as this forum seems to have died recently, I feel obliged to post something new. Well actually, it isn't really new but my String Serenade has been redone with a new chamber strings library and for the most part, I like the result. The piece is a bit lighter than many with a mixture of nostalgic sentiment and high spirits which shouldn't require much explanation. It's probably as close to Czech models like Dvorak or Suk as any (with perhaps a hint of Swedishness) and can be found here https://play.reelcrafter.com/dko22/latestworks.
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I, OTOH, have almost zero interest in vocal music. :D Except perhaps humorous ones, like this "cheerful fugue".
If you like Bruckner, you might be interested to know that the finale of his 5th symphony is essentially one gigantic fugue culminating with an earth-shattering climax that basically wraps up the entire symphony in a single moment of fugal glory.
Beethoven's "Pastoral" is what inspired me to compose back when I was a teenager. But to be honest, I struggle with Eroica. I much prefer his 7th, for example.
of course I know that the finale of Bruckner's 5th is a giant fugue. It's also by some distance his greatest finale (he rarely matched the standard of the first movements in his finales).
As for Beethoven's Pastoral, I used to spread marmalade on the record (Erich Keiber, I believe) as a three year old, my mother used to say. And that I knew the symphony off by heart which is something of an exaggeration..... The 7th never did that much for me until I quite recently heard the 95 year old Blomstedt do a sensational performance of it in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall.
Back in the day, the only recording I could find of Beethoven's 6th is a tape that I borrowed from a friend. I used to listen to individual passages repeatedly and then try to replicate the chord progressions on the piano. It became one of the foundations for my sense of harmonic progressions. I probably did know the symphony by heart... well, at least the major sections of it. :D I did feel, however, that the finale went on for a tad too long: IMNSHO Beethoven could've trimmed off some of the final passages and it would have been just fine. But he just had to squeeze the last drops out of it, which, depending on my mood, sometimes feels a little too dragging.
As for the 7th, the 2nd movement is purportedly one of the most popular movements of all time... except that it does nothing for me!! I find it too repetitious and tedious, where others sing praises of it. On the contrary, the finale of the 7th is my all-time favorite symphonic finales, whereas critics pan it for being based on drunken beer songs from the bar.
Apparently I have a track record of being contrary to popular opinion. And I'm quite OK with that. :D
The 2nd movement of no. 7 is/was my biggest problem with it as well. I never understood what people saw in that uninspired dirge. It was the performance of that movement above all by Blomstedt which set me thinking! I always enjoyed the "like a lot of mad yaks jumping around" (Beecham) finale.
Wow, we actually agree on something??!
I ... must sit down. ;-)
That seems to be a major problem. Many composers are not able to share their music. That's one of the reasons to get formal training at an academy. It can be the start of a network. You need to be a people's person, though. Nowadays, you can use a virtual orchestra to produce a sound file, but such an orchestra doesn't come with an audience.
Then again, if you're a hobby composer and you like to write music for your own enjoyment, not for other people, you don't need an audience except for family and friends. Of course, you could post some of your music online, like you're doing.
About the geniuses, you must mean David. He is the only self-taught composer I have ever met who reached an impressive level. He's too polite, though, and he will never tell you to sell your instrument. I do know a reasonably talented composer who visited the restaurant of a conservatory regularly and who used to criticize students and make them feel depressed, but she's retired. Perhaps you could stick to family and friends.
Right now with a full-time job and a family to feed, getting formal training is neither practical nor desirable to me. Besides, I'm really not that interested in networking. I compose because it pleases me, and I do it even when nobody in my family is interested to listen to it. I do post my music on another "social" platform, but am frankly uninterested in putting in any effort to promote it. If people like it, then good, if not, so be it. I post here mostly for entirely selfish reasons: to get feedback and criticism so that I can improve my skills. Occasionally having someone enjoy my music is a bonus.
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