Rameau - Allemande in A minor (orchestration)

Welcome all!

I've gone back to the Late Baroque with my latest orchestration.

I chose Rameau's Allemande in A minor, because I don't think it's been orchestrated before. (At least I can't find another orchestration.)

I made a controversial choice to soup up the tempo: so I'd be interested to know whether any of you have different opinions on this?

I had to write a short linking passage at Bar 37; otherwise the transition to the next section sounded too abrupt.

Haven't put in the repeat of the second half as yet. I wonder if you think I should? And if so, what instrumentation would you suggest.

Started putting in slurs; but haven't finished yet, because it's a long tedious job!

Hope you enjoy listening,

Alex

Rameau - Allemande in A minor (orchestration) #19.pdf

I really enjoy listening to this. I play the keyboard version, so the difference in tempo struck me at first. But your orchestrated version works really well. It's just fast enough. It doesn’t have all of the ornaments the keyboard has, and that might have something to do with how it can be faster without sounding too fast. Yours doesn't feel rushed in any way.

The choice of the instruments works very well. It never feels weighed down with too many instruments sounding at once. I like that you didn’t double so much as to have these walls of sound that make the lines less distinct.

I particularly like the Eng.Horn, Clarinet and Bassoons combo in measures 9-15. They are very clear and distinct but still in consort with each other. The same for the strings in 19-27. I’m far from being a sound engineer, but I think you know what you're doing when it comes to using the digital tools to make an overall realistic, coherent sound.