Many composers define your tastes, but, what would define you like a proper composer? What kind of works would you have created? Symphonies? Concertante music? Tone poems? Chamber music? Solo piano music? Choral music? Vocal music? Other combinations?
And, if you went farther, what would be the titles of your own works?
It's always that kind of has intrigued me since we are such a community of connoisseurs of the most wide range of music in terms of classical music, above all, and I've learnt a lot from everybody here, which makes me grateful with this place.
I'm puting my own explanation later.
Most of the better things I compose in my head fall into three categories: string quartets, chamber music for larger groups (6-10), and short concertos where I can just play with the sonorities of the soloist vs. accompanists, knowing I'll probably forget most of the material in a few days anyway.
Some pieces I think about quite frequently are a fantasy on a Turkish folk song, modeled after RVW's Tallis fantasia but for string quartet; a jokey divertimento for string quintet + wind quintet; and chamber concertos for instruments like oboe or trombone.
This has changed quite a lot over time. In middle school I couldn't remember a single made-up melody from one minute to the next, so while waiting for the school bus I'd mentally "play" improvised Mozarty piano concertos with absolutely no structure whatsoever. ;D Like, it would go, "here's a happy intro melody, here's another happy melody, piano enters after a few minutes and...plays a new melody, and then they all play yet another new melody, cadenza, and maybe the first movement ends with some sort of half-remembered, vaguely similar callback to one of the previous ideas." Total disaster, but hey, the point was just to kill time!
And then in college, there were a lot of moody romantic tone poems, which is a form that can sometimes have a total lack of structure in real life. Sometimes now I'll hear a moody romantic tone poem on CPO or some other label where it's 20 minutes of gloomy melody-free dithering around, and think, "ugh, this sounds like something I made up," and turn it off. ;D
I'm typically more interested in symphonies & concertos, but it's very difficult to write such large works. So most of the music I write tends to be chamber or piano music.
Organ music. Just because I sometimes spontaneously hear it in my head. Probably a sign of dementia but oh well! :laugh:
Lately I've been striving towards a clearer sound within a chromatic idiom.
I tend to compose with a certain pallete in mind so the instrumentation comes with it. I generally treat all ensembles as modern chamber ensembles (individual parts, no octave doubling of lines).
I often write in what amounts to a series of episodes but I'd like to write with better form considerations (without necessarily meaning the old ones) one day yet there is a long way ahead of me.
As examples of the music I aspire to, I'd like to write works in the lines of Debussy's late sonatas for small chamber ensembles or Boulez's Notations for large orchestra.
Am sadly not even a musician, but for ambition and some PR, I'd probably strive for some cyclical/'series' work, with a sort of underlying, unifying idea or concept, yet plenty of space for variation too ...
I would definitely compose a lot of works for chamber ensembles, solo piano/guitar and some choral works with various types of ensembles. I'd also compose an ambitious symphony cycle where each symphony represents either a season of the year or a holiday of some personal significance, especially Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would also compose many works for a solo instrument and strings (sometimes including percussion) like a Vibraphone Concerto, Horn Concerto, Trumpet Concerto and Harp Concerto. I'd also write several ballets based on tales my grandmother used to tell us when we were kids.
Inspiration drawn from Boulez and Webern and they'd be cantatas in 12 tone style. I'd also improve my Italian considerably as to me there is nothing worse than singing in the English language. I'm loosely religious but I would try and make them based around things I grew up with like reincarnation.
Some solo piano music as well but that goes without saying ;D
edit: added more detail
Sadly it would be deeply derivative and utterly unoriginal. An absolute field-day for the "sounds like" brigade. Any brief flickers of originality soon snuffed out by empty rhetoric and hollow bombast..... sigh..........
Quote from: Roasted Swan on August 23, 2021, 07:18:11 AM
Sadly it would be deeply derivative and utterly unoriginal. An absolute field-day for the "sounds like" brigade.
Same. But probably "oh that sounds like watered down Myaskovsky if he had tin ears and was drunk..."
When I was a student back in the '70s I wrote entirely for chamber ensembles since there was no hope otherwise of getting anything performed. Since I restarted composing a couple of years ago I've finished one string quartet that I started as a student, started another work for string quartet, and written a large-scale piece for chamber strings. I have ideas for a sonata for flute, viola, and piano and an interest in writing something for a large orchestra, but no ideas so far... :( Idiom-wise, I always thought my music would explore the outer reaches of tonality (a la Schoenberg's 2nd SQ), but my chamber strings piece is positively retro and doesn't even stretch tonality beyond the 19th century. So I don't really know where my interests will lead me, except that I'm not terribly interested in 12-tone music (let alone "total serialism") nor in electronic music. Of course, that could change...
Quote from: DavidW on August 23, 2021, 08:44:29 AM
Same. But probably "oh that sounds like watered down Myaskovsky if he had tin ears and was drunk..."
Now that I'd like to hear!!! ;)
Orchestral works, without question. I've had this idea for a while of a work where instead of one set of timpani with one person playing it, the percussionists would have a kettledrum each as part of their battery, lined along the back of the orchestra.
Quote from: Maestro267 on August 23, 2021, 10:53:41 AM
Orchestral works, without question. I've had this idea for a while of a work where instead of one set of timpani with one person playing it, the percussionists would have a kettledrum each as part of their battery, lined along the back of the orchestra.
A single drum each?
Quote from: hvbias on August 23, 2021, 07:14:42 AM
Inspiration drawn from Boulez and Webern and they'd be cantatas in 12 tone style. I'd also improve my Italian considerably as to me there is nothing worse than singing in the English language. I'm loosely religious but I would try and make them based around things I grew up with like reincarnation.
