next Wednesday, but I'll just have to hope they can pull it together for then.

I'll let you know how it goes, and there's the possibility of a recording, but it wouldn't be spectacular.

Well, if it doesn't bother you much daniel..could you post a PDF?

I listened to part of the MIDI and was interested enough to ask for a score..

Sure. When I get home, I'll make up a pdf score.

Bear in mind this piece is perfect in no way - there *are* a good few errors in it, and so on, but that's what you get from a learning composer.

I understand, I shall be on the lookout then.

I take no responsibility for the 2-year-old messy score!

Also, it was probably slightly revised since the Sibelius file here posted.

Spring Overture D major.pdf