New orchestral piece

[P de Caumette]

This one is 99.80% EWQLSO and a little more mainstream. I\'d love to hear both comments on composition and mix. This piece is part 4 of 5 for the LKB Dance new 2004 production:

A Broken Promise (\"http://www.theleapingfrog.com/music/A_Broken_Promise.mp3\")

I am discovering composing for the orchestra and I find it very exciting and coming from an entirely different place than when playing and improvising in the jazz/fusion idiom.

So many possibilities and colours!

I feel like a toddler again images/icons/tongue.gif

[David Govett]

Really nice stuff. I like your style. (and range of styles) If I diddn\'t compose my own music, I might be tempted to hire you if I needed music.
Cheers
Dave

[Markus S]

Hello Patrick,
how are you doing? I\'ll try to do some constructive critisism, keep in mind this is personal and everything depends on context.
The ostinato is interesting, but the viola (?) is too up front and too static, maybe piano and then crescendo?
The entering of the orchestra has some great colors.
The cello line (0.30) is not so good in my opinion, and too static and too ahead as well.
The little theme at 1.03 is too simple IMO and it\'s disturbing that it is repeated 2 times (with only slight variation), too schematic. Maybe exploit more this melodie and try to treat it in a more \"elastic\" way? Also maybe double it with something?
1.56 to 2.00 sounds very good with the full orchestra playing.
All in all the structure is kind of not so clear, when which part appears.
Working it over again would certainly be benefic, because there are some great ideas.

My 2 cents... images/icons/smile.gif

[D.Montesinos]

I Agree with Markus in some aspects..,
I Specialy like the change in 2:42

Good Work!!,
D.M

[P de Caumette]

Dave, thank you so much, I\'ll take that as a great compliment, coming from a composer such as yourself! images/icons/smile.gif ...but it doesn\'t look like you\'ll be needing my services anytime soon images/icons/wink.gif

Hi Markus, thank you for your comments, I hope you are enjoying the good life back in France (how\'s the Beaujolais this year?) images/icons/smile.gif
It isn\'t a viola, EWQLSO doesn\'t have solo viola yet. My problem with the obstinato line is that EWQLSO has only one martele articulation with that sound. and I needed at least a glissendo articulation but liked the sound of the violin so much that I decided to stay with QLSO rather than going to KHSS. The crescendo idea I\'ll have to try, thank you.
As far as the cello melody and the B section melody, in all objectivity (if such a thing is possible) I\'ll have to respectfully disagree with you. I like the conterpoint idea of the cello against the obstinato in 7/4 (it might be a little too loud though). And I find the melody in the B section to be emotionally moving, simple yes but I don\'t mind simple at times.

You are right about things being a little repetitive but please remember that this piece is intended for a choregraphy where the director specificaly asked for repetitive motives. My intent was not to write a piece that was meant necesarily to sound like a traditional orchestra.
I am surprised you found the structure unclear?
But don\'t get me wrong, I very much appreciate your constructive criticism. I constantly go back and listen to things i have done a few months ago and shake my head in disappointment.

D.M. thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed the piece. Yes, the little \"spanish\" flavor introduced at 2:42 brings another mood to that section, doesn\'t it?
Dios te bendiga, amigo.

[Markus S]

Originally posted by P de Caumette:
(how\'s the Beaujolais this year?) images/icons/smile.gif <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Good question, I haven\'t tried it yet, I\'ll drink one or two bottles and tell you! images/icons/grin.gif
Concerning my suggestions, as I said, everything is based on personal taste and without knowing the exact context.
Looking forward to hear more from you soon,
Markus.

[Nhick Ramiro Pacis]

Patrick,

Which of the EWQLSO versions did you use? What\'s your setup?

Very nice composition indeed. You could break the monotony of the repititive motive by making it more dynamic in itself.

Thank you for sharing your music with us!

