# Apres La Mort des Artistes



## Ian Moore

This piece immediately follows "La Mort". I hope you enjoy it.


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## Ian Moore

Please leave a comment. The phantom one star person should leave a comment as well. It would help me to get better.


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## differencetone

It's good but why does the recording end so abruptly? It's hard for me to judge such a small section.


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## Ian Moore

The battery dies in my microphone.


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## Vasks

What a shame but these things do happen. Many, many years ago (_in the age of reel-to-reels_) I had a really good band piece of mine played and recorded, but I didn't make a copy of the master.

Then a few months later I accidentally recorded over the final minute of that master. To this day, I get sad thinking about that blunder.


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## Ian Moore

What a nightmare! Most of my tape recordings have degraded. The only ones that work are on mini-disc.


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## Ian Moore

Any comments please about the music.


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## MoonlightSonata

Ian Moore said:


> Please leave a comment. The phantom one star person should leave a comment as well. It would help me to get better.


The one-star person is likely to be someone who simply does not like music of this style, and so cannot appreciate the merit of your work.
I'm not really familiar with your style of composition, so I can't really evaluate it. Sorry.


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## Ian Moore

MoonlightSonata said:


> The one-star person is likely to be someone who simply does not like music of this style, and so cannot appreciate the merit of your work.
> I'm not really familiar with your style of composition, so I can't really evaluate it. Sorry.


Thank you for making the effort.


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## Nope

to be honest, I think its a fabulous composition. However, its just not clear to me what direction you are going for. Judging by the amount of layers and rhythmical complexity, it almost sounds like the new school of complexity but not quite extreme. I am really no one to judge, 

By the way, I really think people like you are far too good for this forum. Look at other kids posting music like "piano concertos" when they barely know about orchestration, and "piano sonata in the key of X" when they barely know about traditional sonata form. Some even gave themselves opus numbers, my god! People on this forum are mostly young composers(very young), and they are not quite familiar to the world of modern music composition, so I guess you better not expect a lot of good feedbacks.


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## Bored

It's good but I do feel that even when there is a lack of structure there should be something made up in other areas. It felt like you were in a hurry to record the last part and because of this there was a lack of emotion in the middle parts and I was more bewildered at the sound then getting deeply interested in what you were trying to tell me. Maybe you should consider adding more melody or if it really needs to sound that crazy, at least in Beethoven's 5th Symphony he made the sounds in the beginning with the string instruments sound harmonized in a way. This was harmonized of course, but I felt like the harmonies were a little cliche. Surprise the audience, and with these pieces you need to if you want to get the full 5-star rating you deserve. Anyways, that was my 5 cents, thanks for the listen I always enjoy unusual pieces.


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## Nope

Bored, you really have no idea what you are talking about. All you were talking about was really general stuff which are not even accurate. Its quite obvious that you are just pretending to be giving out constructive comments. 

1. "Lack of structure"? You never explained specifically. Or do you even realize this is not the complete piece? 

2. "Lack of emotion"? What do you mean by that? In the speak of composition or performance? You never explained. By the way who said there has to be emotion? 

3. Who said its meant to sound crazy? It may sound crazy to YOU, but compared to most of the contemporary pieces nowadays, this is really not crazy at all. 

4. My god, Beethoven's 5th? "he made the sounds in the beginning with the string instruments sound harmonized in a way" I dont even know where to start with, this just makes absolutely no sense. How does Beethoven's 5th even have to do with this? By the way have you even listened to it?

5. you felt like the "harmonies were a little cliche". How cliche? You never explained. This is not your everyday tonal music composition. The harmonies are quite neat here if you care to even listen to it.


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## Ian Moore

Interesting discussions going on here. Thank you for your kind words Nope.


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## Bored

Is this your way of spending your free-time, by slandering other people's reputations as well as their opinions?

If you wanted I could of given you a full-fledged BORING list of technical improvements that could've been done to the piece (although I think the piece is perfectly fine the way it is now). As an artistic piece, I wanted to tell him how I felt about the piece. It is clear that he is depending on the emotions that it brings out in order to impress. 

I thought that by giving a full-list of what I thought emotionally about the piece and what I thought would make it sound better would be more beneficial to a composer than let's say, requesting more diminished eighth notes in the 5th bar or something.

So please, don't set flame to something that was never meant to offend or insult. It was simply an opinion, and lastly, I have listened to Beethoven's 5th Symphony thank you very much. Had to write an essay containing information about it for my University.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I may be way off from your intention, Ian, but it seems that the piano works as a kind of 'anchor' to keep the work together. This is probably because of the denser chords, more notes in the same instrument giving a thicker sound to draw the ear to. This very nicely fits underneath the rest of the ensemble, especially the flute who is very dominant in the recording. 

There is a strong sense of stability achieved with the orchestration of the work and the pacing. Pacing is something I often have a lot of trouble with in my compositions. I might write a section of a work which ends up being too long or two short, and never 'just right.' Sometimes with pieces in similar styles to what you have written there can be a little bit of a lack of variety over time in the overall sound. The point where the other instruments drop out, leaving the piano to play on its own, is very well timed!

Can you tell us a little bit about your composition process and a bit of background to this work? It's a complex score and I do think that some people here wish to better understand it from your point of view as a composer.


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## Ian Moore

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I may be way off from your intention, Ian, but it seems that the piano works as a kind of 'anchor' to keep the work together.


