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Kersten Romantic Symphony

Discussion in 'Critique & Feedback' started by William Kersten, Oct 7, 2019.

  1. I thought I would post this recently completed re-recording here if this is the right spot (?)

    Romantic Symphony

    This piece was originally recorded long ago with Miroslav Vitous samples, then I re-did it with VSL and only a couple months ago took those MIDI files and re-mixed it with MIR Vienna Konzerthaus and a huge amount of doublings to get a Berlioz-style massive sound. This is the instrumentation:

    Symphonic Cube Solo Flute 1 Flute Ensemble Flute 2 French Oboe Viennese Oboe Oboe Ensemble Clarinet 1 Clarinet Ensemble Bassoon 1 Bassoon Ensemble Contrabassoon Trumpet 1 Cornet Trumpet B Flat Trumpet 3 Transposed Flugelhorns 8 Horn ensemble Solo Horn 1 Solo Triple horn Dimension horns 1-4 4 horn ensemble Trombone ensemble Solo Trombone Bass Trombone Tuba Timpani Orchestral Percussion Gongs Cymbals/Anvil Glockenspiel Chimes 1 & 2 Tom-toms Harp Viennakonzerthaus Pipe Organ Appassionata Violins 1 Solo Violin Orchestral Violins 2 Solo Violin 2 Appassionata Violas Solo Viola Appassionata Cellos Solo Cello 2 Orchestral Basses Chamber Basses
     
  2. Hey guys, I've sent William over here from VI:C because I absolutely love his symphony (just listened for the second time to the whole thing) and think you all should 100% check it out!

    Welcome to Redbanned William!
     
  3. #3 Alexander Schiborr, Oct 8, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2019
    Hey william,

    glad you accepted my invitation. Martin too? Shows what good taste Martin has. Wonderful music and Great piece and stunning work! Will comment later detailed when I am back from my trip. Again stunning and and William forget caring for ViC. I left that forum for exact the same reason and some others too just a week ago entirely. You are absolutely right what you said and you rock with your music and you are very welcome here also sharing more music if you like because I love that in times of that fast food music that you are a serious composer with such a longform symphonic writing creating wonderful moments in music that deserve a live performance. I read a bit about your cv on your page and I would be happy if you join us here on a regular base. We all here are composers from hobbyist to pros and seeking for becoming better with our writing.

    Best Greetings,

    Alexander
     
  4. Hi William

    Welcome.

    I haven't had a chance to listen yet as the piece is long.

    Just wondering if there is anything else you would like to share about the work, aside from the sample libraries used.
    Ie. the inspiration, the process of putting it together, and maybe a little bit about yourself and your background

    I am sure many others will appreciate your feedback on their work too. I hope you stick around and we hear more from you.

    Off first glance: I notice the instrumentation in the score is much different than what you posted above. Any thoughts on this?

    I look forward to listening when I have a chance

    Doug
     
    Paul T McGraw and Dillon DeRosa like this.
  5. Thanks a lot Martin!
     
  6. Alexander thanks, that is kind of you. I will definitely post some more. Also, I do really like hearing other composers' works. I liked that about the VSL forum, but there is too little of it there. By the way a guy just gave me a scathing review on that VI forum, though the others were very nice. I've never been on that forum before and I can see why you would leave it!
     
    Paul T McGraw likes this.
  7. Doug, thanks. The inspiration was really just to write a symphony with development and roughly the form normal for such a piece (at least in the past) with sonata allegro first and last movements, binary second and something like a scherzo third. But I am not strict about it and do everything very intuitively so probably violate all kinds of things. It took several years to figure out the whole piece, though I was not working full time on it! The recording with MIDI was originally very difficult because I used first the Miroslav library (quite some time ago) and then re-did it with the Gigastudio version of VSL, then finally Vienna Instruments.

    You're right about huge difference in instrumentation between the notated and MIDI scores. I did that expanded version as an experiment, doubling lots of instruments. But the written score is very practical for normal size orchestra because I am trying to get it played live. Next to impossible to do though, especially for a long piece.
     
    Paul T McGraw and Doug Gibson like this.
  8. Thank you for sharing William.

