Here is a piece I wrote back in 2020 for brass quintet: Prelude and Fugue - (real original title, eh?) While I am certainly not a great "contrapuntalist", I did enjoy writing this one! I hope you will enjoy listening to it as well.
Any thoughts! Thanks.
Ken
https://soundcloud.com/user-379760088/brassquintetpreludeandfugue
PS - As usual, if anyone would like to see the score, I'd be glad to share it via email.
Replies
If there's one weakness I'd say that the harmony is too static. It seems that you remained in the same key throughout the entire piece, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but then you lose one dimension of interest with which to captivate the audience. Especially in the fugue I'd have added at least a couple of modulations into nearby keys, just to occasionally introduce some harmonic interest to keep up the forward momentum. I'm not a fan of the I-V-I-V pattern of subject entries in fugue expositions (other variations are more interesting IMO), but here it would've helped a lot by naturally incorporating modulations to/from the dominant key.
Hey, thanks for listening!
Yes, you are correct, it would have added yet another dimension to the piece and if I write another one of these kinds of pieces I will keep this in mind. In this case, I was more focused on brass dynamics and articulation, especially contrasts in those elements, so missed the boat in modulations. Nevertheless, if I was still performing in a quintet, I'd love to play this!
Ken