"Patchwork"

[MMKA]

I just finished the performance of a piece for strings (most con sordino, I use the Synchron-ized Appasionato sordino + 2 players of the Synchron-ized Dimension Strings II), woodwinds (Synchron-ized Woodwinds) and 3 trumpets and 1 trombone (all Synchron Brass).
I hope you enjoy it.

Patchwork

[Jos Wylin]

Hi Markus,

This is a very fine composition, which I love a lot. It's indeed like a patchwork of lovely themes knitted together wonderfully.

However, some small remarks. 

To start with: the playback stopped at 7:55. Next there is clearly an issue with the room acoustics. The woods are very distinct in their presence and sound perfect, but the strings seem to be in another room and sound a bit dull as if they're behind a curtain. Suddenly the pizzicati enter and have a very different sonic impact (a lot clearer and louder). And finally the slurred legatos: there are various gaps between notes (not overlapping enough? Or the wrong patches?). So if you want to give more splendour to your excellent composition, you could consider a remix and a different approach to the acoustics and reverb.

Thanks for sharing this piece. It was a pleasure to listen to it,

Jos

[MMKA]

Thanks, Jos, for your comment. I sent a PM to you.

[Macker]

Markus, I very much enjoyed listening to this piece. I found it uplifting, engaging, entertaining and especially fascinating in its collage of styles.

Did I hear, in the first section, shades of the hauntingly beautiful tremolo strings and woodwind style à la Dvorak's 9th? And later on did I hear a very Russian romantic style - possibly à la Prokofiev? Perhaps you laid out, for the cognoscenti to recognise, a smorgasbord of several styles of great masters - and If so, I'm sorry I didn't measure up to the full test, lolol; though I did enjoy your styling and changes of style throughout.

Style, and especially fluency in several styles, is an art in itself. Music can't really breathe and flourish without style. Rameau praised "the gentlemen of taste" over and over again in his famous Traité.

Very well done, and thanks for sharing this very attractive work.

[MMKA]

Thanks, Macker, for taking time to listen to "Patchwork" and thanks for the nice words.

To be honest, the way of composing this piece was 90 % intuitive. It starts to sing in me, I write it down, and the next notes and ideas come up. Of course I recognize some styles and even pieces. It is very much "playing" with notes, ideas, sounds. And after composing I realized: this is a kind of patchwork. And so the title came about. Of course I try to do harmonics always as careful as possible, a lot of rules work amazingly well, I have to say.
Several of your associations with other music and composers were new for me. But always nice to hear what other people hear in my compositions.