Aos Sí - Piano Quintet for Halloween

Dear all,

Wow - that's an interesting topic for me - Halloween - never wrote a piece for an festival. 

To make this work more relavent to the work, I did some research to understand more about Halloween.

Anyways, here is my thoughts writing this work:

I have always known very little for the Halloween festival. To many, Halloween is a festival that focuses on pranking, customing and candies - but there is a long history with mysteries around Aos Sí, the Irish name for a supernatural race in Gaelic folklore, similar to elves. Here are some information from different sources: - Every year, Samhain is celebrated on 31 October – 1 November. During this liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned, Aos Sí could more easily come into this world and were particularly active. Aos Sí were appeased to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. From 16th century, there is a tradition in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales, where people going house-to-house in costume reciting verses or songs for food. Some impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. Often, a man dressed as láir bhán, a white horse, and led the younf people for the activity. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune. "...In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin"." These history and myths formed the basis for the plot of this work.

HoYin

Wow...this is awesome!! Very fitting for the competition, and so much color and technique. The Bach quote was clever 😄 

Great job man, wonderfully written!

Hi @HoYin Cheung! 

The use of extended technique is flawless and well fitting to the Halloween mood, and the style is very much Bartokian with some very percussive passages (the col legno). I really like the F section. The strings sound very much like an organ itself which fits to be "In a church"! Very professional scoring and engraving as well. Thx for sharing!

Henry

Thank you! Hope you all enjoy it!

7.5/10

nice! quite a fitting piece. there is a lack of theme though. some interesting chords and great texture. Average: 6.875

11 minutes ago, TristanTheTristan said:

nice! quite a fitting piece. there is a lack of theme though. some interesting chords and great texture. Average: 6.875 Below

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
4	8.5	9.5	7	7.5	7	6.5	5

 

 

In the modern landscape, this, to me, was refreshing to listen to. I have experienced listening to bad post-tonal works where my peer thought more noise and crazy writing benefited the music or hall being played. I appreciate the landscape you painted and would not mind listening to this again in the future.

Of course, on an objective level, this piece is difficult. I think it would be effective when played live, however, I would be the one to pass off learning it and give it to the next musician due to the ensemble difficulty lol. When applying it to Halloween, I think you have succeeded. Maybe not in the terms of the 'trick or treat' or lighthearted celebration that happens each year, but in terms of capturing the eerie and scary images a haunted house or creepy film shows. Good work!

1 hour ago, MK_Piano said:

In the modern landscape, this, to me, was refreshing to listen to. I have experienced listening to bad post-tonal works where my peer thought more noise and crazy writing benefited the music or hall being played. I appreciate the landscape you painted and would not mind listening to this again in the future.

@MK_Piano Thank you for your kind reply. I hope my music is still pleasant to "post-tonal" ears. I treat it as a compliment when audience tell me they are willing to revisit - that means there are some places of work that is worth memorizing. While in the post-tonal context, while there are lots of idea I want to express in my work, I agree that there should only be "necessary" details in the writing - audience should be able to enjoy the work with their ears - instead of intelligently enjoying the tuplets or excessive dynamic markings by compulsively referring to the score.🫠

1 hour ago, MK_Piano said:

Of course, on an objective level, this piece is difficult. I think it would be effective when played live, however, I would be the one to pass off learning it and give it to the next musician due to the ensemble difficulty lol. 

Gosh, I apologize for the double stops. I hope all violinists and pianist will forgive me for the effect.😆

1 hour ago, MK_Piano said:

When applying it to Halloween, I think you have succeeded. Maybe not in the terms of the 'trick or treat' or lighthearted celebration that happens each year, but in terms of capturing the eerie and scary images a haunted house or creepy film shows. Good work!

While this work will be a part of my larger set of project "Festive",  I do want to make it distinctive from other few works. So yes, I am writing this Halloween music with a storyline and realistically refering to the tradition - glad to hear from you I might have succeeded to convey the idea. Thank you!