My very first Tone Poem (my most ambitious completed orchestral work up-to-date)

Well, it's been so long since I was last here! I hope this community has been well since.

I’m looking for some nice detailed peer feedback on my first Tone Poem, Myst o' Foryst a Spryng Nyte. It is a 5-part programmatic work written for a large woodwind/brass configuration, percussion ensemble, and features a prominent chamber core of Viola, Double-Bass, and Piano. (My "Alto Piano Trio" ensemble)

I would be nicely interested in your thoughts on the orchestration, the pacing of the sections, and how you perceive the overall structural architecture as you listen along with the score.

Please tell me of your stylistic impressions of this piece!

(Note: this is a computer generated audio RENDER; not a live performance. Some of the techniques were lost in translation when it rendered, so it wouldn't sound correct. This is ESPECIALLY true of the audio files IIa and IIIa. If in a moment something sound so "wrong" and "off" in any of these audios, please rely on what is written on the page.)

Thank you for your time and ear!

A. Chen - Myst o' Foryst a Spryng Nyte - 000 - FULL SCORE (with Conductor's Rhythmic ref).pdf

Edited June 25Jun 25 by ARCMusicPublishings

Hmmm. I'm trying to figure out why other people's showcased music posts have mostly received replies and feedback within 1-3 days, while my piece has not seen a single reply after an entire week.

I'm just taking a shot at the dark: the majority of people who visited this thread have been subconsciously made resistant to finish the piece from start to end, after listening to the first few moments of it; noting my "flighty" music behavior: going from one idea to the next, without endowing and developing much of any of them. This makes them "not want to" discuss the music, because it would be "hard" to; when the "central themes are not there". Would this sound about correct? 😁

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edit - I said a whole lot more at first; and realize that I should keep it concise. This Tone Poem is meant to follow a style akin to "stream of consciousness": it's supposed to sound like ideas just come and go.

On the other hand, there are central themes, and they do develop. Like Stravinsky's "Rite", one simply can't readily note them on first, second or third listen. But, they are there!

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by ARCMusicPublishings

This is an ambitious and challenging work.

It reminds me of two pieces I saw workshopped earlier this year, as part of the LSO's Panufnik Scheme (at least in terms of complexity of the scoring).

Not sure I can offer anything useful, since your scoring is far more advanced than mine!

I did spot one or two issues in the engraving that you're probably already aware of.

These were:

A misspelling on Page 2 ('deturned' instead of 'detuned' in the Viola instructions).

Awkward beaming alignment in Bar 35 of the celesta part (one of the noteheads seems to be floating away from the beam, and is missing a stalk).

Misaligned brackets in Bars 31 and 32 of the Doublebass part.

Bar 74 and elsewhere: not sure why you write Celest' instead of Celesta? Looks a bit odd.

Musically I really enjoyed it, and liked how you used the extended techniques.

These were not there just for the sake of it; but to create a useful effect within the narrative of the music.

I had to look up some of your directions (like gioiosamente), as I'd never seen them before!

Sorry I can't be of more help,

Alex

Alex, I'm sorry there hasn't been more comments on this very ambitious project. The orchestration is quite overwhelming. I wonder if more could have been accomplished with less. When I listened to the work mostly straight through .... I was looking/listening for a central prominent integrative theme(s) to guide me.... Did I miss something here?

Mark

20 minutes ago, MJFOBOE said:

Alex, I'm sorry there hasn't been more comments on this very ambitious project. The orchestration is quite overwhelming. I wonder if more could have been accomplished with less. When I listened to the work mostly straight through .... I was looking/listening for a central prominent integrative theme(s) to guide me.... Did I miss something here?

Mark

Hi Mark,

The composer is actually Acerylio Chen; not me.

We just have a similar looking 'A' badge next to our names!

Alex