Simpfonija Nr. 1 Mov. 1 Gedulo maršas (Funeral March)

Hello, I tried to create a symphony from scratch again. Maybe this time I made a better version. It's only 1 movement, so it's quite short, 6:22 min. And I would like a review because I want to start a 2nd movement.

Simfonija no 1 1 mov.pdf

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by Martynas123

Hello

It has a very classical sound.

First of all, I find it strange that there are no cellos.

Or is it the double bass line that’s written an octave higher?

Apart from that, it all sounds rather ‘homophonic’ to me; in other words, although there’s a certain degree of counterpoint here and there, the melody is played on all the instruments for much of the time, either doubled or in octaves.

Given that the rhythmic motif appears constantly, it does end up sounding a bit monotonous.

I think that in a classical orchestration of this kind, there need to be some basic orchestral layers: a bass line (usually reinforced), a purer melodic line—not overwhelmed by too many instruments at once—and harmonic support. And then you can add counter-melodies, transitions, ‘riffs’ and ornamentation. All of this serves to emphasise the climactic moments.

Hello @Martynas123 and welcome to the forum!

I think symphonies are usually written for a string section with winds rather than a string quartet like you have here. Make sure you choose "Violins (section)" instead of "Violin" or "Violas (section)" instead of "Viola" in your instrument choices to get the full ensemble sound. Also, symphonies often also have Timpani and some brass (at least French Horns).

A mistake I noticed in your score: You have a B natural in the Contrabass while the Violin 1 plays a Bb which creates a wrong-sounding cross-relation. I would change the Bb in the Violin to B natural and I think that issue would be fixed. But there's multiple times throughout the score where that happens so I'd make sure to peruse the score for those instances. Another thing is that you use this rhythmic motif very frequently:

In order for the listener to not get bored of too much seeming repetition, it is advisable to repeat or sequence such rhythmic motifs at most 4 times in a row but not more. Those are just some things that stuck out to me upon hearing your work. Overall though I think you did a good job! It doesn't quite sound dirge-like enough to me though. The beginning is very funeral march-like but later on it starts to sound even perhaps a bit happy. Thanks for sharing!