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Thank you Anand, the song was good enough for that baritone to interpolate it in his professional recital of the Schwanengesang. The audience were actually expecting all Schubert (and I believe most thought that's what they got), as was printed in the programmes in their hands!
The student picked a singer and performed that piece in a lecture hall at university years before this here track was recorded, where everyone was supposed to think she had done it.
This is a nice melody I had scored for a movie a long time ago, I think has some Brahms-ish qualities:
Scene from Eternal (2004) scored by Guy Bacos (All done with VSL back in 2003)
Later I used this same theme to write a "Theme and Variations" piece, and also did a version for piano and cello which will be performed in 2018, but this is the piano version.
Hi Guy,
You posted this already more than 2 weeks ago. I listened just to both versions. I like melody very much, but also the variations I like very much!
My contribution is a piece for accordion, clarinet, and harp. I wrote it for my wedding and Becky and I got the chance to perform it live with one of the top Canadian harpists, Erica Goodman. This version though, features live accordion, clarinet, and midi harp (long before we knew how to really work with virtual instruments).
Passages for Accordion, Clarinet, and Harp
Sincerely,
Dave
Hi Dave,
I listened to your piece, and I liked it very much. The occasion I understand was of course very inspiring, and I can hear that in this music. Beautiful played also by you and Becky.
Thank you William,
Yes it was written for Theatre. This is where I believe people can write a "music" that can be something else than a "noise" behind the action and the sound of a movie, as many directors wants. Theatre is the most interresting music job for a melodist, I believe, - in france I don't know about american productions.
That is a good point and something to think about as a possible venue for composition. I have done a couple that were interesting though the plays were not something I really liked. If there was a play that one loved it could be as rewarding as any film scoring and as you noted, the music would have much more prominence. I agree the trend in film scoring - making music just another sound effect - is deplorable.
I have done quite a bit of theatre and found it very artistically rewarding (if not as financially lucrative as film). Lest we forget, theatrical productions up and well into the 20th century commissioned full orchestral scores just like in films, except in theatre we have infinitely more eminent composers contributing (Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Grieg, Debussy, Sibelius, etc.). I am not sure why and when exactly this great tradition became defunct and music these days in theatre can scarcely be called music, but when I wrote for it I employed as big forces as were appropriate to the play (sampled of course...). Directors were at first caught off guard, but fully enjoyed and endorsed it.
I think this was a good idea for a thread, it is focused on one (perhaps the most crucial) aspect of composing. It would be interesting to have an entire sequence of such challenges, best harmonic progression, best orchestration, and so forth.
Here is a link to the B theme, the Princess Anna theme, of my piece Saint Vladimir. The theme sort of gradually morphs through several iterations. When the trombone sings with the woodwinds, the trombone represents the voice of Vladimir.
I think this is my best melody so far, but perhaps I will write a better melody tomorrow.
That sounds nice Paul,
It has a real lyrical quality to it fitting for a fairy tale which I guess is the idea.
I'm slowly but surely getting to as many of these posts as I can.
I think for me my favorite "melody maker" has to be Dvorak with maybe Rossini coming in second.
I was just listening to Dvorak's Rondo in G minor for the umteen thousandth time and it still sounds as beautiful today as the firrst time I heard it.
OK, if we are to actually/"suicidally" put ourselves in historical melodic perspective by now posting the best of what there ever was, following Jasen's lead again, I don't know how hearing the hereby proferred Rondo (which I didn't know), it immediately triggered my suggesting a movement from Borodin's 2nd quartet. The whole work is an unqualified masterpiece of course, and the world reknown melody (relating to this thread) is in the third movement, although I find the first superior. However, for me the Scherzo boasts some of the most silken, tender, inspired, beautiful quartet pages it has been my great fortune and privilege to have ever heard. Here it is with the authoritative ensemble performing the whole thing (time markers for the movements in the description):
My contribution is a piece for accordion, clarinet, and harp. I wrote it for my wedding and Becky and I got the chance to perform it live with one of the top Canadian harpists, Erica Goodman. This version though, features live accordion, clarinet, and midi harp (long before we knew how to really work with virtual instruments).
Passages for Accordion, Clarinet, and Harp
Sincerely,
Dave
Hi Dave,
I listened to your piece, and I liked it very much. The occasion I understand was of course very inspiring, and I can hear that in this music. Beautiful played also by you and Becky.
Thank you, Xander, and MMKA for listening. Glad you enjoyed the piece, and I'll be sure to tell Becky you enjoyed the performance 😊
All the best,
Dave
OK, if we are to actually/"suicidally" put ourselves in historical melodic perspective by now posting the best of what there ever was, following Jasen's lead again, I don't know how hearing the hereby proferred Rondo (which I didn't know), it immediately triggered my suggesting a movement from Borodin's 2nd quartet. The whole work is an unqualified masterpiece of course, and the world reknown melody (relating to this thread) is in the third movement, although I find the first superior. However, for me the Scherzo boasts some of the most silken, tender, inspired, beautiful quartet pages it has been my great fortune and privilege to have ever heard. Here it is with the authoritative ensemble performing the whole thing (time markers for the movements in the description):
My apologies Errikos I guess my previous post was misleading. I didn't mean we should be comparing our work to those who have earned "legendary" status in our beloved artform.
Earlier in the thread people were mentioning some of their favorite composers of melodies, I think Guy had mentioned Tchaikovsky for example, and I just happened to have heard Dvorak's Rondo in a TV show I was watching recently. It reminded me of this thread so I posted it to share because when most people think of Dvorak they think of his 9th symphony and are not even aware of the other brilliant work he's done.
Again, sorry for the confussion. Maybe this thread should be broken into two seperate threads?
BTW Thank you for helping me rediscover Borodin! I had completely forgoten that work but I have it in my collection somewhere so I'll have to dig it back out.
Speaking of great melodies, go listen to Beethoven's Fifth 1st movement and then chime in about Synchron Strings! I am still trying to figure them out and could use some feedback. Though it's true it is more motifs than melody the motifs are as memorable as most longer melodies. Also in the 2nd movement and last the motifs expand into full blown melody.
By the way that is so true about Borodin, he is one of the supreme melodists.
Jasen: Don't mention it, I wrote that post in good humour, and I actually believe we should compare our work with the legends, if only to strive to continually raise our standards and get better, provided we are not comparing apples to oranges, i.e. not compare a 'media' melody to a trio or quartet or a symphony melody. I certainly approach melodic composition according to genre.
Favourite melodists: Tchaikovsky, Mozart (in whatever order).
William: Yes of course, themes are "melodic" but are not melodies as such, and Beethoven was primarily a thematic composer, largely regarded as the father of 'orchestral melody' - motifs; they are very memorable, WIlliams is the prime exponent of them.
Though his greatest contradicts that assessment - the Ninth symphony's Ode to Joy. Also the distinction is possibly specious. For example Borodin's melodies. They are flawless as thematic elements but exist so much as pure melody that they have been adapted into pop songs.
Now why won't anyone go listen to the Beethoven? I have lost perspective on it. Though I've had the flu so am now existing in a foggy tunnel...