Some solo piano music as well but that goes without saying ;D
edit: added more detail
You need to start composing, that sounds awesome—music and medicine, like a serialist Borodin ;D
I've read your contributions so far with much interest. In my personal case, I would compose symphonies, not too many, based on some of these topics: humanity, universe, nature, historical moments, or about my own experiences. One symphony would probably be in E flat minor (my favorite key) and it would be for a kind of huge orchestra, including bells, organ, tam-tam and two sets of timpani. Moreover, some chamber pieces, one or two concerti and a bunch of tone poems. My style would be something like late-Romantic with some modern and Neoclassical touches.
I think that I would write symphonies as these are what I listen to most.
They would probably sound like a cross between pale imitations of Vaughan Williams mixed in with rejected scores for Hollywood biblical epics.
8)
Quote from: vers la flamme on August 23, 2021, 01:18:44 PM
You need to start composing, that sounds awesome—music and medicine, like a serialist Borodin ;D
I'm young, but not
that young to start all over ;D
Quote from: Brian on August 23, 2021, 11:42:11 AM
A single drum each?
A single drum each, alongside their other percussion instruments. I'm imagining four percussionists taking up the widest arc at the back of the orchestra, so the drums will be spatially separated as well, so antiphonal play can happen. I'm also imagining a passage where all four percussionists play the kettledrums and "battle" each other or something like that.
Quote from: vandermolen on August 24, 2021, 12:39:37 AM
I think that I would write symphonies as these are what I listen to most.
They would probably sound like a cross between pale imitations of Vaughan Williams mixed in with rejected scores for Hollywood biblical epics.
8)
You wouldn't do anything more experimental? My style would be more chameleon-like. Almost like at a crossroads between Debussy, Stravinsky, Lutosławski, K. A. Hartmann and not far removed from the lyricism found in Barber's slow movements.
Awful ones. The best thing I ever wrote was a piece for me and a (very brilliant) violinist to play at my brother's wedding. And that was awful too.
I once wrote a (non-classical) song that both my older sister and my girlfriend at the time liked, and we were all at a jazz gig one night in London, and when they stopped for an interval, unknown to me my sister, who people always said yes to alas, went up and asked if her brother could play a song. So I ended up on the stage with my girlfriend, like my sister a fearless type who assumed things would always go well, saying she wanted to sing it.
Unfortunately when we actually got to it, she'd never sung in public before and was so nervous that she started (and continued) singing out of tune. This was compounded halfway through the song, by the lower panel of the upright piano dropping on my foot, thus jamming the sustain pedal down for the rest of the song. An inauspicious, but wholly fitting start to my never-to-be song writing career!
Quote from: vandermolen on August 24, 2021, 12:39:37 AM
I think that I would write symphonies as these are what I listen to most.
They would probably sound like a cross between pale imitations of Vaughan Williams mixed in with rejected scores for Hollywood biblical epics.
8)
;D
Quote from: Iota on August 24, 2021, 11:08:38 AM
Awful ones. The best thing I ever wrote was a piece for me and a (very brilliant) violinist to play at my brother's wedding. And that was awful too.
I once wrote a (non-classical) song that both my older sister and my girlfriend at the time liked, and we were all at a jazz gig one night in London, and when they stopped for an interval, unknown to me my sister, who people always said yes to alas, went up and asked if her brother could play a song. So I ended up on the stage with my girlfriend, like my sister a fearless type who assumed things would always go well, saying she wanted to sing it.
Unfortunately when we actually got to it, she'd never sung in public before and was so nervous that she started (and continued) singing out of tune. This was compounded halfway through the song, by the lower panel of the upright piano dropping on my foot, thus jamming the sustain pedal down for the rest of the song. An inauspicious, but wholly fitting start to my never-to-be song writing career!
Oh, poor you [plural you]! Truly!
I'll have to give some thought as to what I would write/style, etc....that's if I
could write.
PD
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 24, 2021, 11:41:14 AM
Oh, poor you [plural you]! Truly!
Oh thanks, PD, that's very nice of you. :) But actually it was hilarious, we all had a great laugh about it! Sorry, I should have put a laugh emoji or something.
The song was awful though, and much better off for being heard through a veil of sung microtones and swimming piano! :laugh:
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on August 24, 2021, 11:41:14 AM
Oh, poor you [plural you]! Truly!
This sadly necessary clarification makes me proud to be a southerner and purveyor of "y'all" ;D
I have contradictory urges, I want something as chromatic and clear as Boulez but limpid like Chin with contrasting sections of Feldmaninan darkness. I want development and non-development to coexist. I want form but also a flux of ideas.
Working on how to make a synthesis of all this.
Quote from: Mirror Image on August 24, 2021, 07:55:57 AM
You wouldn't do anything more experimental? My style would be more chameleon-like. Almost like at a crossroads between Debussy, Stravinsky, Lutosławski, K. A. Hartmann and not far removed from the lyricism found in Barber's slow movements.
A cool combination of styles.
Quote from: vandermolen on August 24, 2021, 12:39:37 AM
I think that I would write symphonies as these are what I listen to most.
They would probably sound like a cross between pale imitations of Vaughan Williams mixed in with rejected scores for Hollywood biblical epics.
8)
Another interesting combination I would like to hear.
Quote from: vers la flamme on August 24, 2021, 01:57:58 PM
This sadly necessary clarification makes me proud to be a southerner and purveyor of "y'all" ;D
:laugh: :)
Well, I could have gone with "youse guys"? ;)
PD
Solo piano music, chamber music and Lieder/choral music. Despite being a musical illiterate, my list of imaginary such compositions is currently at Op. 39.
