Concerto for String Orchestra

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listening right now...wow you have an ear for cool 20th century harmony! immediately reminded me of Schoenberg, Verklarte Nacht to be specific

Hi again,

I'll listen to the separate movements through the afternoon. The first was very appealing, aided by excellent performance and recording.

As for reviewing, there's hardly anything to say. This kind of music is right up my street; and the fact that this was a commission by such an orchestra says everything about their respect for your compositions.

May have more to say later - otherwise, great.

All the best,

Montpellier.

Now had a chance to hear the second movement and look at the score. Again, very fine. I like the way the parts interlace; the contrast of the soloist line with the ensemble. A fine example of how to lay out string parts. I can't remember anything as well-crafted this side of Bartok!

I have no comment except the ending came as a bit of a surprise. But I haven't yet heard it next to the last movement.

cheers.

This is really impressive, with a wholly original voice, completely secure handling of the string writing. Compositionally well paced with a mature handling of all the dynamic and emotional gradations. This is superbly recorded and performaed which is always great for a composer. I don't think comparisions to any other composers is needed as it really is completely original and unique. I really like your harmonic writing, dense, beautiful and unsettling.

What notation software do you use? It looks a little bit ropey, with slurs not looking like slurs etc, I would recommend sibelius myself even though it is problematic.

Bottom line, superb work. Here's to a prosperus career!

Wow, very nice. Not usually my kind of music but I love this!

Well sir, it's simply an honor to hear something like this. Great work. :ninja:

Great work! You are one of the best composers to have visited YC thus far. Your harmonic style, as many others have commented on, is a lot of fun -- a cross between late-tonal Schoenberg and Scriabin, perhaps with a bit of Bartok mixed in. It definitely works within a tonal framework, though -- even if that tonality is at times only suggested rather than outright stated.

The string orchestra is an amazingly versatile medium, but the difficulty of writing for strings is that the tone color is so homogeneous from bottom to top, so one must make very sure to score in such a way that the important ideas come out to the front. You have done a good job at this in general, though there are a few spots in the first movement (since that's all I've listened to thus far) where I would have liked to hear the more extreme ranges of your instruments (such as the lowest end of the violins, or the high tessitura of the cello) -- especially on the parts with the faster notes. But that's a minor (and admittedly quite subjective) comment compared with the quality of the work that you've done here.

Great job!!

I enjoyed your work very much. It's always exciting to hear performances of new music.

Your harmonic language is very much in the style that I like the most, so this kept me listening until the end. Strangely, your melodic lines reminded me Martinu. I don't know if you are familiar with that composer but if you are not, judging from your own music, i think you will enjoy his works.

I don't have any major criticism. But the only thing I noticed is the lack of different textures. All three movements were felt like one long movement. Perhaps a rhytmically intense movement would have broken the flow and bring some new ideas. But this is not so important since it is not such a long piece.

Thanks for sharing your music, please do post more.

Torsten,

I came, after your invitation, although I've already heard the music. Just came here now and paid much more attention to the numerous times I heard the music.

You know what? As you may've guessed I'm rather contemporary in my writing, but I grew up writing plenty of classical music/tunes, and to love the old fashioned classical music. The aura and vibes that all composers and performers were giving away. The kind of Richter and Gillels, and Prokofiev, who breathed music all day long. A romantic kind of notion of music and the creation (not the scientific (phd) or financial (career) approach that I now have). And while listening to your music I got that same romantic feeling again.

Would it be possible to get the WAV files from the recording somehow? (Yousendit could work, rapidshare as well, but I don't have e-mail large neough to handle such big files).

On your work, as mentioned, I enjoyed it thoroughly and the performance was a very good one (number of desks if possible?). I have the hunch that you've studied classical counterpoint (baroque), and this appears in your score, and your use of counterpoint, small patterns and even to the harmony and the intervalic use you make. I like that. It's a very fresh approach to some things. I will have to agree with Inal about the textures, but for me it shows that it was a consious decision all the way, so no problem (I mind ignorance usually, but not in this case as there is none).

The recording: The somewhat "classical" sense of the recording was aided probably by the production of the recording. There was a decision not to make the recording sound thick. (in contrast with mine, which with so little performers sound like hell... :-/)

EDIT: the score.

It looks weird but since you pulled something like this off with Cubase kudos to you. Still finale and Sibelius and even NOTION are far superior to notating. For the recording I use Cubase daily. No issue with Cubase, just that it's still not a notation program, same as Sibelius not being a Sequencer... ;)

Other than that thank you for posting :)

Let me know about the WAV files, I'd love to have that... ;)

Torsten,

Thank you for the AIF files.

I will be makin them into a CD to listen in general, mixed with other great works :w00t: That was the reason I've asked you.

And, no, nobody will get those recordings (or the CD), unless you don't mind, or you want me to advertise you in which case I'll just share this great music. :w00t:

Nikolas

2 Thumbs Up!!!!111one

Greetings, Torsten!

What can I say, this is very impressive! One of the greatest works presented in the YC forums...

Everything is close to perfect; the use of the string orchestra as far as textures are concerned is superb! The performance and the recording are top notch as well! The most enjoyable feature was by far your harmonic language...it grabbed me by the throat from beginning to end!

As soon as I am through with feeling awe, I will check the score...

Nothing less than all thumbs up!