I think your comment is very perceptive. In all of my pieces where a piano is present, the keyboard is centre to the instrumentation. It's the nature of the instrument; its range and its colour.


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## KenOC

The piano is often used for temporary "color" in 20th-century works. Shostakovich's 1st Symphony is an example.


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## Ian Moore

KenOC said:


> The piano is often used for temporary "color" in 20th-century works. Shostakovich's 1st Symphony is an example.


True. Many composers around the time used the piano for impressionistic colour. I ,on the other hand, am trying to create pure colour all of the time. Hopefully, on a more permanent basis.


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## dwindladwayne

That's quite nice for a piece written in "avant-garde" style (as you write in the comments of the video _I write avant-garde music._), maybe a little outdated, but if I didn't read wrong it was written in the end of 20th century, so ok (somehow near to Clementi's last sonatas for being a bit late with the world around). I liked very much the mid solo passage played by the piano but in my opinion it is frustrated by the return of the other instruments that happens quite soon and moreover it's somehow rushed (flute and violing come together, then a quarter after them it comes clarinet, then cello: why so hurry?).
However it would be interesting to have the whole recording !


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## Ian Moore

dwindladwayne said:


> That's quite nice for a piece written in "avant-garde" style (as you write in the comments of the video _I write avant-garde music._), maybe a little outdated


Why do you think it sounds outdated. Disregarding the fact that it was written nearly twenty years ago! All "classical" music is outdated. Isn't Mozart's music really outdated?


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## dwindladwayne

_Primum_ I did not disregard «_the fact that it was written nearly twenty years ago_», as a matter of fact I wrote that «_if I didn't read wrong it was written in the end of 20th century, so ok_»;

_Deinde_ I've written that to me (the fact that it's me that is writing implies that it's my point of view and not an absolute truth) it seems to be «_maybe a little outdated_» and not that «_it sounds outdated_» moreover about this no one can do anything (not even I) because it is a perceptual impression;

_Postremo_ I think that the example that I've put behind my impressions in my first reply can clear any doubt about what did I mean with "outdated". As Wikipedia teaches us Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) was an Italian-born English composer, pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer. In short: a guy who wrote 110 piano sonatas and who lavished himself for piano's diffusion. He grew up between late-baroque era and classical era and he was held in good consideration at his time because his music depicted his life's period perfectly, until something has changed. A new cultural era was beginning: the Romantic era. In short again: does anyone recognize the difference between Beethoven's last sonata (sonata n. 32, Op. 111) that was written in 1821-2 and Clementi's last sonata (sonata n. 110, Op. 50 n. 3) that was written in 1821? Right: this is what I mean with "outdated".

_In cauda venenum_. New Oxford American Dictionary says that the origins of the _avant-garde_ word has to be investigated in late Middle English, when this term was used to denoting «_the vanguard of an army_» and that is comes «_from French, literally 'vanguard'_», then Wikipedia teaches us that the avant-garde are «_people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics._». The first who used this word was the French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867, that's nearly 200 years ago) being ironic about his contemporaries left-winged writes. Then in the first decades of 20th century everyone discovered the right words that characterized avant-garde: experimentation and innovation. Then two world wars; what there is therefore? Avant-Guarde. Then cold war; what there is therefore? avant-guard. Then the fall of Communism; what there is therefore? avant-guard. And so on.
You sarcastically say «_Isn't Mozart's music really outdated?_». As far as I know Mozart stopped writing a few years ago, otherwise a century has passed and we're still writing avant-garde. Does anyone recognize the difference?


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## Ian Moore

What's the Latin for?
I use the term 'avant-garde' to indicate a style of music not my perception of my music in the current music scene. It is written about twenty years ago so therefore it isn't up to date. Your observations are subjective and it should be pointed out that Beethoven could be considered outdated at the time because he was writing post classical music while Weber was writing early Romantic music. It is only now we truly recognise his visionary nature - he had a profound influence on subsequent composers. Clementi fans don't care when his music was written and the fact that he may have appeared old fashioned might be part of the charm. I suspect your comment is really aimed at modernist music in general and not my composition specifically. Is this correct?


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## dwindladwayne

As you and I say my observations are subjective and we have different points of view. Fair enough.
Going back to the main argument:


> I liked very much the mid solo passage played by the piano but in my opinion it is frustrated by the return of the other instruments that happens quite soon and moreover it's somehow rushed (flute and violing come together, then a quarter after them it comes clarinet, then cello: why so hurry?).


Another question: _La Mort Des Artistes_ is a collection of many pieces (if I'm not wrong) : _Apres La Mort Des Artistes_ is the last piece, which are the others?


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## Ian Moore

dwindladwayne said:


> Another question: _La Mort Des Artistes_ is a collection of many pieces (if I'm not wrong) : _Apres La Mort Des Artistes_ is the last piece, which are the others?


As you have deduced, there are three pieces altogether. "La Mort des Artistes"is the central piece. This one comes last and the first piece was never composed. One day, when I have the free time and the desire to do so I will complete the trilogy. The titles are a tribute to "Le Marteau sans maitre".
I was very much influenced by Pierre Boulez at the time.

There's a link to "La Mort" on my signature below:


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## dwindladwayne

I've heard _La mort des Artistes_ and I find it really intriguing, maybe it lasts too much and at times the listener risks to distract because of the mostly melismatic evolution of the piece; having said this I think that it's a pleasant listening!
I like that the trilogy is incomplete, it makes everything much more evocative


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