Greetings!
Here is a Kyrie Eleison, begging for mercy since we treat mother nature so disrespectful. It is an interplay with an organ and a brass ensemble striving for some heavy bass tones originating from both the organ and two tubas.
It is my first try of this format so all reflections would be received gratefully.
Kjell
https://soundcloud.com/user-892939153/kyrie-eleison-nature-strikes-back-organ-and-brass
Replies
Hi Kjell,
While this is not unpleasant, I found that there is a quality of sameness and tone throughout which caused my interest to fade as the piece went on. I think some more variance in volume (higher highs in particular) might have caused me to retain my interest more. It also feels like it might benefit from more of a climactic crescendoing at the end, it otherwise had a feeling to me not so much as building to an end as just stopping. Thanks for sharing!
Gav
Good work.
It works as a Kyrie, has a subdued solemnity about it, subdued because of your choice of lower brass that never blares. If I may say so, the scoring sounds somewhat dense but that could be this particular rendering or possibly that low pitched chords closely spaced vertically tend to sound more dense. That may be just what you want in which case, please disregard that comment. For myself, in line with Gav above, a few more highs might have grabbed my attention.
You seem to have kept the organ and brass going together throughout (or almost). They blend well but neither have their own presence. A different mix might differentiate them a little (I'm no expert here!) With the length of the work as it is that's fine. If it had gone on longer, passages for brass and organ separately would add variation.
It was perfectly listenable as a Kyrie, the harmonic movement was great and I felt it achieves the aim of the title.
Hey there Kjell, all in all I enjoyed this. A point or 2 for your consideration though. I thought that the base
horns played to much of a role and 'muddied' the flow of this... and, I was listening for a 'bravado moment' from Mother Nature as a crescendo of sorts, and an exclamation point that proclaimed who the real boss is.
I hope you find my amateur assessment constructive ... and inspiring lol
Thank you guys for your support. Seems you have similar impressions. The bass register is of course hard to utilize since it is most dependent on the sound system, it is the hardest part to reproduce. Still it is my ambition to compose in this register for this piece. I will not add something high pitch, I am convinced it should be possible to resolve the muddiness here, maybe some panning. I will think about it. Nice challenge you gave me.
Thank you, appreciated.
Kjell
It's a good composition, but I was puzzled why it's called a Kyrie Eleison -- isn't a Kyrie Eleison by definition a vocal piece? At least every one I've heard has been. Just from a marketing standpoint, it might be better to give it another title, still reflecting the Green motif. If I were running a call for scores for Kyrie Eleison pieces and received this one, I would wonder why it had been submitted.
Hi Kjell
Really enjoyed this. The organ sounds good and the brass picks out some really nice melodies. I think that it's a bit muddy in the bass at times to the detriment of the organ which, to my mind at least, is the star of the show and could have flexed its muscles a bit more.
Loved it though. Colin
Thanks Jon, to me Kyrie Eleison is just greek for what I wanted to express. I could have chosen any language here, english for example, but thought it would be more evocative in this way. But you gave me a good point, thank you.
Kjell
Jon Corelis said:
Thank you Colin, interesting point to have more focus on the organ. Latest GPO had improved the brass, now with a decent trumpet, so I thought I wanted to try that. But more organ may resolve the tuba muddiness pointed out by others. There are two tuba lines in the piece.
Gratefully,
Kjell
Colin Dougall said: