A New Orchestral work about the Ocean | Feedback Wanted

Hey everyone, I have just finished completing my newest orchestral work. I have done so for the purposes of a Call for Scores competition in Colorado and I am very excited. 

I find that the work is completed, however I do feel there is potential for extra material or amendments to the current score. I am a little worried about playability in performance and in the Harp and Horn parts specifically. From my understanding, everything is playable and there may be some challenges. However, I am looking for an extra set of opinions and ears to give me some feedback.

I do not mind comments of varying facets, but would prefer specific feedback on ensemble execution and individual parts if able. I appreciate any who comments and am eager to hear your thoughts!
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I am keeping information limited as to avoid the judging panel finding this work before they rate my score. It has yet to be submitted and if you would like to know more about the score, go to the "About" section on page 4!

SCORE_Waves of Frisco Bay.pdf

Hello MK

I would like to be Brutally Honest , and Hyper-Critical in my Review.

Starting with :

1: The Cons

2: The Pros

"A Call for Scores competition in Colorado"

1: The Cons-

I suspect that the Judges will have heard 100's of composition entry's over the years,

to the point where they've slightly Switched off, with  thoughts of:  "We heard it all before", Nothing Original.

Your "Intro" to the start of your composition, seems like a waste of time, what are we waiting for, and why are we waiting ?

2: The Pros-

Start the Composition @ 3:40 | THIS is where the ACTION starts,and will Wake up the Audience, as well as the judges.

Not only will they not be expecting this, but it will also evoke Originality,making you stand out,by elevating your composition to a Whole new level,

compared to Who they had to listen to Before,and after your presentation.

Your arrangement of the instruments and the quality of the performance,is of a very high Caliber, and shows Experience and wisdom in top quality Composing.

I wish you Luck.

33 minutes ago, interlect said:

Hello MK

I would like to be Brutally Honest , and Hyper-Critical in my Review.

Starting with :

1: The Cons

2: The Pros

@interlect
I appreciate the comments! I must admit I am a little confused. The work acts a means to capture differents scenes about the ocean. In order, they read as follows:

1. The Shore | Waves Crashing
2. Sailing over the Waves
3. Swimming | Seeing the sea life
4. Getting lost
5. Seeing a whale
6. Travelling to the shore | Sailing
7. Returning to the shore
8. End

The competition also has a minimum length requirement and there is not enough time for me to completely overhaul the piece for the chance of creating something so original it will wow older professional musicians. This has already taken 3 months of work over the last year in on and off periods and is meant to be a little programmatic so it can fit other concert cycles. I think it is both a piece fun to play as an ensemble and fun for the audience as there are a lot of things that one can imagine when listening and not have it feel stagnant. My reservations are with the execution as I feel the flutes, harp or certain instruments will get lost in the texture(s). 

Hi,  Are you familiar with the work of Erich Korngold?   Some of you beginning melodies could be directly lifted from his work/style.  Your composition has a late romantic quality and would perfectly fit in the movie sound tracks of the 1930's.

11 minutes ago, MJFOBOE said:

Hi,  Are you familiar with the work of Erich Korngold?   Some of you beginning melodies could be directly lifted from his work/style.  Your composition has a late romantic quality and would perfectly fit in the movie sound tracks of the 1930's.

 

Thanks for the comment. If you read the "About" section on page 4 of the score, you will find the construction behind the piece and who/ what I sourced for its creation. I did use the orchestration and outline of the second theme from the Sea Hawk Overture as I fell in love with Korngold's music. After spending time studying the Sea Hawk, I knew I wanted to pay homage to his work in my own way. 

I have no reservations about doing so as it is a not a direct quote, instead using different harmony and melodic skeleton; and to me, only realizes the sounds and feelings I personally heard and felt in my own head. Outside of that one instance, everything else on the score has come from me and has not been quoted from anywhere else. Thanks again for the feedback and you are right, I do reallllyyy love the romantic era lol

Hello @MK_Piano,

I'm afraid my comments are nice, but perhaps not very helpful in terms of the desired feedback on the ensemble execution etc.

