# TC Composers Competition Round 2: Judging!



## Ramako

Hi everyone!

This is the second round of our informal TC composers competition.

In order to judge the winner we hope for as many members as possible, composer and non-composer, to judge between the compositions on Youtube. To judge, *pick your favourite two**, posting your favourite and second favourite. These will then all be added up to find out who is the winner after two weeks. No expertise is required unless you choose to supply it - this is simply a competition on which piece is liked most by most people. Scores are optional (no one has provided them) because we are more bothered about music as sound than squiggles, and want as many judges as possible.

The Youtube playlist description:



> In this round entrants are tasked with composing a piece for five instruments and one soloist, the instruments used are entirely of the composer's choosing. There is a guideline duration of 7 minutes.
> 
> As in the first round, there are no special considerations to be made regarding form and scores are optional.


The competition is anonymous to help prevent bias. Composers, however, are unable to vote for their own pieces - any such vote will be ignored.

Two more things: there is a guideline duration of seven minutes - but as before this is only a guideline so please pay attention to pieces both well above and below this length of time. Also, like last time, please try to bear in mind that this is a composition contest, not a sound-engineer one, so judge the composition not the sounds.

Here are the links to the Youtube pages. They are in order of submission (i.e. more or less random). A playlist has also been made if you prefer.

Playlist:





Individual links:

1. Bittersweet Tears:





2. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain:





3. Gloomy Greenwich in E minor:





4. Violin Sextet:





5. Piece in 3 movements:





*** It has perhaps not escaped people's notice that there are less pieces than last time. This is perhaps due to the time of year: some people have told me they are busy with school etc. However, it is also to be noticed that these pieces are longer. It seemed sensible that instead of the top 3 votes like last time, the top 2 would be more suitable there being only five entries. I hope everyone will agree with me.

I would like to thank all any member who takes the time to judge. All comments that are not completely destructive are welcome - even on pieces you haven't included in your top 2, and any kind constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

Also, thanks go to every composer who has submitted an entry - and best luck to all!


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## Ramako

1. Bittersweet Tears: A piece with plenty of abandon. Good harmony and interesting moves in general. A good piece.

2. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain: An absolutely fascinating use of instrumentation all round. This piece really explored the possibilities of the instrumentation restriction we placed on this round, which is excellent.

3. Gloomy Greenwich in E minor: This had an interesting use of the timpani quite reminiscent of a funeral march. Actually I suppose the whole thing is quite like a funeral march.

4. Violin Sextet: I figure that it has a kind of contrast between the atonal beginning and the tonal middle section. I like this.

5. Piece in 3 movements: Obviously the longest piece. Some good ideas, but I felt that the multi-movement format had to be compressed perhaps too much.

A tough call, but in the end I would have to go with:

1. Bittersweet Tears
2. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain


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## aleazk

I will vote only one piece:

_2. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain_

What a great piece. I love the name also, I think it fits very well to the music. I have explored similar ideas in one of my pieces, although I think this one is better crafted, maybe because of that I like it so much.


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## Mephistopheles

Some interesting pieces! I have listened to them all, but I'll just limit my comments to my top two for now:

1. Gloomy Greenwich in E minor: I thought this piece had a good quirky character, and I appreciated the sardonic parody of Greenwich (unless it was supposed to be a sincere indictment of a broken society in which case I apologise for the misunderstanding ). Although I couldn't hear the timpani clearly all the way through, I did think that, even though it is in character for a funeral march, a timpanist in a small ensemble piece like this might appreciate a slightly more varied part to play. Otherwise good all round!

2. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain: I think the best word to describe this for me is "mesmerising". It was great to listen to, and the instrumentation was wonderful, but I might have had a harder decision deciding which of these pieces to put first were it not for the fact that the string writing gave me a sense of seasickness.


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## Turangalîla

If I am allowed, I will show my appreciation for this fascinating piece of music by voting for _Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain_ only. I am impressed that it came from one of our members. It was intriguing and fascinating, with a very inventive choice of instrumentation. Bravo!

If I must vote for another piece, it will be _Bittersweet Tears_. But only if voting for two is mandatory.