    I'm in the process of moving but I can't wait to sit down and listen to your symphony. Great job though for getting a symphony out. I'm jealous!

    Like Doug asked, did you not have any story in mind at all when writing the symphony, or was it a simple practice of form and analysis like you mentioned?
     
  9. #9 William Kersten, Oct 9, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2019
    Hello Dillon
    There was not a story but somehow a sense of elements throughout - though I can't specify it because of doing it intuitively. Also it seems to be in musical terms. Like the first movement has a conflict and seemingly tragic resolution, with the minor key and violent sounds, the second movement is sorrowful and the third I was thinking very abstractly of the mockery of death and some sort of defiance of that. I think I may have been flashing back to Vaughn Williams 9th which had a grotesque scherzo, but in the middle of this one is a strong heroic theme that starts in minor key, then fades out into mist at the end of the movement. That minor key theme then becomes the triumphant major key melody at the end after another struggle (and some development). So I think there is some kind of story but I am not fully conscious of what is going on.

    It is great to actually have people interested enough to ask this stuff!
     
  10. Fantastic work William! Congratulations on this big accomplishment.
     
  11. Thanks, Mattia!
     
  12. Just a quick note to say that I followed William over here from the VI Forum and hope to share my music as well. I'm glad to see William getting some accolades from what appears to be a friendly group of composers!

    Cheers,
    Dave
     
    Paul T McGraw likes this.
  13. Thanks Dave - I was thinking you should post some of your wonderful music.
     
    Paul T McGraw likes this.
  14. I have been away from the forums. and just saw this post. @William Kersten and you know that I love your work. It is such a pity that a composer of your ability is not getting performed live. But I have to be careful or I will go into a rant about the collapse of our culture.

    The wonderful thing about this forum is that the folks here try to help each other improve. All you have to do is ask for help about anything and people will do their best to help. At the same time, because people use real names, you do not get the anonymous trolls like other forums.

    You are very talented and obviously have a lot of knowledge. I hope you will be willing to jump in to help others on this forum, as I think we can all benefit from your perspective. Anyway, great piece!
     
  15. Now this is music that belongs in a concert hall! You demonstrate great mastery of your craft in everything about this composition. I have no critiques to offer this impeccable work. Well done on composing an entire symphony!
     
    Paul T McGraw likes this.
  16. Thanks a lot Paul, it is good to hear that - I was also disturbed by another Forum myself! They know how to illicit bad reactions that is for sure. This one I agree is much more friendly though needs to be more active - or maybe not. I think people here are too busy doing music rather than talking about it!
     
  17. Thanks Ethan it is great to hear from you! I notated the entire score and parts and am attempting to get a live performance but it is difficult to say the least.
     
    Ethan Toavs likes this.
  18. Nice! I wish you luck in getting it performed!
     
  19. Hej William,

    Yes the forum is not that active like the other one. But also look. First that forum isn´t that old (just 2 years) and it has not so many members (we are speaking here below 1K) . Another point is that I see here most of the time a two maybe three handful of people posting, commenting and supporting the forum on a regular base.

    If you feel that it needs to be more active then of course I welcome you to post here more frequently and also share your knowledge and I would appreciate that definitely. A forum can only be fruitful when there is a participation from people with interaction and a learning effect.

    And yes, I guess you are right though I can´t speak for everyone here but when it comes to me: I definitely spent more time creating music than visiting forums in general.

    Best wishes,

    Alexander
     
    Ethan Toavs and Doug Gibson like this.
  20. Alexander, I know you're right on that.

    Something I've been thinking about Forums (not this one but others that are huge) is that people post things which are gradually buried under the muck of all the other postings. It is a huge mishmash. So your work becomes just a particle among thousands of other particles. Exactly the opposite of what any artist wants. One wants to create a body of work that gradually becomes more significant, not less. I've made a total fool of myself on that other forum and attracted a lot of attention because I overreacted and was insulting to some twisted creeps, but when I simply posted a very seriously done piece - total silence. It basically has nothing to do with actual music, composers, MIDI, but more some weird social interaction between a certain clique of people.

    Anyway thanks, this forum is a breath of fresh air and I definitely want to post more stuff here!
     

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