Phoenix Rising

[Acclarion]

Greetings!

I had doubts as to whether I should continue to share music here, but as I enjoy the contributions of others, I would like to reciprocate.

I recently completed this one movement work for string quartet, called Phoenix Rising. Thanks for listening!

Phoenix Rising for String Quartet

David Carovillano

[Jos Wylin]

Hi Dave,

To start with: you shouldn't doubt whether to post here or not. We are your (first) audience and all those who care about (composing) music are the first listeners who can appreciate one's work, offer some help in technical matters, encourage... It has been mentioned more than once in a lot of discussions here. Those who don't care about our music and just lurk to jump in any discussion apart from music production/orchestrations/VSL-instruments are not the ones you will get any help from, rather the opposite. So Why do you compose? Why do you want to post here? Because you need some feedback, some comment, some constructive criticism if necessary so that you can go to the next step and because you need an audience. 

Now back to your string quartet. In my opinion, it is very good. The phenix frolicks through the piece in all the instruments, neatly divided in their parts (musically and in the underlying story). All the instruments sound very good and perform their individual parts in perfect balance. You've managed to spread your musical story in equal part distribution, which is important to keep the listeners attention in order to follow the musical events.

In one word: bravissimo, well done and let's hope for once that the comments will deal with music and not with philosophical considerations about generalising music related topics.

Thanks,

Jos

[Paul McGraw]

@Acclarion said:

Greetings!

I had doubts as to whether I should continue to share music here, but as I enjoy the contributions of others, I would like to reciprocate.  

I recently completed this one movement work for string quartet, called Phoenix Rising.  Thanks for listening!

Phoenix Rising for String Quartet

David Carovillano

Yes, you should keep posting your music here! Why would you not?  At least on this forum, you don't have to worry about people attacking you for using VSL libraries. 😊 Also on this forum are folks whose first interest is classical music as opposed to only music for media. I try to follow this forum, VI-C and Redbanned. I do appreciate how the folks on Redbanned try to help each other improve their craft as composers. 

Now to your quartet. The sound is really good. No obvious problems with the sound. The midi-performance is really great also, very convincing. I think of the string quartet as the most personal and in some ways the most intimidating ensemble for me. So I have yet to attempt one. I enjoyed listening to your quartet. I was most impressed with the counterpoint. 

Are you a string quartet enthusiast? If so, any particular composer? I most admire the usual quartet favorites, Dvorak 12, Schubert 14, Borodin 2, Brahms 1 and Tchaikovsky 1 among others. I admit I am a melody glutton. 

[Acclarion]

Thank you, Jos and Paul, for your kind support as always.  Jos, sometimes I wish I'd just wait to hear your comments prior to posting a description of my pieces, because I always prefer the way you describe things!  You have a way with words as much as you do with music!

Paul, I'm not particularly a string quartet "fan", in that I've not specifically sought out quartets in my listening activities over the years.  I should mention, perhaps something that might be surprising to fellow composers, especially in light of the mind set that we are all life long students of music; I have not actually listened to the works of great masters for the past 4 years in any signficant way.  When I began composing full time, I knew that if I poured over scores and analyzed the contributions of the masters, I would be discouraged from writing and/or developing my own voice.  Further making me an odd duck, my style has seemed to evolve completely separate from my musical influences, which I count Bach, Mozart, and Faure, among my favourites...of course, being an accordionist, there's also a ton of influence from many modern composers that few would know about.  That said, your preferred quartets are obviously stellar choices and it's hard to argue with a love for melody :)  

All the best,

Dave