Regarding the review of @interlect, I would not be as critical proposing to throw away the first half waiting for the „action“. Let me put it in my own words: there is no lack of „originality“ in the sense that something unexpected has to happen in order to capture the audience and the judges or that the piece is „boring“ in the first half. I think, you have done an excellent job to express the scenes about the ocean musically, and with your program notes in mind, I can imagine exactly which scene your music is actually „painting“. (And even without the knowledge about the meaning of the eight scenes, my imagination while listening would be very similar.)

But the objection that the jurors could quickly lose their attention cannot be dismissed out of hand. I think that is an inherent „issue“ or „danger“ (whatever one likes to call it) of „programmatic music“, which is perfect in telling stories and depicting visual scenes or emotions. However - and that is my personal taste or preference as a composer which usually uses contrapuntual technique - there is no standalone musical theme which is exposed prominently at the beginning of the piece and than developed throughout the piece creating the required recognition effect (as opposed to, for example, Beethoven's 5th Symphony, to give an extreme example).

In your first scene „The Shore, Waves Crashing“ you have musically painted that shore and the waves (for about 25 seconds) with timpani and base instruments. So perhaps it would be enough time to introduce a melody in these bars that is already present and developed further later in the piece? One could imagine a person sitting on the shore playing the melody on the guitar (or something like that)?

A short sentence about the score, more for my curiosity: I noticed that there are in all of your scores HUGE meter signatures. Is there a specific reason for this (e.g. it is common for conductors to enter such time signatures for better readability?). While everything else is very small in a score for such a large orchestra, does this really help?

Finally, my best wishes and luck in the competition!

Wieland

3 hours ago, Wieland Handke said:

Hello @MK_Piano,

I'm afraid my comments are nice, but perhaps not very helpful in terms of the desired feedback on the ensemble execution etc.

Regarding the review of @interlect, I would not be as critical proposing to throw away the first half waiting for the „action“. Let me put it in my own words: there is no lack of „originality“ in the sense that something unexpected has to happen in order to capture the audience and the judges or that the piece is „boring“ in the first half. I think, you have done an excellent job to express the scenes about the ocean musically, and with your program notes in mind, I can imagine exactly which scene your music is actually „painting“. (And even without the knowledge about the meaning of the eight scenes, my imagination while listening would be very similar.)

But the objection that the jurors could quickly lose their attention cannot be dismissed out of hand. I think that is an inherent „issue“ or „danger“ (whatever one likes to call it) of „programmatic music“, which is perfect in telling stories and depicting visual scenes or emotions. However - and that is my personal taste or preference as a composer which usually uses contrapuntual technique - there is no standalone musical theme which is exposed prominently at the beginning of the piece and than developed throughout the piece creating the required recognition effect (as opposed to, for example, Beethoven's 5th Symphony, to give an extreme example).

In your first scene „The Shore, Waves Crashing“ you have musically painted that shore and the waves (for about 25 seconds) with timpani and base instruments. So perhaps it would be enough time to introduce a melody in these bars that is already present and developed further later in the piece? One could imagine a person sitting on the shore playing the melody on the guitar (or something like that)?

A short sentence about the score, more for my curiosity: I noticed that there are in all of your scores HUGE meter signatures. Is there a specific reason for this (e.g. it is common for conductors to enter such time signatures for better readability?). While everything else is very small in a score for such a large orchestra, does this really help?

Finally, my best wishes and luck in the competition!

Wieland

 

Thanks for the comments! I wish to address the simple things first and go to more complex:

1. Big time signatures: Just a preference. My mentor told to use them on large scores to make it easier for a conductor to read. Especially if it is for a quick event like a recording session or few rehearsals. The score is 11"x17" and in-person, the measures are big. I am not worried about reading viability.
2. There is a melody. The entire works is based off the Augmented Chord (C-E-Ab). The arpeggio is the melody and throughout the entire piece, the note Ab is structural. 
3. The jurors may have a lot of submissions and they may not listen to the entire work, however, I also have faith that they are smart enough to make proper decisions as they know their ensemble better than I do. I did research into their group and thankfully, they have published their previous programs. They have done programs to capture images, scenes, or landscapes. (See Attached) In my opinion, I wanted to submit this score based on the organizations history as it may fit their direction.
4. With the contrapuntal point, I feel that is just my style. I do reuse that theme and other themes a few times; especially at the end where it is prolonged forever.

Thanks again and I hope this sheds some light!