This is my first piece I did as a string quintet. I used Dorico to score it and Orchestral Tools VST for the audio.
Ontoño Árido (Arid Fall)
Here in Southern California we get pretty dry in the Fall. Trying to overall capture some elements of that.
1st Apuradísimo (In a Hurry)
Starts slow with some complacency left over from summer before realizing that the clock is ticking and must get moving, then thinking we can relax again before the hurry returns
2nd Septiembre (September)
A bit of the melancholy of the month and a return to the grind after summer, maybe some hints of the eeriness of October.
3rd Vientos de Santa Ana (Santa Ana Winds)
The mornings can be calm followed by intense winds in the afternoon. When I was sketching this out, they were blowing and I thought my tree was going to come down.
Replies
Thanks for sharing this Ontona
I really like it - I've actually also just started writing for string quintet - and in a similar way to you, adding a double bass to a standard quartet (also with Orchestral Tools, by co-incidence).
You seem like you really know what you're donig and how to use the instruments well in combination with each other - I'm impressed with the clarity and clear differentiation you have achieved between them. I like how the track develops and how you explore and expand themes you have established (this is something I'm told I need to work on). And the seasons theme is a really ncie foundation to build on, which you do really well (with occasional clear echos of another well known season-based work).
Do feel free to check out my latest quintet - I've put a link to my tracks on my profile.
Thanks, I ll take a look
I found these pleasnat, romantic and in a way given your description fairly autumnal. Each flows nicely but they all seem around the same tempo. One noticeable issue came at 4'32" in "Septembre". Until that point they could have passed off as live playing but theres a chromic run in the first violins that sounded unreal. Yes, violinists could play eacj note discrete but with the length of this run there's have been a position change at the very least.
Otherwise the sound is very good, nice dynamic variations. Accomplished.
Thanks, I was wondering about that exact part since it was originally on the piano. I looked at the violin and thought maybe there was a fingering A string: 1st finger on D, then 2nd on Eb, then open E, then back to the A String for F and G with 3rd and 4th fingers. Definitely awkward, but had my doubts about it since I am not a violinist.