My music would be the expression of my emotional states. I would have zero interest in sound for sound's sake. (Ten points for anyone who will nominate whom I just quoted).
A particular interest of mine would be music inspired by, and dedicated to, children and childhood. For instance, I'd compose several books of pieces for violin and piano collected under the title "Childish things", including such items as Cavalcade on a Wooden Horse, Garfield's Polka, Bernard-the-Bear's Ballad and Lullaby for a Toy Soldier.
Another particular interest would be what I call chamber tone poems, ie program / descriptive music for chamber ensembles. I'd mostly use the piano trio and the quintet for piano and winds formats for such an endeavour.
The Lieder / choral music would be mostly to poems by Romanian poets, especially those with an eminently musical language, first and foremost but not limited to, my avatar man, Ion Minulescu.
My musical idiom would be fully tonal, tuneful, heart-on-sleeve sentimental, simple and unpretentious: stuff that a happy family, or a merry gathering of friends, would like to play in the evening, for relaxation and fun, a glass in hand and some cakes on the table. I would aim to please and charm; the world is already an ugly and frightful place and I would hate to enhance its ugliness and frightfulness by my own music.
My credo would be the same as Carlos Guastavino's: "I love melody, I love to sing. I refuse to compose music only intended to be discovered and understood by future generations."
It's really interesting reading everyone's responses! It would be fun for everyone to try their hand at writing a piece - I'd love to see the results!
As for me, well, I'm a composer. A bit out of practice - save for a couple of songs and some short piano pieces, I haven't tried to write anything in more than 20 years. Within the last year, though, I've wanted to get back into writing music - I've been entering some of my old pieces into Sibelius and really enjoying the process. But I've been hesitant to dive back in all the way, though - my recent attempts to create anything new have fizzled after a few bars, and on top of that, I don't have the time to devote to composing like I did in my college days - life has a habit of getting in the way!
As for my style? It's tonal through and through, with a healthy dose of dissonance for color and "spice". Lively and rhythmic in the fast parts, gently lyrical in the slow ones. I don't know if it "sounds like" one composer or another - perhaps Walter Piston meets Francis Poulenc, with a smattering of George Lloyd, a dash of Edmund Rubbra, and a garnish of Leonard Bernstein? Not that I'm anywhere *near* as talented as any one of those guys, but you get the idea.
I tend to write in abstract forms - I've never been one for programmatic titles that have some "deeper meaning". If it's written for string quartet, it's a String Quartet. If it's written for a solo instrument with piano, it's a Sonata. A piano solo may be a Prelude or a Nocturne or a Scherzo or what have you, depending on the character of the piece, but that's as far as I'll go. It's on my "bucket list" to write a full, multi-movement symphony - but if indeed I take the leap back into composing, I'll need to build myself back up to writing in longer forms.
I'm debating whether to share my older compositions on the "Composing and Performing" thread... I don't know if that's more geared to works in progress. We'll see.
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 24, 2021, 04:54:41 PM
It's really interesting reading everyone's responses! It would be fun for everyone to try their hand at writing a piece - I'd love to see the results!
As for me, well, I'm a composer. A bit out of practice - save for a couple of songs and some short piano pieces, I haven't tried to write anything in more than 20 years. Within the last year, though, I've wanted to get back into writing music - I've been entering some of my old pieces into Sibelius and really enjoying the process. But I've been hesitant to dive back in all the way, though - my recent attempts to create anything new have fizzled after a few bars, and on top of that, I don't have the time to devote to composing like I did in my college days - life has a habit of getting in the way!
As for my style? It's tonal through and through, with a healthy dose of dissonance for color and "spice". Lively and rhythmic in the fast parts, gently lyrical in the slow ones. I don't know if it "sounds like" one composer or another - perhaps Walter Piston meets Francis Poulenc, with a smattering of George Lloyd, a dash of Edmund Rubbra, and a garnish of Leonard Bernstein? Not that I'm anywhere *near* as talented as any one of those guys, but you get the idea.
I tend to write in abstract forms - I've never been one for programmatic titles that have some "deeper meaning". If it's written for string quartet, it's a String Quartet. If it's written for a solo instrument with piano, it's a Sonata. A piano solo may be a Prelude or a Nocturne or a Scherzo or what have you, depending on the character of the piece, but that's as far as I'll go. It's on my "bucket list" to write a full, multi-movement symphony - but if indeed I take the leap back into composing, I'll need to build myself back up to writing in longer forms.
I'm debating whether to share my older compositions on the "Composing and Performing" thread... I don't know if that's more geared to works in progress. We'll see.
Be welcome!
I'll write perhaps ten symphonies more (I've now written two.) It will be an interesting question: how many will I actually write, if my first symphony never receives a performance?
I should like to write a clarinet quintet. Probably will not unless I come to collaborate with a string quartet, which hardly seems likely.
I have ideas for a couple of operas, but (unlike the symphonies nos. 1 & 2) I just cannot see expending that effort on a score that may just sit on the shelf.
Quote from: Florestan on August 25, 2021, 10:44:21 AM
Solo piano music, chamber music and Lieder/choral music. Despite being a musical illiterate, my list of imaginary such compositions is currently at Op. 39.
My music would be the expression of my emotional states. I would have zero interest in sound for sound's sake. (Ten points for anyone who will nominate whom I just quoted).
A particular interest of mine would be music inspired by, and dedicated to, children and childhood. For instance, I'd compose several books of pieces for violin and piano collected under the title "Childish things", including such items as Cavalcade on a Wooden Horse, Garfield's Polka, Bernard-the-Bear's Ballad and Lullaby for a Toy Soldier.