[P de Caumette]

Hello Nhick, thank you for your kind words images/icons/smile.gif

I own the EWQLSO platinium and I use it across 1 master computer and 3 slaves with FX Teleport.
You are right about making variations of the violin motive. My main problem is that I am using a roland GR33 midi guitar as a midi controller and the amount of time I have to spend fixing and editing all the midi actifacts triggered when playing the GR33 is just daunting.
I will be getting a Ztar (a guitar shape with touch sensitive neck)in the next couple of weeks and I am really hoping this will free me and enable me to write and program much more freely...
images/icons/tongue.gif

Thank you again

[Scott Cairns]

Hi Patrick, very nice! I really enjoyed that. I liked the tutti finish at the end too.

Also, it sounds like the solo violin had some close mics mixed in? Anyway, it sounded great. I really liked hearing the \"bow scrape\", it somehow gave the line more legitimacy and more of a gypsy feel somehow. (Well to me anyway!) images/icons/smile.gif

You were saying the piece was 99.80% EWQLSO - what was the .20% ??

[Marko]

I like 7/4 rhythm. I think it lends itself very well to dance.

[Marko]

Patrick,

Correction: I left out \'the\' in my previous statement.

I like the 7/4 rhythm. I think it lends itself very well to dance.

I still don\'t have it right. Perhaps I should replace \'the\' with \'your\'.

Sorry for my linguistic confusion. I am intoxicated from the mere thought of drinking all that Beaujolais mentioned above.

Marko

[P de Caumette]

Hi Scott, how\'s it going buddy images/icons/wink.gif
Delighted you enjoyed it.

The little additions are: eggs from Culture in the second B section, Atmosphere for the first string pad in the intro and Storm Drums for 2 low hits at the end.

Yes, the obstinato violin has a mix of close and far perspectives. I too love the rattle of the bow on the string with this articulation (martele up-down) I very much agree with Markus and Nhick that this line needs more variations in dynamics and interpretation. Ideally I would play the line over the entire track without looping any of it. Here I did loop it after 4 bars I believe. The addition of one or two more articulations would help as well...
Hopefully, once Nick & Doug record more this summer, we\'ll have a fuller palette for the solo strings.

Hey Marko, if you get a buzz just thinking of a nice glass of red, I can\'t imagine what happens when you actually get your hand on a bottle for real... graemlins/tounge_images/icons/smile.gif images/icons/wink.gif

Thanks so much for your kind words. You the man when it comes down to hip string quartets (looking forward to your full orchestral work images/icons/shocked.gif images/icons/shocked.gif )

Thanks to all for the good suggestions and support. It means a great deal to me images/icons/smile.gif

[D.Montesinos]

Originally posted by P de Caumette:
D.M. thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed the piece. Yes, the little \"spanish\" flavor introduced at 2:42 brings another mood to that section, doesn\'t it?
Dios te bendiga, amigo. [/QB]<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Yep it´s GREAT!!,
Dios te bendiga a tí también Amiguete,
Sigue con la buena Music!!

Diego.M

[P de Caumette]

Hi Sharmy (man, you\'re up early!)

thank you so much for your analysis. I think you are spot on.

I\'ll definetely try to move the pads more and devellop the counterpoint at the end.
I\'ll also take a look at the way the percussion develops from the middle to the end...

What a great community this is!
images/icons/smile.gif

[christianb]

Hey Froggie!,
You slipped right past my radar for a second. As I don\'t have any helpful comments just refer to Sharmy\'s post. I assume he said something smart. I quite enjoyed it and can certainly see the dancers being put through their paces. It would be great if you could someday post some video of the piece. I would love to hear this in context. Nice work.

cb
le canadien

[P de Caumette]

Hi Christian,

well, I just read your post about Sharmy\'s middle eastern piece and it sounds like you have laid your butt on a beach and are enjoying yourself while the rest of us are working for a living images/icons/mad.gif

The canadians have it too easy! images/icons/wink.gif

[P de Caumette]

A few weeks back I posted this tune and got some very good advices on how to make improvements to the piece.
Last night I went back and tried to implement these ideas.

A Broken Promise (\"http://www.theleapingfrog.com/music/A_Broken_Promise.mp3\")

Following Sharmy\'s advice I added some percussion ideas.
I also reinforced the counterpoint in the 2nd B section.

Markus: I doubled the lead with clarinet in the 2nd B section.

Nothing much I could do about the obstinato violin as far as articulations in concerned. I\'ll have to wait until fall.

Thanks again for all the insighful input! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif