Heart Wounds-Grieg WWSextet

Hey all. How's it going? Well, this is a sort-of just for fun/ maybe portfolio purposes arrangement of Heart Wounds(which is part of 2 Elegiac Melodies) by Edvard Grieg. I think its a beautiful piece, and thought it would be a good practice of orchestration.

Questions:

Any instrumentation problems such as impossible notes, hard/out of range notes, hard dynamic levels, etc.

Is the balance ok(not in finale of course, but if this were played by real people)

And any suggestions, comments, critisism welcome.

Oh, and i'll probobly edit and put up the 2nd movement (the better one in my opinion) at some point.

Thanks for the time,

Scott

edit* as pointed out by Qccowboy there is occasionally polyphony in one part. This is a sextet yes, but it is a choir. Multiple people on each part, maybe 2 or 3. I should've mentioned that.

sorry, didn't mean to dp..

files

oh, and anyone have any reason why when i start playback in finale the dynamics move over a beat or so??

woundedheart.MUS

woundedheart.MID

When you write for a set number of instruments, you should USE a set number of instruments.

The way your score is set up, it starts with 1 flute, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet and 1 bassoon...

Yet as your arrangements advances, there are occassional double notes for any of those lines. Either there is one flute, or there are two. You can't have one flute all the way 'till the end, then require two flutes for one measure.

A much better exercise for you, in terms of orchestration/instrumentation, is learning to function within the limits of the ensemble you have set yourself out to use. If you have one flute, then you MUST use one flute throughout your arrangement. On the other hand, if you intend on using two flutes, then WRITE it for two flutes. A single line all the way through until a single measure with a few double notes is NOT an arrangement for two flutes.

This alone makes your arrangement, even if the sound is pretty, invalid.

Sorry.. forgot to mention that its a woodwind choir. With more than one player on a part, so in my mind it was ok to have some parts that require div.

I feel stupid for not mentioning that, I should edit the score with a subtitle of 'woodwind choir' or something like that.