Been a little quiet around here! I'll share my latest writing- There is nothing particularly ground breaking here, but I wanted to work on my ability to write for a small ensemble before tackling larger groups. The best way to describe this is an attempt to blend Baroque traditions and clichés with a more contemporary ensemble (Nothing new there either though). My aim was to create a 'hybrid-pastiche' that includes elements you'd never find in authentic Baroque music, not only in the writing but also considering many of the instruments either didn't exist or were quite different in construction then. I try to do this while keeping the piece musically cohesive to some capacity.
I tried to maintain some of the disciplined principles of the Baroque era writing style (though, not anywhere near as disciplined) while exploring a unique combination of instruments. The recording you hear is a mix of live performances and virtual instruments. It might be fun to guess which parts are real and which are virtual.
The final result somewhat matched my initial mock-up, though some studio magic was necessary to control the balance. This makes me wonder how well the texture would actually translate to a live performance, as I'd think it would require careful balancing by the players. I tend to feel the harpsichord is unrealistically forward in this mix, but I liked how it filled out the texture at times (maybe it could be amplified if anyone wanted to perform this)
This piece is quite different from my usual work, so I do welcome your thoughts, both positive and critical. I feel the "counterpoint" at the 0:30 mark or so is a little sloppy, the voice leading is fair, and as far as the textures resulting from the odd combination of instruments- no idea, probably a subjective thing.
Score is attached as well. What Autumn Wrote - Full score.pdf
Replies
You should change "Baroque" to "Renaissance".
yes, my first instinct was Tudor and I'm really not sure what it has to do with Baroque? Perhaps it uses Baroque technical devices without invoking the feel of the period (which is anyway of course rather varied)? Anyway, I liked bits of this-- particularly the wild key change around 39". Overall, the piece does have a rather quirky individuality which is pleasing.
Hi David / Rowy,
Thanks for having a listen.
I realize I should clarify a bit. The work is scored for winds and two harpsichordists, which gives it an “early music” impression. However, stylistically, the music doesn’t quite fit the baroque description, agreed. I mentioned intending for the work to be similar to a baroque style/ensemble, but only in a loose sense. Traditionally, that style has a continuo as its foundation, with an emphasis on the bass. The harmony is usually handled by one keyboard instrument reading figured bass and realizing the harmony throughout the piece. The texture is generally polyphonic/contrapuntal, with lots of imitation and so on.
This piece doesn’t really correspond to those characteristics. It has simpler, more limited harmony. The voice-leading is much more heterophonic than polyphonic, with parallels, free ornaments, key changes, and other elements not typically found in baroque music. However, some of these elements do appear in early renaissance music, which I suppose is the basis for Rowy’s comment. Perhaps Baroque was not the best stlyistic descriptor of the intended pastiche at moments.
After reading up a bit more, I agree with Rowy that this piece leans stylistically towards an early renaissance band but with elements of modern pop music and film music. This was indeed my intention—a bit of genre fusion.
thanks for the clarification, David. Perhaps then my instinct of Tudor (which of course broadly corresponds to the English Renaissance) was not so far off the mark although I've never studied the period in any detail. At any rate, an inventive hybrid however you classify it.
I'm very late to this party, but wow, modern harmony with Baroque instrumentation, very unique! Overall I liked it, kinda contemplative but not introspective, just to kind of mood to be in, in autumn. :P
In some places the flute sounds a bit too loud to my ears for some reason. But maybe I'm just ignorant of how it would actually sound in real life.
Not much to say about the counterpoint, nothing sounds particularly "wrong" to my ears in the context it appears in. Didn't hear anything around 0:30 that stood out. But then I wasn't expecting to apply strict Fux counterpoint to this while listening (and I don't particularly follow it myself in my own work either), so maybe I missed something. After all, the piece is modern harmonically, so even the occasional parallel 5th or the like wouldn't sound overly out-of-place IMO. (My personal definition of correctness is what pleases the ear... and my ear in particular notices when something sounds out of place, but doesn't really care about fussy rules like Fux if the result fits together and is internally self-consistent.)
Hey Teoh, thank you for the feedback! I'm glad you found the modern harmony with Baroque instrumentation unique enough. Your observation about the flute’s volume is noted, possibly correct- as I initially stated, I'm not confident the recording heard here is a truly accurate representation of how this might sound live. It's a quirky combo of instruments, so it really goes beyond my experience to say what the orchestration would produce in reality. I know there was a lot of mixing that went into the recording, so, probably a sign there are some inherent balance issues in the writing itself.
I appreciate your take on counterpoint and harmony. I agree that strict adherence to rules like Fux’s wasn't the intention here, in fact there are parallel fifths right off the bat in the Soprano/Bass, so I agree with the philosophy of 'everything is sort of contextual' as far as the harmony applied here goes. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts
Full of character, neither derivative nor overly chaotic. A joy to listen to. Right up my street. Thank you 😁