Another particular interest would be what I call chamber tone poems, ie program / descriptive music for chamber ensembles. I'd mostly use the piano trio and the quintet for piano and winds formats for such an endeavour.
The Lieder / choral music would be mostly to poems by Romanian poets, especially those with an eminently musical language, first and foremost but not limited to, my avatar man, Ion Minulescu.
My musical idiom would be fully tonal, tuneful, heart-on-sleeve sentimental, simple and unpretentious: stuff that a happy family, or a merry gathering of friends, would like to play in the evening, for relaxation and fun, a glass in hand and some cakes on the table. I would aim to please and charm; the world is already an ugly and frightful place and I would hate to enhance its ugliness and frightfulness by my own music.
My credo would be the same as Carlos Guastavino's: "I love melody, I love to sing. I refuse to compose music only intended to be discovered and understood by future generations."
Interesting. I adhere to the positive and uplifting message of this. Very creative your names, Andrei, btw. I yet have to think about mine.
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 24, 2021, 04:54:41 PM
It's really interesting reading everyone's responses! It would be fun for everyone to try their hand at writing a piece - I'd love to see the results!
As for me, well, I'm a composer. A bit out of practice - save for a couple of songs and some short piano pieces, I haven't tried to write anything in more than 20 years. Within the last year, though, I've wanted to get back into writing music - I've been entering some of my old pieces into Sibelius and really enjoying the process. But I've been hesitant to dive back in all the way, though - my recent attempts to create anything new have fizzled after a few bars, and on top of that, I don't have the time to devote to composing like I did in my college days - life has a habit of getting in the way!
As for my style? It's tonal through and through, with a healthy dose of dissonance for color and "spice". Lively and rhythmic in the fast parts, gently lyrical in the slow ones. I don't know if it "sounds like" one composer or another - perhaps Walter Piston meets Francis Poulenc, with a smattering of George Lloyd, a dash of Edmund Rubbra, and a garnish of Leonard Bernstein? Not that I'm anywhere *near* as talented as any one of those guys, but you get the idea.
I tend to write in abstract forms - I've never been one for programmatic titles that have some "deeper meaning". If it's written for string quartet, it's a String Quartet. If it's written for a solo instrument with piano, it's a Sonata. A piano solo may be a Prelude or a Nocturne or a Scherzo or what have you, depending on the character of the piece, but that's as far as I'll go. It's on my "bucket list" to write a full, multi-movement symphony - but if indeed I take the leap back into composing, I'll need to build myself back up to writing in longer forms.
I'm debating whether to share my older compositions on the "Composing and Performing" thread... I don't know if that's more geared to works in progress. We'll see.
That combination of influences sounds very cool to me. I share some of things.
My music would have touches of Nielsen, Janacek, Respighi, Sibelius, Shostakovich, among others.
I benefit abstract forms, but it's inevitable to me to give them titles or names. My music would have a very descriptive character, actually, but not always.
I would write a Symphony in E Major and be done with it! ;D
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 24, 2021, 06:09:40 PM
I'll write perhaps ten symphonies more (I've now written two.) It will be an interesting question: how many will I actually write, if my first symphony never receives a performance?
I should like to write a clarinet quintet. Probably will not unless I come to collaborate with a string quartet, which hardly seems likely.
I have ideas for a couple of operas, but (unlike the symphonies nos. 1 & 2) I just cannot see expending that effort on a score that may just sit on the shelf.
I didn't know you have composed symphonies. Are they choral?
You'll succeed at it, Karl. I'm sure.
Quote from: John Copeland on September 24, 2021, 09:06:44 PM
I would write a Symphony in E Major and be done with it! ;D
Alla
Hans Rott? ;)
Quote from: John Copeland on September 24, 2021, 09:06:44 PM
I would write a Symphony in E Major and be done with it! ;D
"One and done" often has much to recommend it!
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 24, 2021, 09:24:54 PM
I didn't know you have composed symphonies. Are they choral?
You'll succeed at it, Karl. I'm sure.
I appreciate your kindness, indeed. № 1 is for orchestra, № 2 for band. № 3 will be for strings. I don't feel any motivation at present to write a choral symphony, but anything can happen.
Separately,
How precious and preachy:
Quote from: Carlos GuastavinoI love melody, I love to sing. I refuse to compose music only intended to be discovered and understood by future generations.
Duke Ellington is far better, and not least for the manly lack of strawmen:
We don't care about posterity, we want it to sound good now.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 25, 2021, 06:12:24 AM
I appreciate your kindness, indeed. № 1 is for orchestra, № 2 for band. № 3 will be for strings. I don't feel any motivation at present to write a choral symphony, but anything can happen.
Oh, I see. I ask because I've seen and heard you're mainly a solo choral and instrumental composer (?)
I'd like very interested in listening to those first two symphonies.
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 25, 2021, 08:03:42 PM
Oh, I see. I ask because I've seen and heard you're mainly a solo choral and instrumental composer (?)
I'd like very interested in listening to those first two symphonies.
I warmly appreciate your interest,
Cesar! If you can bear the inherent inadequacies of the MIDI extractions:
Symphony № 1, Op. 143 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCZ77mt2aE&list=PLFZD0TBMaPuV3ECiLDLOda_aOiBWHM_1G) (completed 2017)
Symphony № 2 for band, Karl's Big (But Happily Incomplete) Map to the Body) Op. 148 (completed 2021)
Movement 1,
The Nerves (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAK0BwHRTxM)Movement 2,
The Heart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egru61LZWTc)Movement 3,
The Lungs I've not yet uploaded (I want to finalize the score's layout first)
Will there be a 4th movement to your Symphony No. 2, Karl? (Maybe "The Muscles"?)
