Wind Quintet for Six

The performance was mostly a success! The percussionist left his xylophone mallets offstage for the 1st two movements, and misses the xylophone parts in the 2nd movement, but he ran offstage to get them right before the 3rd movement! And the ending of the Finale got off for whatever reason. But it was a decent performance. They needed more rehearsals. They were mostly freshman, and two non-majors, afterall. But I have uploaded the mp3s if you so desire to listen. :shifty:

1 Dance

2 March

3 Finale

Here is a quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, and percussion.

I have, as of around early February or so, finished the piece, in its 3 movements. The performance [was] April 26th. [Come if you live near Baltimore!!! (:P)]

1. Dance - very minimal, half of it is atonal, centered around a five note cluster(d,e,f,g,a), the other half is rock-y and G major.

2. March - loosely tonal, based on 2 sets of 4 pitches each(g#,a,b,d# and f#,b,c#,fnat). Very dissonant.

3. Finale - more tonal, based on a theme(c,f,Bb,a,Db,dnat,c).

ca. 12'

Yeah, yeah, the second movement was supposed to be a funeral thing or a chaccone or what have you, but I got inspired to write the 'dance' movement and everything changed. The Finale is still pretty much the same as it was when I last posted here, but with another player sort of tacked on.

Go percussion! Why did I add it? I figured it would add to the piece's already overwhelming focus on rhythm, and really create a neat sound. I have yet to hear it in real life with percussion(I've only heard the Finale played, by only the winds), but MIDI gives me a good impression and makes me anxious to hear it. But that's why god created April 26th, and the last Peabody Composition Recital of the year. ;)

So here's my quin(sex)-tet. I hope you lurve it.

I really enjoyed this work, it sorta reminded me if Stravinsky had an affair with Alfred Reed. Plus it helped me acknowledge some great uses of the winds.

You go to the peabody conservatory right?

Haha thanks for the comparison. Who is Alfred Reed?

And yes, I do go to the Peabody Conservatory. I study composition with Dr. Bruno Amato.

Hmm...I'm not sure what that post means. I don't really see any atonal elements in here, most of it is very tonal with some extensions in the thicker parts, creating more bitonal and sometimes polytonal sounds. Care to explain what you meant? (I'm not offended, just curious ;))

ALfred REED! well check him out! he's a composer that focuses mainly on band music, like his piece Armenian Dances.sadly he recently past away ;)

Yah it definitely isn't atonal.

Well, I recently discovered this out myself. Dissonace doesn't really make a piece atonal. Its more of a set of rules, if I remember correctly.

I'm glad I spawned some interesting talk.

Atonality is something that leaves me hanging...something that doesn't have a center, a key(obviously). MY music always has a key and it usually does not leave me hanging. It can get very dissonant, but always focuses around a key, whether or not this key changes often. But for my Finale, F is the center for most of the piece.

Well, thanks for the kind words, my friend. ;) I appreciate it.

Sometime soon I'll get back to work on the other two movements.

I extremely disagree on the idea that atonal music leaves you hanging.

Heres another one of my amazing analogies?

Your falling from the sky. There is nothing to grab on to lessen the fall. Now atonal music can be just that, accept it and learn to fall gracefully :unsure:

I don't write atonally mainly just because I don't believe I fully understand it. I love it to death though, but once I get the rules down then you may see a few atonal works pop up.(though i question if i fully understand tonal music :D )not to mention modal!

Haha I don't understand it either; it always sounds so random to my ears. Music cannot be random for me to appreciate it. Note: I'm not meaning that composers sit down and make it random, it's just that it sounds random to my ear, because I'm used to hearing keys and only semi-complex harmonies. It's just how I hear it; it sounds like there's something left for me to put in and sometimes I have no clue, hence the 'leave me hanging' analogy.

Some people really dig atonal music and I'm sure they have their reasons. I'm sure they hear it differently. I like some of the ideas, like the 12-tone row stuff--that's a great idea! But if it's atonal it just sounds wrong to my ear.

I like mixing atonality and tonality in my music. Some people call that a bad mix, but I like it. I wrote a Kyrie Eleison for orchestra, guitar, organ and chorus. It started with a dissonant chord and a 12-tone melody, then went into 5 minutes of a minor, Eb/F(Eb major chord, F in bass), chords changing every two bars, in a minimal fashion, with orchestral melodies adding and layering. Towards the end I put the 12-tone melody on top to create a little polytonality. It sounds great to my ear, even though very dissonant.

I started writing a Toccata for piano in which the main theme was 12-toned but I put it in a c minor/C major world, starting and ending on relatives to the key. This sounds perfectly fine to me, and I love the bitonal drive it gets. I guess I'd call this 'extended tonality'. But without a defined key structure, music sounds lost to me.

I don't know why I told you all of this, but I did. :D

And I started working on the first movement, the dance. It is going to be semi-atonal(sort of like my Kyrie, atonal elements in a tonal environment).

*cough*

New stuff! (bump)

Alfred Reed... may he rest in piece

Russian Chirstmas Music is concidered one of his best pieces, check it out but you may want to leave yourself the 15 minutes to listen to it

I can see a bit of Prokofiev, but I think a comparison to Stravinsky is stretching the bow a bit too far...

Canzano might be resorting to hyperbole in saying a 'pile of sticky junk' but I have to say there is little if any thematic development in this piece. Which may, as ones musical acumen will show, a leaning toward an atonal sentiment, rather than an atonal piece per se... If you get what I mean...

