I listened to the entire thing today. That's a compliment right there... I've turned down sexual bribes if I'd sit through Mahler. :D I'm just telling you my bias up front---only so much Tod und Verklarung I can deal with. My comments are the kind of criticism -I- would want... as opposed to the 'WOW! Great job!' kinda thing. Take it FWIW...
Some niggles:
@14:46 The violin legato sounds synthy.
@ 23:00 the brass sounds a bit choppy.
@23: 21 1/8th notes in strings also choppy…
Then the next section... gets -too- quiet
@26:00 I dunno why, but the organ stops sound wrong. Like a baroque organ, when what you want is Saint Saens 3rd.
@ 31:00 the harp arp sounds kinda metallic
...and the finale snare seems a bit bright as well. I suspect that this (and the harp) is a mixing thing because when recorded up close they do sound bright. But in a real audience, from the audience you hear a much 'mellower' sound since those guys usually play @ the back of the stage.
AFA 'the composition'. I have two overall thoughts:
1. The more I listen, the more 'tone poem' it sounds rather than 'symphony'. I don't wanna be too hard on this. I'm a real -snob- about 'symphonic logic'. I don't mean 'sonata form', I mean how everything sounds like it's part of a 'plan' with real development of ideas that bears a lot of clever analysis. To me, -most- 'symphonic' music since Brahms are really 'tone poems'... (very nice) ideas strung together. It takes a lot of stones to call something a 'symphony'... it implies a TON of responsibility. I think we are all so influenced by movie music and the whole idea of 'leitmotifs' and so on, that I'm not sure it's even possible to write convincingly that way any more. I think our DNA is now 'cinema'.
As I listen to this I hear -sections-, implying a character or a scene---which is great for a tone poem or movie, but not -symphonic-.
2. I find myself wishing for a bit more counterpoint. Again, the themes sound very 'cinematic'... they are clean and beautiful, but most of the time I find myself thinking something -conversational- is missing. IOW: they're just the right density for a -visual- counterpoint where a lot of musical dialogue would be distracting.
Again, again, not trying to be a killjoy. It's very cool. I know that 'symphony' is now, in common parlance, pretty much synonymous with 'big orchestra'.
If this weren't 2013 I wouldn't have said anything. But to me, all this stuff is now so 'malleable' that I'm not sure any 'Opus' can ever be concerned 'set in stone' now. It seems reasonable that you might wanna continue 'tweaking'. Some of my niggles are more questions as to what is -possible- in terms of realism. And some are me wondering out loud what makes for 'symphonic' music in 2013.
I just watched 'Frankweenie' and at the end there is a -squadron- of credited assistants to Danny Elfman on 'MIDI Preparation'. It struck me again just how much work is involved in this stuff. Again: I salute you.
---JC