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 24, 2021, 04:54:41 PM
It's really interesting reading everyone's responses! It would be fun for everyone to try their hand at writing a piece - I'd love to see the results!
As for me, well, I'm a composer. A bit out of practice - save for a couple of songs and some short piano pieces, I haven't tried to write anything in more than 20 years. Within the last year, though, I've wanted to get back into writing music - I've been entering some of my old pieces into Sibelius and really enjoying the process. But I've been hesitant to dive back in all the way, though - my recent attempts to create anything new have fizzled after a few bars, and on top of that, I don't have the time to devote to composing like I did in my college days - life has a habit of getting in the way!
As for my style? It's tonal through and through, with a healthy dose of dissonance for color and "spice". Lively and rhythmic in the fast parts, gently lyrical in the slow ones. I don't know if it "sounds like" one composer or another - perhaps Walter Piston meets Francis Poulenc, with a smattering of George Lloyd, a dash of Edmund Rubbra, and a garnish of Leonard Bernstein? Not that I'm anywhere *near* as talented as any one of those guys, but you get the idea.
I tend to write in abstract forms - I've never been one for programmatic titles that have some "deeper meaning". If it's written for string quartet, it's a String Quartet. If it's written for a solo instrument with piano, it's a Sonata. A piano solo may be a Prelude or a Nocturne or a Scherzo or what have you, depending on the character of the piece, but that's as far as I'll go. It's on my "bucket list" to write a full, multi-movement symphony - but if indeed I take the leap back into composing, I'll need to build myself back up to writing in longer forms.
I'm debating whether to share my older compositions on the "Composing and Performing" thread... I don't know if that's more geared to works in progress. We'll see.
Welcome, classicalgeek! Your journey sounds similar to mine, nearly two years ago now. Hadn't written anything since my student days (in my case, closer to 45 years ago!), then discovered MuseScore and entered some of my student compositions into it. The most interesting one was a sketch for a one-movement piece for string quartet, which has since become my String Quartet No. 1. Then, like you, I went for Sibelius and haven't looked back. Have since finished one large-scale work for chamber string orchestra. I have ideas for a sonata for viola and piano, that I'd like to write as a way of thanking a local violist who helped me immeasurably with notational issues in my piece for strings. But I also teach full-time during the academic year, which leaves very little time for composing.
I don't think the Composing and Performing section is only for works in progress... please post some of your work if you're so inclined, I for one would be interested to hear it!
Quote from: krummholz on September 27, 2021, 07:12:52 AM
Will there be a 4th movement to your Symphony No. 2, Karl? (Maybe "The Muscles"?)
I wasn't planning on it, but that's a capital idea!
If I were a composer.... as an artist, I've always been interested in pictures of things, representational art, no interest in abstract or more precisely non-objective art, and this would be true in music also. It would have to be opera. A story. Or at least a picture, program music. As to opera, the operatic voice tradition is not of our time, and I would replace it with something else, and I would also stay away from the Broadway tradition. But I don't know what I would replace these things with. I like what David Mamet did with speech in some of his plays and films, that is, American hard-boiled speech as a kind of poetry. This would be good to do with both the lyrics and the music, a kind of vernacular. Or maybe something like the Ellington Sacred music, but as opera with a story. And what could be done with a plot, something that would NOT involve the tragedy of a woman unloved or scorned who dies, the theme of so many operas. So my work is just a series of question marks, not a good plan. Yet.
Quote from: John Copeland on September 24, 2021, 09:06:44 PM
I would write a Symphony in E Major and be done with it! ;D
Dear Johannes Brahms
Do you like symphonic mosaics? Just askin'.
Kind regards,
John
Brahms, to a friend: "You want to be a composer?
No vacancies on offer."
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 24, 2021, 08:40:05 PM
That combination of influences sounds very cool to me. I share some of things.
My music would have touches of Nielsen, Janacek, Respighi, Sibelius, Shostakovich, among others.
I benefit abstract forms, but it's inevitable to me to give them titles or names. My music would have a very descriptive character, actually, but not always.
Those are all great influences too! Shostakovich especially is a composer I admire quite a bit.
QuoteI'll write perhaps ten symphonies more (I've now written two.) It will be an interesting question: how many will I actually write, if my first symphony never receives a performance?
I should like to write a clarinet quintet. Probably will not unless I come to collaborate with a string quartet, which hardly seems likely.
I have ideas for a couple of operas, but (unlike the symphonies nos. 1 & 2) I just cannot see expending that effort on a score that may just sit on the shelf.
I look forward to checking out more of your compositions, Karl. I see you shared your symphonies, I will give those a listen.
QuoteWelcome, classicalgeek! Your journey sounds similar to mine, nearly two years ago now. Hadn't written anything since my student days (in my case, closer to 45 years ago!), then discovered MuseScore and entered some of my student compositions into it. The most interesting one was a sketch for a one-movement piece for string quartet, which has since become my String Quartet No. 1. Then, like you, I went for Sibelius and haven't looked back. Have since finished one large-scale work for chamber string orchestra. I have ideas for a sonata for viola and piano, that I'd like to write as a way of thanking a local violist who helped me immeasurably with notational issues in my piece for strings. But I also teach full-time during the academic year, which leaves very little time for composing.
I don't think the Composing and Performing section is only for works in progress... please post some of your work if you're so inclined, I for one would be interested to hear it!
