I am interested in a wide variety of music, although my own tends towards modernism. I grew up on jazz and pop music of the 1970s, but was blown away by Stravinsky, Bartok, Shostakovich, Lutoslawski, and Penderecki while in college. I haven't looked back since. You might hear all of them in my music, as well as others, especially if you listen to my fourth symphony, which I just finished the first draft. It's posted on my YouTube channel, but I'm still tinkering with it. I'll post a link when I'm totally happy with it.
Music
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"In the Instruments Section of the Ribbon, you see a little icon (a box with a little arrow that points down and to the right) at the bottom right. That takes you to Edit Instruments dialog. I forgot you were on a Mac, so it might be a little…"
"You don't have to set up a CC code. In Sibelus, go to Instruments->Edit Instruments. Choose your string instrument, violin (solo) or in a string quartet, just violin I. Click Edit instrument, best sound…"
"I hadn't tried using section strings in NP3, so I don't know. Certainly, NP4 was adequate, if not spectacular, for the section string solos. As far as glissandos go, it depends on the sample library. BBCSO Core orchestral strings don't allow them in…"
"I think also that NP does better with glissandi in Sibelius. The BBCSO solo strings do better in Dorico as well. I had to fake some of it, though. In SQ3, the performance version of the score uses 8 lines because you can't tie into a gliss. The…"
"Being a Brucknerian, I enjoyed listening to that. It's very good, and has some very Bruckner-sounding sections. Overall, the first movement sounds as a whole ... oddly ... Mahlerian. It is probably the way you put it together. I think I noticed some…"
"Actually, that sounds much better, and I'm not so put off by the section at E. Some of the cresc and dim don't sound natural at times, and there are a few places that sound electronic, but otherwise it is a significant improvement."
"I think I wasn't bothered by the ending, except that maybe what I heard as the climax happened too early in the piece. I wasn't really a fan of the insistent cello rhythm that appeared at E and returned briefly at M. It just seemed too predictable…"
"Really???? Maybe she is using the solo strings instead of the solo section strings. The solo strings sound awful. I submitted a demo of String Quartet No 5 using just NotePerformer (no PE) to a competition, and it sounded great ... and won. The PE…"
"I'm not sure I would say "rather" Bergian. I think I hear some Berg in a few places, thinking of his Lyric Suite, more in some textures than melody. I realize this is mostly an early work and you probably aren't thinking of revising it…"
"Thanks for your kind remarks David. I'll try to answer your questions as succinctly as I am able.
Harmonic relationships are determined by how much overlap there is between the sets. If you take a 12-note row and divide it in half, then there is no…"
Harmonic relationships are determined by how much overlap there is between the sets. If you take a 12-note row and divide it in half, then there is no…"
"About the closest you will hear me getting to a fugue is about 5 minutes into my 4th symphony, which hints at a (double?) fugue, but doesn't really make it to the 4th exposition, as it is interrupted. One of my early pieces (In a Dream) has a fugue…"
"I used to listen to a lot of Peter Menin, and I wish he was played more often. I suppose your movement sounds like him, typical of the "dissonant counterpoint" style. I agree with HS that it sounds like a movement or section of a larger work. It…"
"I assume that David was responding to HS's comment. Along the same line, it isn't the theory that drives the composition of my music. While I am always aware of the theory, the piece itself originates organically. When I start, I don't know its…"
"I must confess that I am remiss that I don't comment on other people's music enough. To be honest, music of a certain (common) aesthetic doesn't interest me, and sometimes it is better for me not to say anything unless there is a specific question.…"
"I was all ready to run with the music theory angle that this thread had turned, but now I see that it has turned back to the topic. I think what I might do is combine them in a way ...
I have often been criticized for my music sounding to some ears…"
I have often been criticized for my music sounding to some ears…"
"FYI, the scrolling video of the trumpet concerto was an intermediate version before I translated it into Dorico, so it has a number of empty staves. They aren't in the final score."
Bio
I'm a composer of instrumental music, including 4 symphonies, a suite of dwarf planet miniatures (Far From the Fading Light), concertos for piano, violin, flute, and euphonium, 5 string quartets (the fifth won 1st Prize, Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers 2021), as well as a host of chamber music.
I'm am transitioning from teaching at CCM in Cincinnati toward full-time freelancing as a music engraver/typesetter, which I have done since the early 1990s (full time until 2012, when I returned to teaching). My octet, Labyrinth, has been recorded and should be (finally) released this spring, if not before. The BIS recording of my reorchestration of Per Nørgård's Helle Nacht (Violin Concerto No. 1) was critically acclaimed, although I wasn't credited on the recording, and the Grammophone reviewer thought the arrangement was done by the composer:
Herresthal plays here the reduction for chamber orchestra Nørgård made at his suggestion in 2002, which gives the music an extra transparency that proves even more beguiling than the original, which is accordingly not directly comparable.
