In my opinion, this is better than your Starship piece, but
still not as pleasing and polished and thought-out as, say,
Ominomus or my favorite, Deverso Overture. I like the
slow 4ths/5ths of the low horns, with the woodwinds
dancing over them. But there are some jarring things that
don't fit well. At about 2/5ths in, a high-pitched (brush?)
percussive tick/twitch starts in, almost like a metronome,
and it seems too loud for the rest of the orchestra, as well
as being out of place. Near the end, it sounded like the
trumpets were confused and had a hard time knowing
exactly when to come in and play their part :-) The
Zarathustra (2001) timpani hits at the very end also
seemed mismatched for this kind of piece, but the final
quick ending chord was cute. The languid smooth flowing
nature of this was very nice, the melody and harmonies
were great. Your orchestration (other than mentioned
above) is, as usual, superb... very crisp sounds, nice clear
pitch-separation of instruments to keep it from getting
muddy. Very enjoyable movement of the melody from
section to section. So, I have a question. You mention in
the description that you couldn't quite bend GB to do your
bidding. What was it your were trying to do? Do you have
a vision or story that you are trying to portray with each
piece? If so, then if you could put that in the description
of the piece, I can offer better comments on how well you
did in portraying it. If it is just "mood music", and if you
say that, that's good too. In this case, the music gave me
a sense of bittersweet longing, like someone saying
goodbye to a great friend for a long time. If that is what
you were aiming for, you did it :-) Hopefully this is useful
feedback! I really enjoy your work a great deal.
ttfn,
Drakonis

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Thank you for your comments. I must say you nailed this one right on the
head. I was infact trying to convey a sense of longing for someone you may or
may not see again, hence the name "tender memories" I will admit I have
been getting rather sloppy with my few recent compositions. Why is this
might you ask? I think it is because I have been getting a little impatient and
trying to whip these things out quickly instead of paying attention to the
details. There were some parts that didn't seem quite as slurry as hoped and
some parts were a little jumpy. The melody is rather nice, along with its
harmonies etc but I still think I am missing something, it doesn't quite feel
right to me. As said before the ideas are there but it isn't jumping out saying
"here it is 100% my way" I do agree with you about the timpani at the end, it
doesn't quite fit, if i get rid of that and just use that last chord it would have
been a nice finish. So, why did I put the timpani in it then? I think its because
I love the timpani and wanted to end a song that way, but perhaps I should
have waited to do that for a song more appropriate.

[ Reply to This ]

I love it. Great song. I love this beautifull harmony. You
have some low timpani sounds at the and of the song, but
I thought you need some low timpani sounds in the
middle of the track, too. and I think that will make the
song sounds deeper. Anyway this is a great song.

Thanks for sharing this cool song BranDaMan!

- Hawks

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I would love to hear this arranged and performed by a live
wind ensemble. Flows very well, though, you are right that
something like this can really show GB's limitations when
it comes to orchestral pieces.

The only suggestion I have is that the mid and low brass
could be thickened in some parts. But, then again, that
may be due to GB limitations.

I really enjoy your work.

[ Reply to This ]