Thank you, krummholz! I have live performances of a few works from the mid-90s (with students, sometimes with one or two rehearsals, so the results are variable) plus I have digital recordings using NotePerformer. I'll try to post something in the coming days. And I'll check out your works as well! I hear you on having little time for composition... I have a full-time job as a software test engineer, two kids (16 and 10), and I'm taking care of my aging mother! What I wouldn't give just to work on music all day...
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 27, 2021, 11:12:28 AM
I look forward to checking out more of your compositions, Karl. I see you shared your symphonies, I will give those a listen.
Thanks! You are a busy soul! Strength to you!
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 26, 2021, 03:07:26 PM
I warmly appreciate your interest, Cesar! If you can bear the inherent inadequacies of the MIDI extractions:
Symphony № 1, Op. 143 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCZ77mt2aE&list=PLFZD0TBMaPuV3ECiLDLOda_aOiBWHM_1G) (completed 2017)
Symphony № 2 for band, Karl's Big (But Happily Incomplete) Map to the Body) Op. 148 (completed 2021)
Movement 1, The Nerves (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAK0BwHRTxM)
Movement 2, The Heart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egru61LZWTc)
Movement 3, The Lungs I've not yet uploaded (I want to finalize the score's layout first)
Very nice, Karl. I'm gonna give them a try. Thanks for sharing them!
I would be the sort of composer who doesn't make works at all. Rather I would do things to empowering performers to make inspiring and exciting music. Maybe I'd provide structures for improvisation, maybe I'd create modules which performers can assemble and modify in their own way, maybe I'd write texts which stimulate performance ideas.
Personally I don't find the idea of a composer à la Beethoven or Josquin or Ferneyhough - someone who creates a set of instructions for performers follow - very interesting. I'd like to be a composer à la Pauline Oliveros or Anthony Braxton.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 27, 2021, 11:30:09 AM
Thanks! You are a busy soul! Strength to you!
Life gets really busy sometimes. I want to make more time for music, particularly composition, as it's one thing that brings me joy and a sense of purpose.
I just tried to play your Symphony no. 1, but YouTube has marked it a private video. :( Not a problem with your Second Symphony, so I'll listen soon.
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 27, 2021, 12:52:55 PM
Life gets really busy sometimes. I want to make more time for music, particularly composition, as it's one thing that brings me joy and a sense of purpose.
I just tried to play your Symphony no. 1, but YouTube has marked it a private video. :( Not a problem with your Second Symphony, so I'll listen soon.
Oh, I didn't realize. I believe I've just made it public.
Quote from: Mandryka on September 27, 2021, 12:22:53 PM
Personally I don't find the idea of a composer à la Beethoven or Josquin or Ferneyhough - someone who creates a set of instructions for performers follow - very interesting.
But never-the-less their works have been very rewarding to a large group of music lovers. yourself among them.
Quote from: Mandryka on September 27, 2021, 12:22:53 PM
I would be the sort of composer who doesn't make works at all. Rather I would do things to empowering performers to make inspiring and exciting music. Maybe I'd provide structures for improvisation, maybe I'd create modules which performers can assemble and modify in their own way, maybe I'd write texts which stimulate performance ideas.
Personally I don't find the idea of a composer à la Beethoven or Josquin or Ferneyhough - someone who creates a set of instructions for performers follow - very interesting. I'd like to be a composer à la Pauline Oliveros or Anthony Braxton.
Of course you'd just substitute a different class of "set of instructions for performers to follow," you know.
I wish I could compose an orchestral suite of Highway Star, Deep Purple!
Tomorrow Never Knows (The Beatles) as well.
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 27, 2021, 11:12:28 AM
Thank you, krummholz! I have live performances of a few works from the mid-90s (with students, sometimes with one or two rehearsals, so the results are variable) plus I have digital recordings using NotePerformer. I'll try to post something in the coming days. And I'll check out your works as well! I hear you on having little time for composition... I have a full-time job as a software test engineer, two kids (16 and 10), and I'm taking care of my aging mother! What I wouldn't give just to work on music all day...
Yet another point of contact between us, then: NotePerformer! I have to admit that sometimes I get so angry with NP that I could almost throw the computer through a window... I'm very fussy about articulation and precise playing, and every rendering of my music has places where NP just doesn't respect what I've written, whether it's a legato phrase that's broken up at some random point, or a blooper by an "instrument" that comes in too early or too late. Fortunately it always happens at a different point in the score, so I can usually splice together a serviceable rendering from two or more imperfect ones. But I have to love an app that can make the music of an ordinary mortal like myself sound like great music... in many ways, with all its flaws, it's the next best thing to having your music performed by a professional ensemble. I look forward to hearing some of yours, both in your live performances and as rendered by NP!
If you do check out some of my threads in the Composing section, scroll down to the bottom to find the most recent versions of my stuff. The two works that I've posted so far have always been works in progress... though I think they're both in final form at this point (quite sure in the case of the String Quartet).
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 27, 2021, 01:08:10 PM
Oh, I didn't realize. I believe I've just made it public.
Same here. I can't watch it either.
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 27, 2021, 03:50:37 PM
Same here. I can't watch it either.
Still? Phooey! A pox on YouTube.
I think its permissions are repaired: Op. 143 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCZ77mt2aE&list=PLFZD0TBMaPuV3ECiLDLOda_aOiBWHM_1G)
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 27, 2021, 04:45:47 PM
I think its permissions are repaired: Op. 143 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCZ77mt2aE&list=PLFZD0TBMaPuV3ECiLDLOda_aOiBWHM_1G)
Success!
