Forum

The Unicorn (for solo guitar)

Posted by Will Smith on July 1, 2011 at 2:10pm in Music Analysis and Critique

Hi,

 

this is my first post in music dissection... I wrote this piece and two others about three years ago at university. The Unicorn was originally written as a contest piece for another composition website and had a really long ridiculous name, so I changed it to the name of a fantastic Iris Murdoch novel. I was looking at some early Schoenberg songs at the time, and I think some of that has rubbed off on the piece. I'm working on the score at the minute (transferring from powertab editor).

Anyway, see what you think.

The Unicorn.mp3

Views: 0

You need to be a member of Composers' Forum to add comments!

Join Composers' Forum

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Tombo Rombo July 3, 2011 at 12:25am

    Hey ya,

     

    I like the consistent, complex harmonic language, very tightly woven and true to itself throughout.  Can you play this on guitar?  It would certainly sound better, midi guitar sounds pretty much suck, but you know that already.  I'm not sure it stands alone, it would make a good part of a suite though.  Are you working on other movements?  And have you thought about adding some sprechtstimme?

  • Will Smith July 4, 2011 at 7:40pm
    Thanks for your comments! I agree that it doesn't hold that much weight by itself- there are some other movements which I may post later. Nice idea about the sprechstimme as well- I've never tried writing it before, but I can imagine it working well (very Perriot). I wrote it with a guitar to hand, but I'm not a great player- I'll have to live with the distinctly second best Halion sounds I have....
  • John Rimmer July 5, 2011 at 8:41pm
    i can hear the Schoenberg influence. I like this piece more as it progresses.
  • Jake Jones July 7, 2011 at 5:31pm
    I really enjoyed the piece. It seemed very liquid and I felt that you were very consistent with the sound world you've chosen for the piece. If I had any criticism, it would be it's lack of ability to stand alone.
  • Will Smith July 7, 2011 at 7:11pm
    Thanks for the comments guys. I agree with both of you: I like the way the piece progresses, although I think the first idea in the piece is a little bit four-square. I think I will post the other pieces, so that this one has a better frame of reference (I'll have to track them down first!)
This reply was deleted.