The real problem here is I think you're reaching and trying to stretch the bounds of the tonal system. It is good but lets face it, you're no Richard Strauss... In terms of timbre, sound colour, and so forth I'd have to describe you're piece as simply barren...

Look at some of Prokofiev's Concertos. They're good thematically, and they don't mix up tonality to the extreme. Oh and if you read Stravinsky's Poetics of music you'll find he didn't think his music was atonal but rather anti tonal... There is a difference... You're piece is a reasonable example... You definitely have potential. I mean the elements are there. You just need to work of making it more cohesive.

Sorry to be so harsh, but you need to work on it... :D

Cheers

Robert.

Thematic development...hmm...that's not what I was trying to do, afterall, in the piece. The Dance is centered around a rhythm, the idea of a cluster chord, and then that rhythmic, rock-like figure (b,d, b,d,e) which is variated, although slowly, but surely. It's minimal, so thematic development is not an issue. In the March, all the melodic material besides the middle, darker part, is taken from the two quadrachords, as presented from the first two chords in the piece. These are pitch sets, so development is not really an issue. The Finale? Well, that was written first, and at the beginning of the year. It suffers from me repeating the melody over and over. this is the only one that has a clear-cut melody, and you're right that I didn't develop it enough. But it is bouncy. :huh:

Thanks for your words. How would I go about making it more cohesive? I'm not sure I understand what's not cohesive about it...

And by the way, I am in currently in the process of uploading the MP3s of the performance of the quintet onto the first post! So check 'em out.

I'm wondering if anyone else has anything to say about my work. :innocent:

Updating with mp(4)s that actually work, but are rather large files, so the download may be a bit long.

Thank you for updating the mp4s. I apprec.

Anyway, before I begin, let me just say that I loved the applause at the end with all of the "woo!"-ing, I actually listened to it all the way through it. :huh: I also enjoyed after the march when someone gives a gruff "ahh--hemmmmmmphhhh *cough*" ;) I'm a big fan of random coughing and choking on recordings, especially professional recordings, hahaha.

Now, on to the piece. I don't know what was going on earlier in this thread, but ok.

Normally I'd discuss each movement separately but in this case I want to discuss the entirety while maybe mentioning specific examples. After my first listen, I liked the finale the best because it was interesting to hear how you developed the main theme. Upon further listening though, I decided I much preferred the second movement. It was like this humorous but creeping march with lots of unexpected turns and sounds. I love the flute through the first half, and the use of fluttertongue. (I'm a big fan of effective and minimal use of fluttering! :D ) I liked the brief dissonant fanfare midway through with the griping drudgery march beats afterward, and again that wonderful flowing flute. Something about this made me want to watch Monty Python, don't ask me why, hahaha. Yes, this was my favorite movement for sure.

What I appreciated in your piece overall I guess was that it was fun. Fun! what a concept. I mean, I love all the dramatic wipe-your-tears away music, but sometimes I just like something like this - fun and a challenge for the players and audience alike. It's interesting to hear all the various combos of intruments and mini-sections and try to make sense of what the composer is trying to portray, from both ends of the stick. I'm glad I could hear the mp4s because with this kind of music, midis don't give that nice flavor that is needed to really get across the point of the piece, you know?

Yeah so, this was a while ago so you have obviously improved since you wrote it. The only thing I was iffy on was probably...hm, maybe I'd have liked to see this style applied to a slower movement to add some more variety to the piece overall. I just would have been curious to see how a slower movement could have fit into the overall picture. However, that's not my choice to make, just a comment.

(hm, now let me go listen to that glorious applause again. *bows* Thank you, thank you. Is it okay that I pretend your applause is for me?)

The woo-ing was primarily done by my girlfriend and other various friends who came to support my music, most of which were girls.

Hahaha--guess what, that loud cough after the march? That was so my dad! He came from Texas to hear that performance! And he has a very loud, booming voice, and the same with his coughing, obviously...

Most people say they like the Finale best, I attribute it to the fact that it is the least dissonant or 'modern' in the piece. Noone has expressed great interest in the first movement (which is easily my favorite...and of course the Finale is my least favorite...)! Oh well. A piece that slowly evolves around two central ideas, one which is a cluster chord and one which is a very jazzy pattern, both of which are cemented in 7/8 and are repeated endlessly is just simply great fun to listen to, for me.

I love the March as well. I liked the idea of the main material being used as chords together as well as being played out note after note like usual. I guess the whole piece does really reflect the dry humor and silliness of Monty Python, doesn't it? :dry: If only my art was even at their level...!!!

You know what? I was looking through the cd collection at Borders today, and I've found that apparently I'm the only one in the whole freaking world with my tastes in music!!!! I couldn't find ONE cd that I was looking for!!! They had some John Adams, but it was the cheesy, crappy sappy stuff that I hate!! They didn't have his Schoenberg/Merry Melodies inspired Chamber concerto, his 'Gnarly Buttons' clarinet concerto, or even his 25-minute boogie woogie, 'Fearful Symmetries'!!! ARGH! They didn't have Nancarrow, Reich, Bolcom, and they only had the most basic and disgustingly over-played pieces from the more well-known composers of whose music I enjoy. Way to piss me off.

So that's the reason I don't write sappy slow music, because I just hate it. ;)

hahaha yeah, the bookstore always annoys me. Then again, the local borders had a lifesized cardboard cutout of Kenny G in the doorway for about 5 months (I am TERRIFIED of those cutouts, they freak me out - but to make one of Kenny G is just WRONG), so what can you expect, LOL.

I enjoyed the first movement as well, I guess I didn't talk about it much in my post.

hahaha that was your dad. That's fantastic.