Symphony #8 (complete)

[Jerry Gerber]

From the CD "Cosmic Consciousness" (2013)

Symphony #8

[mh-7635]

I'm surprised that people do not comment on your work more so here Jerry because I find your language and discourse compelling and your inventiveness in scoring and development excellent. There is a uniqueness to your music that is rare to find and as for your prolific output, well I'm just so bloody jealous of you. 😊 At times I forgot I was listening to samples such was the strength of your rhetoric.

Perhaps it is the originality in your music that makes folk refrain from commenting here (good or bad), or perhaps it's the genre or maybe the language you are writing in - me, I see your originality as your strength.

[Jos Wylin]

Hi Jerry,

With growing astonishment I listened to your entire 8th Symphony. As we've already experienced, opinions about the semantic content of "symphony" may differ, but I don't think that anyone can deny that this huge piece of music sounds in all aspects wonderful.
The constructions of all the movements are original and well thought through, as well as the use of the instrumentation. Strings are at times not so conventional and play in a cinematic way, without being 'epic', a word that I hate in this context. That approach results in particular dynamics through the whole symphony.

As I mentioned in earlier comments, your musical idiom and orchestration techniques are always surprising and thrilling. Everything I've heard from you seems to open another sonic world.
The recording as such is very transparent and lively so that the thematic material and instrumental development can easily be followed. I have one little question though: do you intentionally bring some instruments to the foreground to make them shine a bit more? I think of the flute, the harp. Or is that the result of a well deliberated choice of spacial placement and the nice transparency? Anyhow, they sound fantastic, just like all the chosen articulations and dynamic phrases.

In one word: a majestic job!

Jos

[Jerry Gerber]

@Jos Wylin said:

Hi Jerry,

With growing astonishment I listened to your entire 8th Symphony. As we've already experienced, opinions about the semantic content of "symphony" may differ, but I don't think that anyone can deny that this huge piece of music sounds in all aspects wonderful.
The constructions of all the movements are original and well thought through, as well as the use of the instrumentation. Strings are at times not so conventional and play in a cinematic way, without being 'epic', a word that I hate in this context. That approach results in particular dynamics through the whole symphony.

As I mentioned in earlier comments, your musical idiom and orchestration techniques are always surprising and thrilling. Everything I've heard from you seems to open another sonic world.
The recording as such is very transparent and lively so that the thematic material and instrumental development can easily be followed. I have one little question though: do you intentionally bring some instruments to the foreground to make them shine a bit more? I think of the flute, the harp. Or is that the result of a well deliberated choice of spacial placement and the nice transparency? Anyhow, they sound fantastic, just like all the chosen articulations and dynamic phrases

 

 

In one word: a majestic job!

Jos

I work with MIR panning and reverb until I find the positions and space that works for me.  Transparency is important to me, otherwise why write countrapuntally?   Glad you enjoyed listening, thanks for telling me!

Jerry

[Jerry Gerber]

@mh-7635 said:

 

I'm surprised that people do not comment on your work more so here Jerry because I find your language and discourse compelling and your inventiveness in scoring and development excellent. There is a uniqueness to your music that is rare to find and as for your prolific output, well I'm just so bloody jealous of you. 😊 At times I forgot I was listening to samples such was the strength of your rhetoric.

Perhaps it is the originality in your music that makes folk refrain from commenting here (good or bad), or perhaps it's the genre or maybe the language you are writing in - me, I see your originality as your strength.

Hi Mike,

Well, one person's rhetoric is another's personally crafted language!   I do know that more people listen than comment as that's what my web stats show me.  I'm glad you think well of my music.  

On a different note (;>😉 Sonar, the DAW I've used for 25 years went out of business this past week.  So I am spending long hours learning Digital Performer.  All the muscle memory has to be retrained and some of the navigation, sequencing and audio concepts are different, but logical.  Sonar will still work, but sooner or later new hardware and operating systems will render it obsolete, so I may as well get proficient on another DAW. 

I hope you are well,

Jerry