New kid on the block...

Hi Brendan,

No tomatoes required. Nicely done. A bit somber (as you indicated) but pretty enough to not be depressing. It builds nicely also (instrumentation). I don’t listen to much instrumental music (although Ennio Marricone and Elmer Bernstein have a place on my iPod) but I liked it and it was a nice break from rock and roll. The lift (around 1:24?) is welcome at that point and the 2:35 section really opens up nicely. Some patches were more convincing than others but the overall sound is pretty good. It has a real movie score feel to it. Good stuff.

Hi Mannie, Chad
Thanks for your comments.

MannieNY wrote:

Some patches were more convincing than others but the overall sound is pretty good.

Yes I agree that not all the sounds are quite "there", though I intend to address this with the forthcoming purchase of the stunning Symphonic Orchestra suite from EastWest.

It's a slippery slope financially but hey... if it's what you love...

Chad wrote:

Will this be a CD for the general public to buy? Be sure and post a link if so.

I'm currently working on a CD project based on "Fragile Earth", and will include different merged tracks based on different aspects of our planet in different countries around the world - such as life on the African Planes, the Magic of India, Ancient Heritage, Life at the Poles, Sea Life, Destructive Man (i.e. "Fragile Earth"), etc. There are many others in the pipeline, and this will introduce a number of pieces that vary significantly and should appeal to a variety of tastes.

If I can get the CD successfully solicited then I will be donating about 1000 professionally-printed copies towards the end of this year for our annual charity event "Children in Need". I also have a few friends on BBC radio that may be able to help promote the album, though as I say it will need to be properly solicited and bound to be expensive!

For fellow musicians? - well I'm sure that I could reciprocate constructive comments and suggestions with some free copies or downloads

Thank you again!

Brendan.

Thank you Bill for your kind comments.

One thing I've discovered since joining this community is that it's great to share ones creations with others with similar interests, unlike the usual "Yeah, it's alright innit" from those that don't quite have that critical appreciation.

I'm just an ordinary guy with a life-long love of making music, and if others appreciate it as-well then so much the better

Longer pieces to follow in due course so I'll keep you posted.


Best wishes,

Brendan.

I really enjoyed this piece. Very smooth voice leading and supple connections, which is somewhat forgotten craft these days. It builds up very nicely and I can see how it can work to close an album. Only the timpani and the cymbal at the very end I found a bit harsh and out of place.

Keep them coming.

Brendan,
Yeah, that's beautiful.

Here's some ideas:
- No one has that kind of lung capacity playing the english horn. Need to add some more pregnant pauses. Also as it develops later you could try a little call and response with say a solo cello, or high strings (this could happen at 1:40)
- It would be interesting to hand the role of the harp off to string pizzicato
- Could try having a brief, light recapitulation after the roll/cymbal crash - like this: pause light high strings, followed by the eng. horn agin, the string fade.

All of the above offered as imho. It's really fine as is, well, except for that blue faced reed dude over there.

maybe it's a tandem ... ever done that? .. man is it hard....

Not sure, you mean circular breathing (Rassan Rolan Kirk) or two players dovetailing their notes, either sound extremely hard for a double reed (speculation only).

Thank you everyone so much for these excellent ideas and suggestions. I'll try to address those areas that could clearly be improved, and by consensus of expert opinion the tympani goes!

I also agree that some instruments need to be lifted to add body and warmth so I'll work on that as-well, and as for those poor ol' blue-faced brass-boys I've since built in brief rests to help them out a bit. I had to chuckle when you pointed this out as you're perfectly right regarding lung capacity

However, it occurred to me that where I have used a combinational orchestra patch to help finish off the piece, the extended horns were then inevitable. I'll try to split this out with individual strings and brass patches, so that the horn-boys can operate independently and rest early.

I have also now tweaked the harp velocity very slightly and compensated with a reduction in volume, which addresses the muffled tones that were correctly pointed out (sorry to wake you mlockett ). That's already been done in the re-uploaded file, along with a few other tweaks to the velocity and smoothness of the ending violin.

I'll also try to add interest with those pregnant pauses, strings, cellos, and hand-over from harp to pizz. I also like the suggestion of a string fade which could roll on strong and quick, and then fade out as a terminator in preference to the cymbal alone - on reflection a bit weak and not the best fit for a grand ending.

Once again everyone, thank you for your most valued comments and feedback, and I expect to re-post an improved version sometime late this Sunday.

I just feel so honoured and privileged to be in such company!

Brendan.

Hi Randy

Many thanks for that. I'll get in touch directly after I've built in some of these excellent suggestions and other perspectives. What started off as a short finishing track on an album looks as though there's plenty more mileage for an extended performance so I've more work to do yet.

Incidentally, that Eastwest orchestral suite is precisely the same thing I'm after when my budget can stretch to the platinum (surround) set and a fast dedicated PC to handle rich orchestrals. Sooo expensive though but it lights my fire and like a drug I've just got to have it.

I also listened to a few of your tracks. You're clearly a very accomplished musician and I really liked your mood performances - very nice indeed and excellent guitar play. I used to play around with classical guitars (Perez 670 and Perez Pro) but haven't touched them in a while as I was never really that good.

Will be in touch soon and thank you again.

Brendan.

Hello Chuck.
Thank you for your post and for your kind comments.

Although to be afforded the opportunity to compose a score for a movie would be a dream come true for most of us here, regrettably I am just an ordinary guy with an electronics engineering profession.

Music is not just an interest but has remained a part of me all of my life from such a very early age. There's nothing that compares to getting home from the drudgery of everyday working life and disappearing into that fantasy world of composition and creativity that you can truly call your very own, and then to find your work appreciated by others.

I'm really glad that you enjoyed the composition, though I do accept that there's plenty of room for improvement and I'll be trying and developing the many excellent ideas from those that have kindly contributed their time and suggestions.

There are clearly many very accomplished musicians on these forums and many have already given me a whole range of new perspectives and ideas to work on. This I believe is what this is all about as no matter how good we are we are always learning from our betters. If you can open your mind to the considered thoughts and suggestions of others, then that is the key to continuous personal development and improvement which maybe, just maybe, will pave the way for bigger things later on.

I don't know where my music will take me, but the key ingredient above all else is the thorough enjoyment of the art in every possible sense of the word. