Sunset Suite in C minor ( music for the Landscapes - Soundscapes Spring 2026 Composition Competition.)

I tried to make this as solemn and expressive as possible.

This was made using musescore

here is the pdf.

here is the link

I hope you enjoy!

Edited Tuesday at 06:27 PM4 days by Musicman_3254

@Musicman_3254

Please give us permission to view the PDF score!

Ok, you should try it now

Edited Tuesday at 06:32 PM4 days by Musicman_3254

Entry: Sunset Suite

Average Score:5

Review:

Score presentation: While this score is present in a clean manner, there are technical issues that are connected to idomatic writing for strings (I will address this next). First let us address the over score.

Idiomatic writing; There is a lot of ground to cover. 1) The 8va and 8sub above and below the string parts are not idiomatic writing. You would see that keyboard works. 2)rolled chords are not possible in string writing. If there is triple or quadle stop that is used marked by pizz or is rolled. Hower, the triple stop you wrote is not playable. 3) Harmonics are wonderful. They are used those notes outside the natural range of parts. When is there is divi, the voices are not clear.

Form: There is no clear with this piece. It seems to be continuous melody. It is not rather if there are sections or not.

Creativity/Originality: Yes, this is original and creative piece.

Harmony, texture, chords: The over texture is monophonic. There is no sense of harmonic motion.

Theme, melody, motive: The melody is way to repetive.

Taste: It is relaxing to hear something like something once a while. I want to see this member grow his craft. Mimalism music is hard to write. Raise to challenge!

This is actually quite beautiful.

Reminds me of ambient video game music - running through the valleys of Cyrodil slaying goblins and fighting back the hordes of the overlord.

Just now, Markus Boyd said:

This is actually quite beautiful.

Reminds me of ambient video game music - running through the valleys of Cyrodil slaying goblins and fighting back the hordes of the overlord.

Thank you.

Hi @Musicman_3254 !

First, one thing for the scoring: as this competition signifies

On 4/1/2026 at 1:50 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

You may use any combination of 3 - 5 monophonic or polyphonic instruments/voices.

It would not be appropriate to use divisi for the strings, unless it's for a string orchestra. The soundtrack and the scoring suggests that this piece is for a string orchestra rather than a string quintet, which could have been resulted in disqualification. The octaves sign aren sometimes not realized in the recording, and you should write the notes out instead of using the sign anyways, like those in the beginning section.

But put that scoring aside, I quite enjoy your music here! I like how you achieve some varieties with a simple unchanging melody by changing the instrument to play the melody, the register, the thickness/thinness of accompaniment, I especially like the moment when you invite motions of semiquavers in b.50 which really makes the music more exciting. Use of tremolos are great too to enhance the drama.

Maybe one suggestion is that you can vary more with keys and mood. The piece is in C minor with the same melody throughout the whole piece which is fine for me, but it will be more interesting if you can somewhat modulate to other keys. For example even with the original melody you could have a Eb major chord supporting it and make the mood change.

Thx for sharing!

Henry

Average Score: 6

Review:

Melodies/Themes/Motives - The melody is lovely; much of the piece is structured as a melody with accompaniment. Given its length, one would expect a little more development of the motifs so that it doesn’t sound too flat..

Harmony/Chords/Textures - The harmony is beautiful and has a certain modal quality. I would also have expected some kind of modulation or other change, particularly given the repetition of the motif.

Form/Development/Structure/Time - The piece appears to be in ABA form.

Originality/Creativity - The original touch is choosing the viola as the solo instrument.

Score Presentation - The score is confusing due to the constant crossing of voices and the choice of certain clefs for the staves, etc..

Instrumentation/Orchestration/Playability Multiple stop orders are placed without considering whether or not they might actually be executed. It also exceeds the number of instruments that are supposed to be used.

Execution of Given Challenge - As for the atmosphere it creates, I think it’s just right, but when it comes to the technical aspects, not so much..

Taste - Nice.