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-   -   My complete symphony now on MP3 (http://www.notation.com/vb-forum/showthread.php?t=1863)

Adrian Allan (adrianallan) 04-10-2009 10:26 PM

Please feel free to download a
 
Please feel free to download and comment on my First Symphony, complete on MP3.

http://www.mediafire.com/?wmntknooy2k

It uses East West VSTs through cubase, midi imported from notation composer.

It is 36 minutes long, so I've broken it up for you :

1. Allegro Maestoso
2. Andante Espressivo (starts at 17:14)
3. Scherzo - Finale (starts at 28:14)

See what you think

My next aim is to finish a professional set of parts and conductor's score on Sibelius.

Then, who knows ?

cheers

adrian

M G Jacobs (mgj32) 05-19-2009 07:17 PM

Hi Adrian, I downloaded thi
 
Hi Adrian,

I downloaded this back in mid April and have listened a number of times, which of course means there are things I particularly like about it. One is that it remains melodic. Before I ever wrote a note I established a rule for myself: Melody first. (Or something equivalent, like the dramatic energy in some Chopin etudes.) I am struck by the clarity of the overall sound; it's clean. I mean one hears strings, or brass, or winds; or strings an brass or strings and winds. There is never a muddiness to it, more Sibelius than Tchaikovsky. I guess the word would be definition--all sounds are clearly defined.

Mediafire produces a pretty fast download. I'm about to put my violin concerto up on Zshare, which allows a gigabyte for each upload with free registration and two gigs for $30 per year. It's drawback is that the site can't be searched; the composer has to distribute the URL. It's advantage is for those with slow connections because the music can listened to on the site, or at least it was that way when I had my first piano concerto there.

I hope the symphony gets a lot of attention.

all best,
mgj

Adrian Allan (adrianallan) 05-19-2009 09:23 PM

Thanks for your listening to m
 
Thanks for your listening to my symphony a few times - I'm honoured that some people enjoy it.

I will check out the Zshare site - it sounds really good.

I will listen to your concerto as soon as it is up and you've told us about it here.

I don't know if you've ever prepared a score for performance, but that is my next aim. As I've made clear on this site, I have to move to a slightly more advanced scoring program to make all the parts performance-ready...so I'm now using the Sibelius program in tandem with notation composer.

What is your first instrument - violin ? I only ask that because I'm teaching myself the viola right now. You may wonder why I'd take on such a monumental task, but it's so I can understand more about bowing.

I've reached a sticking point with my score: I need to understand more about bowing before I can add slurs to my string parts. A professional score requires all the slurs to be written in, even if altered by the performers- so I'm doing it the hard way.

Best wishes and look forward to your concerto

adrian

M G Jacobs (mgj32) 05-21-2009 05:58 AM

Hi Adrian, I have prepared
 
Hi Adrian,

I have prepared a couple of small scores for performance, many years ago when it all had to be done by hand, including a lot of re-copying. One was for flute, cello and Native American drum, for a wedding on the rim of Canyon de Chelly. As it turned out, since the cellist and I had some time to practice, and the drum didn't show up, the only score that really mattered was the "conductor's score," for a bride's maid who had her guitar in her trunk turned out to be very accomplished and used that score to improvise. Since her guitar seemed so integral, I've been trying for 30 years to remember just what she did and get it written down.

The other was an arrangement of "Simple Gifts," for a cathedral dedication, for soprano, flute and piano. I was very precise in the scoring, so was surprised when I heard the rehearsal tapes how much of themselves the performers put into it and just as surprised that I, for the most part, liked what they did, all generally within the instructions.

My first instrument is the piano--or was; I haven't played in 30 years, at least, except to improvise a bit now and again, with unresponsive fingers. I also had access to a flute, so I learned and played that for years. In fact, I wore it out back in the early 90's. At one point I rented instruments for about a year (Eb horn, trumpet, clarinet). My experience with a violin is limited to getting a decent sound, playing a scale and a few simple tunes, and accomplishing some double stops, which was great fun. I see your point about hands on learning about bowing.

I can find scores from just a few years ago that were annotated to the hilt, but recalling "Simple Gifts" and the soprano it was written for (a coloratura with a huge voice) and her rendition of it in a lovely smooth, almost whispery, tone she is capable of, started me thinking a long time ago. Then, a couple of years ago a college friend and I got in touch after mumble mumble years, and he was in his last year as a conductor. Public Radio broadcast the concerts, so I heard those of his final season and was often struck by departures from what I was used to hearing in most of the works I had heard and knew fairly well, especially his occasionally idiosyncratic tempi. It finally hit me that whatever I write is not going to be played exactly as I'd like. So I have been trying to simplify instructions, while giving a good general idea, and it is a very difficult thing to do. I'm afraid I'm a long way from getting very good at it.

Of course, there are some necessary things. You mention slurs. Essential. You can do them in Composer rather easily, but I'd recommend doing them last and using page view. Sometimes it's hard to remember that a bow is only so long, and singers, wind and brass players with great lung capacity still have to breathe. Strings, I guess, are the most difficult instructions to deal with, if for no other reason than that there are so many, often expressed via a term rather than, or in conjunction with,a symbol.

I wish you success with your undertaking and would love to see the score when finished, perhaps in .pdf format.

The violin concerto is on Zshare. There is a player, but no volume or other controls as there used to be. The link is:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/60304275bf3e1919/

all best,
mgj

Adrian Allan (adrianallan) 06-08-2009 11:01 AM

Finally had a listen to your v
 
Finally had a listen to your violin concerto.

I enjoyed what I heard, but it will take a few listens to fully absorb. There are some interesting moments of orchestration, like the xylophone and violin in the first movement.

I thought that the violin sample was quite reasonable, but I'd obviously love to hear the whole piece played live or with more expensive samples.

It must have been a huge undertaking to complete this music, so best wishes in getting it played some time in the future.


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