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Some fascinating entries here … will need to rewatch this video later on, but interesting that celesta is being used a fair bit here. 🙂
I think MuseScore breaking that barline between the first and second violins (around 20:00) is a bug and it tends to happen if you use the symphony orchestra template and add additional instruments (e.g. the vibraphone in Karl Kim's entry). I'm not sure if the bug has been fixed for MuseScore 4 – even after playing around with its latest release candidate – but it is possible to sort out it out by selecting a bar line, clicking "span to next stave" in the Properties window and then setting as the stave default.
Thank you so much, Thomas…you're absolutely right about my sound-set. It's something I'm fixing up, since it's so confusing to properly orchestration, despite I'm always thinking in a live orchestral setting
Anyway, as usual, you see the nuances we don't, even when we think we have checked enough times the score. I learn with mine and every other score you review, so thank you for the time you've taken to do it. Grettings.!!
Mikko
Well done! Some really neat scoring in here. It's an interesting approach to the scoring of the left hand pattern on page two. I'm not sure I'm 100% convinced by it, but it might work fine.
Karl
Such a cool way to open the piece! I really liked page 2 quite a bit. It could maybe benefit from some dynamic swells, though.
Eric
Gorgeous! I love the tenor range bassoons in the opening and the little touches of clarinet. On page two, I feel like those low celesta figures are really going to be swallowed by the horns, this might work better as a vibraphone part.
Frano
Some really cool stuff in this score! I think the handing-off between instrument groups in the opening could have been a bit smoother. There's a lot of cool little touches I love in the second half.
Thomas
Beautiful scoring! Outside of some balance issues, I thought the first page was really well executed. The high tuba was a really cool choice. You do a good job of making the second page lighter in texture to contrast the thicker first page.
Mikko —
P1: a bit conventional but works
P2: I liked the oboe contrapuntal gesture of dropping the oboe to an E, swapping with the strings. I’ll differ with Thomas here and say, keep the mf, at least for that note. Cellos are barely decipherable and should be bumped up to mf or joined by other instruments, even moreso if you are going to have them pizz. Without the triplet countermelody, the score feels dirge-like especially on the long held Es and As in the melody.
Karl
This was a very unique approach. Mock-up isn’t doing justice to the score, particularly the vibraphone, which was a great idea btw. I recommend avoiding tremolos on short notes (like quarters) in strings. Consider reserving them for measures where you are holding them for at least 3 beats.
P2 m4 middle triplet note there’s a wrong note in the 2nd violins — it should be a G natural and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
P2 don’t forget your upper winds need space to breathe. If you don’t tell them, they’ll do it on beat 3, which is fine though. Both pages, the instrumentation is interesting, just a little homogenous. Add space, pass parts around. This is more exacerbated by the too-slow tempo.
Eric
Please post a link to the rest of your score recording in the video comments! It sounded enjoyable and I was wondering where it was headed.
Gorgeous harp ending on P1. That was unique and cool. So many people have struggled to figure out how to end that page and you nailed it. Just delay that final chord slightly after the 16ths to get a smoother effect.
The pp con sord strings will sound much better in real life than with the mock-up. M6, consider holding them just a half note and waiting to bring them back in until the upbeat of M8.
P2: love the horn line. Make it more memorable by letting it rest from the melody now and then. As mentioned on the previous entry, avoid string tremolos on short notes. It is awkward to play and won’t give you the subdued effect you are going for.
Vibraphone might be the right substitution for the low celesta figures — or maybe marimba with soft mallets.
Although your string phrasings make no sense currently, the passing of the countermelody triplets to the different parts is good.
Frano:
That was some intense and crazy stuff. Thomas had some great feedback on your score so I will try to avoid repeating him.
I’m not sure what to think of pairing the mellow clarinets with those high attack instruments in the intro. If you want a less percussive sound that still has a lot of resonance, you might like to investigate muted handbells, string harmonics, or glass armonica.
P2: I do like the way you embodied this style in limited playback world you wrote this in. It sounds like a scene from a 1990s era computer game. The extra clarinet trill is childlike and playful, but it’s a little distracting so maybe dial back the dynamics from mf to p and maybe bring the flutes down an octave for that effect.
That jazzy 2nd inversion 7th chord on the penultimate measure was cool and unexpected.
Thomas:
P1: lovely delicate opening. Just looking at the physical score it’s obvious you put a lot of thought into how this developed. The clustering of tight 3rds in winds at the end of M7 is a cool wind symphonic-like effect — you might accentuate it more by omitting that clustering from the first half of the measure in the clarinets and violas, which is a thick and kind of unpleasant sound.
