seriously good. You have obviously put a lot of work into this and it works.
Grim picture.
Cheers
Len



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It sounds like a cinematic piece and with that a bit too long. But very nice.

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I like this type of stuff and the production is very clean and tight! what a terribly sad and dismal melody. It truly grabs the listener, at least it sure did this one. Makes me very glad to be alive! Nice work all around.

Regards,

Alvin

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to Richard - I like the way you managed to connect the two performances. Great atmosphere and production.

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My voice sounds so disconnected and disorientated in that random chord bed, and that's a really powerful and unsettling effect. It's especially chilling when it comes around the second time around because of the clever way it's contrasted with the warmness of Richard's vocal, which seems to take the chilliness to a deeper level somehow. And nice that it ends on the warm and positive.

We purposely made my vocal as different as possible from Richard's so that there'd be plenty of creative options for people to work with ... so to have used them both in one song and pulled it off so well is quite an achievement.

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to pull off both vocals so effectively is quite impressive!

outstanding job composing this!
great tune!
wow!

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one of those horrifying dream sequence thingies very well done loved the mood and loved the dual vocals .

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Very evocative of the humans who get caught up in war. That was also the goal I strove for in my rendition, but I think your arrangement works better.

Very nice.

-stephen

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When I first heard the Minstrel Boy melody I was a bit at a loss what to do with the harmonies: they're so obvious and so kinda-boring. It's been interesting hearing the solutions that people have found to this.

Yours is one of a few that are almost ignoring the original harmonies, and just making a whole new composition under it, which is connected to the melody more in spirit than in actual musical theory.

I really like this. This is a serious compositions out of such a simple melody.

Victor.

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Lovely job avoiding the obvious harmonies.

I see the orchestra as a veritable array of wraiths and lost souls. The picture captures it very well.

Beautiful orchestration and use of dynamics.

Cheers

Dick

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Giant WORK ! ............!

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Did you writte the orchestral music ? Or did you just play it ?
Fantastic job on the arrangement .

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...this is just too good, cc.

Chilling. The harp fills are beyond perfect...

The horror 'neath the waves of nobility.

Deepest bows, sir...

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Thank you so much for all the comments, they are deeply appreciated.

This was one of those pieces where everything seemed to fall into place, even down to the picture (grim, but also, I felt, deeply poignant) which I came across half way through working on this, and, combined with the lyrics, helped me set the whole tone and direction of the piece.

I must admit that I was not that familiar with the Minstrel Boy tune which was probably a good thing, for the poetry of the language was fresh and very moving.

I started off wanting to do an atonal orchestral accompaniment to Richard's voice only, but it immediately became clear that it had to be tonal. So I thought I would contrast that by adding a wild atonal accompaniment to Rebsie's voice. In the end, all that was needed was to stick to Richard's tempo and add the introductory descending scales I worked out on the violins and apply them to Rebsie's track with a few added effects. I did a first version where Rebsie begins and ends the piece, but I think this one works better where Rebsie and Richard each sing in turn.

I will readily admit to pinching some ideas from two of my favourite composers: Benjamin Britten and Henryk Gorecki.

I came up with the idea of the suddenly swelling and diminishing orchestral dynamics from having listened to Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem". He does it so brilliantly, and effectively at the end of this masterpiece in the "Libera Me" section.

I also was influenced by Gorecki's deep brass and string base tones which he uses so well in his "3rd Symphony" and in his "Beatus Vir".

I just might spend some time, and try to lay out the score to this.


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It seems that the music sometimes really drowns Richard's vocal out, but I wonder if it's just me or my headphones, because no one else has mentioned it. I'm probably high.

This is super-creepy and very disturbing. You've captured the other side of the flash and majesty sometimes granted to warfare and laid bare the deathly reality. I love the way that Rebsie sounds almost like a young boy standing on the battlefield, she's the flip-side to Richard's bravado. This is truly a haunting piece of music.

P.S. I like the rings in your profile photo.

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I am compelled to provide you with a new vox track, sung with less bravado and more low-register meandering. I'd love to play off Rebsie's freer rhythms. My metronomic voice is too stilted for this luxurious orchestral bed. I don't mind at all that my voice is overpowered by the instruments. It suggests being buried by the din of madness and the heavy shroud of the battle-dead.

You did an outstanding job surrounding our bare tracks with a cinematic warfront.

---
http://www.hungryforheaven.com/

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Richard, I think your voice is just perfect on this. The bravado and energy you provide was what triggered the whole composition, for I started with the idea of using your voice only.

Yes, you do get drowned out by the orchestra, but it was kind of intentional. I’ve heard this effect done in operas, I know Herbert von Karajan often did it, and was sometimes criticised for it, so I'm relieved you don't mind (previous versions had you drowned out completely), but I hope I was careful enough in this version that the lyrics are just about still audible.


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You know, after I posted about it, I started to feel kind of silly, realizing that it must have been intentional on your part, since every other element is so expertly done. So, then I wanted to take it back, but they don't have a 'take it back' button at this place.

I do think it can be an effective tool. The Composer did it in his remix of Saturnine, where he drowned out the vocal here and there and it definitely adds something off-kilter to the whole song. I think in this piece it can add to the concept of how war drowns out everything, destroys individuals.

So, consider this my version of the 'take it back' button. :-)

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I had the exact same reaction, especially on the first version where Richard was drowned out even more, so I tried to do it less on this version. But I think it's very hard to recreate that effect unless you are dealing with a real orchestra in a real auditorium etc. The same goes for the sudden diminuendo at the end of the piece which sounds slightly artificial to me because the sound just disappears, whereas in reality it would still bounce about the walls for a bit. I’m sure there are ways of fixing that with reverb, etc., but I’m still learning when it comes to mixing, and filters and stuff.

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I think this piece is brilliant in conception and execution. Absolutely brilliant.

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Haunting keyboard melodies really set this piece off.
Your orchestration is superb. Rebsie is a star, what a voice..whoa! and Richard Schletty is the consumate MacJams journeyman, strong vocals delivered to fit a wide variety of styles.
bravo!
wonderful!

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do you have any old audio tape pieces for us to hear?

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All my recordings were done on the computer, except for one piece (not posted) which was recorded by an engineer in an auditorium with a real orchestra and choir in the Czech Republic in 2002 (but I'm pretty sure that would be digital also).

Thanks for asking though.


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Stark but beautiful, and strangely disturbing till the orchestra strikes up and becomes very uplifting. Very well constructed, well done.

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What an arrangement. So dark and hopeless. I love it!

I usually just kind of intuit my way through a piece so it's especially impressive that you had a particular color in mind and executed it so brilliantly.

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there is so much to love about this... but 1st it the atmoshere... disjointed with Rebs vocal, as the keys keeps us outside.. it never quite enters in, but it is so effective in highlights the obscenity of the scene...but also provides a resolve when Richards vocal comes in... only to hear him overrun by the orchestra... brilliant

I'm very impressed

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...this arrangement to Gorecki &, at times, Gavin Bryars & Penderecki...so- I was reading the various comments here & lo & behold, I see your reply mentioning Gorecki! LOL!

You have clearly put a LOT of work into this & the result is effective & original.

Upon hearing the first descending sequences, I knew this was going to become a favourite of mine.

Many Thanks!
Cheers,
Alf

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the grim realities of war without saying a word directly. Reading the comments, I think you hit a chord with all of your listeners, and the very agreement of so many commenters means that your music has a very solid grounding. Wonderful work!

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I am beginning to think that Rebsie is omnipresent. (I have become a big fan of hers.)

I love what you've done here.

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