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## Mephistopheles

CarterJohnsonPiano said:


> If I must vote for another piece, it will be _Bittersweet Tears_. But only if voting for two is mandatory.


That seems a bit mean!


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## Turangalîla

Mephistopheles said:


> That seems a bit mean!


Sorry! I did not say that the rest were horrible, just that _Call and Entry_ is a clear first place and deserves recognition as such


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## Chrythes

1. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain. 
2. Bittersweet Tears


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## juergen

1.Violin Sextet: A very nice piece. I can't get the melody from the beginning out of my head for several days (actually I should deduct some points for that :lol: ). The middle part around 0:45 and and 2:20 is also very nice. But you shouldn't call it "Violin Sextet". "Sextet for violin and woodwinds" makes more sense.

2. Piece in 3 movements: Also a really good composition. The quality of the work is hardly recognizable because of the the poor sound quality but there are some very nice ideas in the piece. Maybe the composer will present us the complete piece (without cuts) after the voting.


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## aleazk

CarterJohnsonPiano said:


> If I am allowed, I will show my appreciation for this fascinating piece of music by voting for _Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain_ only. I am impressed that it came from one of our members. It was intriguing and fascinating, with a very inventive choice of instrumentation. Bravo!
> 
> If I must vote for another piece, it will be _Bittersweet Tears_. But only if voting for two is mandatory.


Well, because of that I never make prejudices.


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## jani

1.Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain
I was little confused at first because the only instrument we heard ( on the first minute) was the bell.
2. Is a very hard choice between Violin sextet and Bitter sweet tears but i have to go with the Violin sextet.


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## etkearne

I am honored to cast my first vote here at Talk Classical. I look forward to entering next time around. Here are my votes:

1. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain
2. Violin Sextet

I will edit the post to describe what I liked and didn't like later on since I am hanging out with a friend right now. But I wanted to get my votes in. It was fun listening to all of them. Great effort by all!


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## mmsbls

Is there a deadline for voting?


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## Crudblud

mmsbls said:


> Is there a deadline for voting?


At the moment there doesn't seem to be, at least there's no information about it in the group.


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## Mephistopheles

Wasn't it established in the last one that voting lasts for two weeks?


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## Crudblud

Mephistopheles said:


> Wasn't it established in the last one that voting lasts for two weeks?


Stop remembering things better than me. You're right.


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## Ramako

My apologies, I forgot to mention in the OP. Yes it is two weeks, so that'll be the Monday in two weeks time whatever date that is.


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## mmsbls

Mephistopheles said:


> Wasn't it established in the last one that voting lasts for two weeks?


Not only that, but I just realized that Ramako put the time limit in the first post. I even looked for a limit reading posts twice. The brain does some interesting things at times. Anyway, thanks.



Ramako said:


> My apologies, I forgot to mention in the OP. Yes it is two weeks, so that'll be the Monday in two weeks time whatever date that is.


No it's there in the first few sentences. I just managed to completely miss it.


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## Ramako

mmsbls said:


> No it's there in the first few sentences. I just managed to completely miss it.


So it does - I missed that too! :lol:


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## Turangalîla

aleazk said:


> Well, because of that I never make prejudices.


Not that I am saying that the composers here are awful, but if I heard that composition I could have guessed that it was an early George Grumb prelude or something like that


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## tdc

A hard choice for me this time around, all the pieces had elements that intrigued me, sometimes repeated listening will bring out many new facets of works etc...but I'm going to go with:

1) Call and Entry...
2) Violin Sextet

Good job to all participants.


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## Crudblud

1. Violin Sextet
2. Gloomy Greenwich

Two fine examples of craftsmanship of two very distinct varities, I was very impressed by both.


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## Cygnenoir

1. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain (if this is not the winner of this round, I'll go !)
2. Violin Sextet


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## Mephistopheles

FYI, one entry is mine and shall be the piece that no one else claims at the end. I'll be gone before judging is over.


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## Klavierspieler

Mephistopheles said:


> FYI, one entry is mine and shall be the piece that no one else claims at the end. I'll be gone before judging is over.


You can just tell Ramako which is yours. He already vote, so it won't affect the anything.

Speaking of which, I really need to vote. I'll do it later today.


