# Orchestral album



## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

I have recently released a (debut) album of orchestral pieces:





Cheers


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Hi Jan
Whilst the genre you wrote in is not my particular thing, I still found some of the music very effective. I liked the power and breadth heard at times once rhythms/ spicc ostinatos kicked in and the repetitive nature always aided the comprehension. I particularly liked your harmonies in Poem6 at 32'40", very beautiful. That was my favourite poem and struck me as the most personal of the set.
Just one critique, I wouldn't call these pieces orchestral, more synth-orchestral given their pad-like orchestration. The mixes sounded nice on my system.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

mikeh375 said:


> Just one critique, I wouldn't call these pieces orchestral, more synth-orchestral given their pad-like orchestration. The mixes sounded nice on my system.


Hi Mike.
How do you think the minimalists would fare in this regard? I was thinking of Reich's 'Music for 18 musicians' and Gerecki's 3rd Symphony (well movement's 2 and 3 at least).


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Hi Jan,
I can't speak for how or why any composer writes their music, including the great minimalists. I will say though that I have noted a few technical and pragmatic classifications in approaches to orchestration in particular over the years from DAW composers. I should add that none of the below is meant to be in any way deragatory as we all write differently and achieve our music in different ways and all approaches are valid imo, even if some methods of scoring have limited creative options when compared to a more comprehensive orchestral technique. Nor are these (personal) classifications exhaustive or definitive, but they are based on general trends seen since the advent of the DAW.

First off there is the DAW composer who will use samples without knowing much more than if it sounds good, it is good. All of which is fine by me but they should beware of many pitfalls if ever a piece of theirs gets performed live as much in the way of correction and rewriting will be required. (I've witnessed live in the studio, a composer asking why a bassoon note below low Bflat couldn't be played by the session player because it could be played on his samples). Then there is the composer who has learnt orchestration in more depth, but only writes for the capability of the samples. In this case there is a creative limitation, perhaps made worse for some by the fact that they might know what they could be doing with a part, but the samples do not, or cannot deliver. If their ear is still being guided by what sounds good in a DAW they will 'dumb down' the part to what the sample can execute convincingly enough.
Then we have the composer who will write with real instruments in mind. That is, they are competent enough technically and musically, to write a part for a player that utilises their instruments capabilities and expressive traits in solo and in combination. This is obviously a more skilled classification of orchestration that does not need the aural confirmation of any reproduction means such as DAWs and Notation playback as to its efficacy.
The great masters reside in this final classification of course and display incredible imagination and creative flair because of how they utilise their technical proficiency as a resource for expressive purposes because their knowledge is available to them as they write and can influence compositional choices. A quick glance at almost any page by Ravel, Britten, Elgar, Stravinsky, Korsakoff, Prokofieff et al, will show you what I mean about what I consider pure orchestral composition, being very different from the more overtly pad-like approach that uses many long notes, held but internally static 'long note' chords and vertical part writing. As always YYMV although my classifications are reasonably accurate.... 

I realise that none of this actually answers your specific question. I'm a fan of the Gorecki btw.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

mikeh375 said:


> Hi Jan,
> I can't speak for how or why any composer writes their music, including the great minimalists. I will say though that I have noted a few technical and pragmatic classifications in approaches to orchestration in particular over the years from DAW composers. I should add that none of the below is meant to be in any way deragatory as we all write differently and achieve our music in different ways and all approaches are valid imo, even if some methods of scoring have limited creative options when compared to a more comprehensive orchestral technique. Nor are these (personal) classifications exhaustive or definitive, but they are based on general trends seen since the advent of the DAW.
> 
> First off there is the DAW composer who will use samples without knowing much more than if it sounds good, it is good. All of which is fine by me but they should beware of many pitfalls if ever a piece of theirs gets performed live as much in the way of correction and rewriting will be required. (I've witnessed live in the studio, a composer asking why a bassoon note below low Bflat couldn't be played by the session player because it could be played on his samples). Then there is the composer who has learnt orchestration in more depth, but only writes for the capability of the samples. In this case there is a creative limitation, perhaps made worse for some by the fact that they might know what they could be doing with a part, but the samples do not, or cannot deliver. If their ear is still being guided by what sounds good in a DAW they will 'dumb down' the part to what the sample can execute convincingly enough.
> ...


I would probably agree with much of what you have written here but we do clearly have a difference in perception. 

The Gorecki does have static pad-like passages in movements 2 and 3 - and so does the Reich (at least in the first 10-15 minutes or so which is all I have listened to) even despite being broken down into repeated notes. I don't necessarily have a problem with that myself - although I think there are many classical lovers that do. 

The beginning of Das Rheingold is perhaps another good example.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

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