P2: pick the tempo up. It will sound so much better. I’d suggest slurring the flute pickups to the high D as you go into the final two measures. Cool lower register sounds.
Mikko: Great score!
Karl: Great score, love the combination of harp and celesta at the beginning!
Eric: Great score, lovely ideas!
Frano: Great score!
Thomas: Great svore!
Another strong round of submissions – some really innovative scoring here.
55. Mikko
-Really nice scoring of the opening – maybe contrast it a bit by giving the oboe the melody from m. 6 instead of using the flute throughout?
-Great buildup to m. 18 in general; I like the timpani roll from m. 15, and the way you add trumpet at the very end (mm. 17 and 18.)
56. Karl
-Really innovative approach to scoring the opening, and transposition down a fourth (up a fifth?) really works.
-Another really effective buildup to m. 18, though maybe some contrast would be in order? Maybe start with winds alone carrying the melody at m. 11, then add strings at m. 13 or m. 15?
57. Eric
-A beautifully scored opening, with nice contrasting colors (having the flute emerging from doubling the violins and taking the melody is a nice touch.) I like the harp figuration at m. 10 as well.
-The horn and clarinet in octaves are a great choice to carry the melody at m. 11 in contrast to what's gone on to this point. I would question if you need to violins doubling the melody here, but I really like the color their tremolo lends to the texture.
58. Frano
-I really like how you split the phrases in the opening among contrasting groups of instruments. Well done!
-Again, a really strong buildup to m. 18; I like the flute and clarinet figurations in mm. 12 and 13, and the harp figurations in mm. 15 and 16.
59. Thomas
-A really innovative scoring of the opening! I'm thinking the tuba should work even though the passage is rather high (perhaps a euphonium would work even better here?) I especially like how you build the instrumental texture through m. 8, then cut it off in m. 9 (I love the use of trombones on the descending line here.)
-Simple but effective scoring beginning at m. 11, and you really build the sonority nicely heading into m. 17 (really nice brass writing here.)
55. Mikko Korhonen: Nice work, good use of the various wind registers. Did you intend the second note in clarinet 2 to go up? In the second half, it’s funny I’m so preconditioned now that I hear the full LH pattern even when it’s not completely rendered. Well done BTW. Nice string textures, but why do you make everything thinner by omitting the violas and oboes and going to pizz in the celli/basses towards the climax in the last bar?
56. Karl Kim: Very surprising and dreamy opening, beautiful. Funny you transposed the whole score, I wonder why. It’s adding some extra brightness, and it works quite well. Good bowings by the way.
57. Eric Bateson: Good ideas, nice work. Pretty high violin 1 part, but it should work. Beautiful horn solo in 11. I like the extension of the LH pattern with the broken chords in the flutes. Intriguing glimpse of the rest of the piece! A pity we’re not hearing any of it now.
58. Frano Kovac Jopia: Nice variation in the first half, great contrasts. I can see what you wanted with the idea of the harp ‘shivering’ in bar 10. Very nice idea, even if it’s not quite a bisbigliando effect. Nice flute ornament in 12. Keep up the good work!
59. Thomas Sandberg: Risky opening with that high and preposterous tuba, but definitely an original idea. The menacing trombones in bar 9 are very good, especially in the surrounding subito p. But I (also) miss the counterpoint there. I think the bass clarinet works best for the LH pattern, and tuba the least TBH. I’d save it for the last bar, and use it not for the broken chords, but for a nice and sonorous bass note E. Good string texture though.
Mikko: This is a lovely score. The colours and textures are great. Watch the harmony and voice lead in the opening bars – and perhaps for the trumpet, later. It felt just a little ‘empty’ and jarring. (It’s not easy, I know. A little practice with 4-part harmony might help.)
Karl: Barvinsky goes to Hogwarts! Charming opening bars, leading to an expansive restatement of the theme. Lovely textures. I think you might have done a little more with the cellos and basses to accentuate the rhythm.
Frano: Hate the sound set, love the score! I’m not so fond of the celesta, but some of the harp writing is very cool! (Watch the balance!) Some of the wind colouring is lovely, and I enjoyed the textural interplay woodwind and strings.
Thomas: Unusual colouring! The beginning almost reminded me of the Victorian/Edwardian era concert band performances in city park rotundas. (I guess that might be a British Commonwealth thing.) Some of the unusual brass & woodwind textures remind me of Bartok, Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Britten.