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## Trout

1. Violin Sextet
2. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain


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## beetzart

1. Bittersweet Tears

2. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain


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## Lunasong

1. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain. The pacing of this piece is excellent although I was left wishing there was less portamento (I think that's the name of the technique) in the strings.
2. Gloomy Greenwich in E minor. I also liked the pacing of this piece. I think the even tempo demanded additional development of the dynamics on a very small scale which perhaps did not come out in this recording.

I liked the beginning of Bittersweet Tears but quickly tired of the flute flutter-tonguing near the end of the piece. More judicious use of this technique and perhaps further development using alternative ornamentation(s) would have made this piece a winner for me.


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## mmsbls

I enjoyed each piece and had a hard time selecting the winners. My first impression of Call and Entry was difficulty understanding what I was hearing. After several listenings (and some thoughts from my daughter who's a music student), I came to appreciate the content more. I will be very interested in hearing more about the work later. 

In the end I'll vote for the following:

1) Violin Sextet
2) Bittersweet Tears


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## Klavierspieler

Klavierspieler said:


> You can just tell Ramako which is yours. He already vote, so it won't affect the anything.
> 
> Speaking of which, I really need to vote. I'll do it later today.


And yet again I forgot.

Oh well. I'll get to it before the deadline.


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## jani

Klavierspieler said:


> And yet again I forgot.
> 
> Oh well. I'll get to it before the deadline.


You should vote the one with the one solo + 5 instruments ( Of the composers choice.)


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## Crudblud

jani said:


> You should vote the one with the one solo + 5 instruments ( Of the composers choice.)


I think he gets the idea.


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## jani

Crudblud said:


> I think he gets the idea.


I think that i know which one is yours!


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## juergen

jani said:


> I think that i know which one is yours!


I think everybody knows that! :lol:


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## Ramako

juergen said:


> I think everybody knows that! :lol:


Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know at least three of them.

Anyway, I thought I'd just remind people that this is the half-way point. Voting ends next Monday.


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## Klavierspieler

1. Call and Entry
2. Violin Sextet


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## nicecomposer

hey there. i wish i could have participated in this one. anyways, here is my judgment:

1. Violin Sextet --- this one was my favourite, both because it sounds good, and also because it reminds me of the Nightmare on Elm Street 3 soundtrack, which was a favourite of mine growing up.

2. Gloomy --- It sounded like impending doom, but it was fun to listen to. The instruments gave me nostalgia for old point-and-click adventure games I played in the early 90's.

3. Bittersweet tears --- Some parts went on too long, but it was still well done for the most part.


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## Ramako

Well, it's the end of another round of our TC composers competition!

The results are as follows

1. Bittersweet Tears - juergen - 6
2. Call and Entry for Méaoire Seatain - Crudblud - 24
3. Gloomy Greenwich in E minor - Beetzart - 5
4. Violin Sextet - Mephistopheles (I assume) - 14
5. Piece in 3 movements - jani - 1

So we have an overwhelming winner - congratulations Crudblud - your cynicism is proved unfounded (at least in this case)!

Also 2nd place is very convincing so congrats also to Mephistopheles/Polednice - although he is not here to receive them.

Congratulations to all composers who contributed their pieces and thank you, also to the voters for voting. I'm sorry for not taking part this round but I was extremely busy last month: I certainly intend to do so in the future!

Round 3 will be posted in another couple of weeks and will be a *string quartet*. I hope we will have more participation next time especially as I think it is a very exciting format to do.


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## pendereckiobsessed

Ramako said:


> Round 3 will be posted in another couple of weeks and will be a *string quartet*. I hope we will have more participation next time especially as I think it is a very exciting format to do.


When is the next round? And its only one movement right?


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## Ramako

I will be sending round the messages for round 3 very shortly - and yes it is only one movement.

The deadline is 2nd November.


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## Lunasong

Ramako said:


> Round 3 will be posted in another couple of weeks and will be a *string quartet*. I hope we will have more participation next time especially as I think it is a very exciting format to do.


Pertinent from the joke thread:
*String quartet*: a good violinist, a bad violinist, an ex-violinist, and someone who hates violinists, all getting together to complain about composers.


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