Quote from: krummholz on September 27, 2021, 02:03:14 PM
Yet another point of contact between us, then: NotePerformer! I have to admit that sometimes I get so angry with NP that I could almost throw the computer through a window... I'm very fussy about articulation and precise playing, and every rendering of my music has places where NP just doesn't respect what I've written, whether it's a legato phrase that's broken up at some random point, or a blooper by an "instrument" that comes in too early or too late. Fortunately it always happens at a different point in the score, so I can usually splice together a serviceable rendering from two or more imperfect ones. But I have to love an app that can make the music of an ordinary mortal like myself sound like great music... in many ways, with all its flaws, it's the next best thing to having your music performed by a professional ensemble. I look forward to hearing some of yours, both in your live performances and as rendered by NP!
If you do check out some of my threads in the Composing section, scroll down to the bottom to find the most recent versions of my stuff. The two works that I've posted so far have always been works in progress... though I think they're both in final form at this point (quite sure in the case of the String Quartet).
NotePerformer has been invaluable to me! I have lots of hidden metronome markings, luftpauses, and other minutiae in my scores to make them sound... more human, I guess. I find the woodwinds and brass sound great in NP, the percussion is fine (although I wish it had more of a variety of sounds), and the strings, unfortunately, sound electronic. Still, NP has more plusses than minuses, and for someone whose work is unlikely to be performed live again, it gives me something close to that experience.
I will definitely check out your compositions! I see you have several posted, so I look forward to it.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 27, 2021, 04:45:47 PM
I think its permissions are repaired: Op. 143 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCZ77mt2aE&list=PLFZD0TBMaPuV3ECiLDLOda_aOiBWHM_1G)
Wonderful! I look forward to checking out your First Symphony!
I heard the first movement of no. 2, and I thought you captured 'The Nerves' perfectly! I appreciated the prominent percussion throughout, and the way the music just kept moving. Excellent work!
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 27, 2021, 04:45:47 PM
I think its permissions are repaired: Op. 143 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCZ77mt2aE&list=PLFZD0TBMaPuV3ECiLDLOda_aOiBWHM_1G)
Thank you, Karl. Since now it's late here, I'm listening to this work tomorrow.
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 27, 2021, 08:25:35 PM
NotePerformer has been invaluable to me! I have lots of hidden metronome markings, luftpauses, and other minutiae in my scores to make them sound... more human, I guess. I find the woodwinds and brass sound great in NP, the percussion is fine (although I wish it had more of a variety of sounds), and the strings, unfortunately, sound electronic. Still, NP has more plusses than minuses, and for someone whose work is unlikely to be performed live again, it gives me something close to that experience.
Yes!! I call them "hacks", notations that I wouldn't put in a score intended for performance, all to get the exact articulation and expression that I want. I haven't written anything yet for winds or brass in NP so I can't comment on their sound, but even MuseScore flutes sound realistic so I'd be surprised if NP, which probably uses a professional sample library, would fall short there. I'm not sure I totally agree that NP strings sound electronic - they sound MUCH better than MuseScore or even Sibelius Strings IMHO.
A caution about my posted works: Fugal Variations is just an earlier version of what I now call Sinfonia Solenne. I *think* I've only posted that and my String Quartet No. 1 (formerly known as String Quartet in A Minor). I *might* have also posted an incomplete work for string quartet based on a late Beethoven sketch here. It was to have been a set of variations, but I never got past Variation I (which I like very much, but it doesn't amount to a substantial piece).
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 27, 2021, 08:25:35 PMWonderful! I look forward to checking out your First Symphony!
I heard the first movement of no. 2, and I thought you captured 'The Nerves' perfectly! I appreciated the prominent percussion throughout, and the way the music just kept moving. Excellent work!
Many thanks!
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 27, 2021, 08:53:31 PM
Thank you, Karl. Since now it's late here, I'm listening to this work tomorrow.
Thanks for your interest and patience!
This strikes me as a peculiar thread topic, as though you can decide what sort of genius you want to be. I can imagine a reply to this thread:
Quote
I am a composer and I wish my works to sound like the elegant music of Mendelssohn. But alas whenever I convince an orchestra to play one of my works, they sound like an insufferable, bombastic mess. Then I revised them, and they only get worse!
Anton Bruckner
:)
Quote from: Spotted Horses on September 28, 2021, 08:37:35 AM
I am a composer and I wish my works to sound like the elegant music of Mendelssohn. But alas whenever I convince an orchestra to play one of my works, they sound like an insufferable, bombastic mess. Then I revised them, and they only get worse!
:)
Modest and honest (?)
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 28, 2021, 05:40:25 AM
Thanks for your interest and patience!
Thanks to you for allowing me to listen to the creations of an old friend here. But, first of all, can I consider you a friend? Sorry if I'm sounding rude or overfamiliar with you.
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 28, 2021, 04:50:28 PM
Thanks to you for allowing me to listen to the creations of an old friend here. But, first of all, can I consider you a friend? Sorry if I'm sounding rude or overfamiliar with you.
Please do.
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 27, 2021, 08:25:35 PM
Wonderful! I look forward to checking out your First Symphony!
I heard the first movement of no. 2, and I thought you captured 'The Nerves' perfectly! I appreciated the prominent percussion throughout, and the way the music just kept moving. Excellent work!
I finally had a chance to check out your First Symphony. All in all, very impressive! I like the rhythmic drive of the outer movements, particularly the third, and the way the excitement with which the whole symphony wraps up (from m. 252 to the end.) The fugato passages in the first two movements were nicely worked out. The slow movement had an elegiac quality about it... and I really liked your use of the rising quintuplet figure in the low strings (which first appears in m. 2.) All in all, excellent work! Any chance of an orchestral performance?
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 29, 2021, 12:23:46 PM
I finally had a chance to check out your First Symphony. All in all, very impressive! I like the rhythmic drive of the outer movements, particularly the third, and the way the excitement with which the whole symphony wraps up (from m. 252 to the end.) The fugato passages in the first two movements were nicely worked out. The slow movement had an elegiac quality about it... and I really liked your use of the rising quintuplet figure in the low strings (which first appears in m. 2.) All in all, excellent work! Any chance of an orchestral performance?
I keep hoping that someday Karl's music gets recorded by Naxos or a label like Albany Records for example, which seems to specialize in American composers.
Quote from: Mirror Image on September 29, 2021, 12:28:44 PM
I keep hoping that someday Karl's music gets recorded by Naxos or a label like Albany Records for example, which seems to specialize in American composers.
+1,000! ;D
Quote from: classicalgeek on September 29, 2021, 12:23:46 PM
I finally had a chance to check out your First Symphony. All in all, very impressive! I like the rhythmic drive of the outer movements, particularly the third, and the way the excitement with which the whole symphony wraps up (from m. 252 to the end.) The fugato passages in the first two movements were nicely worked out. The slow movement had an elegiac quality about it... and I really liked your use of the rising quintuplet figure in the low strings (which first appears in m. 2.) All in all, excellent work! Any chance of an orchestral performance?
Many thanks! As yet, no prospect of performance, but two conductors have expressed approval of the piece.
Quote from: Mirror Image on September 29, 2021, 12:28:44 PM
I keep hoping that someday Karl's music gets recorded by Naxos or a label like Albany Records for example, which seems to specialize in American composers.
Absolutely!
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on September 28, 2021, 05:40:25 AM
Thanks for your interest and patience!
Just heard your Symphony No. 1, Op. 143, Karl. Let me tell you I found the musical discourse coherent and appealing. The use of the xylophony and vibraphone was very cool, and that very feature somehow was perceived for my ears throughout. Thanks for sharing your creations with us! Keep on composing and playing! :)
I've held off on answering here because, as much as I previously viewed myself as a composer, I haven't had any musical ideas or any particular urge to write a piece of music in a very long time, and that phase of my life may be over for good. I've also seen with it a general narrowing of my musical horizons: I listen to little except whatever the current musical obsession is (at the moment Schubert, Bruckner, Brahms and Reger) or a handful of established favourites (at the moment Haydn, Mozart, Dvořák, Medtner and Martinů) and these phases also go on for several months.
One thing I will say is that it is not exceptionally difficult to learn how to translate ideas one has in one's head into music notation. The difficulty lies chiefly in the nature of human memory, and the fact that as much as you might think you're hearing a complete piece in your head, chances are your inner ear is mostly hitting the plot beats, as it were, and leaving out some of the transitional passages; at very least this was often the case for me when I was studying, and I mostly had to focus on learning ways to let the material suggest its own continuations where necessary. (The actual music notation stuff wasn't difficult for me, but I understand it is difficult for some people. Those for whom it is too much of an obstacle may prefer to work with a DAW, which are somewhat easier to use for a non-music reader.) I still have dozens of pieces that I started or in some cases nearly completed in approximately 2005 thru 2014 of which I can still call up the general shape of the necessary completion & the beats the music has to hit, but have never bothered to put in the work to figure it out on paper.
Basically, if anyone is interested in writing a piece of music, it's not too difficult to learn the technical side (notation or digital audio), and the main obstacles will be either psychological/memory-related (if you' have to stick to the exact details of an outline & demand each note be in its proper place) or stylistic/material-related (if you're willing to let the process of writing out the music be part of the discovery of the music in itself).
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 30, 2021, 02:28:21 PM
Just heard your Symphony No. 1, Op. 143, Karl. Let me tell you I found the musical discourse coherent and appealing. The use of the xylophony and vibraphone was very cool, and that very feature somehow was perceived for my ears throughout. Thanks for sharing your creations with us! Keep on composing and playing! :)
I am highly gratified, my friend, thank you!
Quote from: amw on September 30, 2021, 06:50:29 PM
I've held off on answering here because, as much as I previously viewed myself as a composer, I haven't had any musical ideas or any particular urge to write a piece of music in a very long time, and that phase of my life may be over for good. I've also seen with it a general narrowing of my musical horizons: I listen to little except whatever the current musical obsession is (at the moment Schubert, Bruckner, Brahms and Reger) or a handful of established favourites (at the moment Haydn, Mozart, Dvořák, Medtner and Martinů) and these phases also go on for several months.
One thing I will say is that it is not exceptionally difficult to learn how to translate ideas one has in one's head into music notation. The difficulty lies chiefly in the nature of human memory, and the fact that as much as you might think you're hearing a complete piece in your head, chances are your inner ear is mostly hitting the plot beats, as it were, and leaving out some of the transitional passages; at very least this was often the case for me when I was studying, and I mostly had to focus on learning ways to let the material suggest its own continuations where necessary. (The actual music notation stuff wasn't difficult for me, but I understand it is difficult for some people. Those for whom it is too much of an obstacle may prefer to work with a DAW, which are somewhat easier to use for a non-music reader.) I still have dozens of pieces that I started or in some cases nearly completed in approximately 2005 thru 2014 of which I can still call up the general shape of the necessary completion & the beats the music has to hit, but have never bothered to put in the work to figure it out on paper.
Basically, if anyone is interested in writing a piece of music, it's not too difficult to learn the technical side (notation or digital audio), and the main obstacles will be either psychological/memory-related (if you' have to stick to the exact details of an outline & demand each note be in its proper place) or stylistic/material-related (if you're willing to let the process of writing out the music be part of the discovery of the music in itself).
Very interesting. Thanks for posting.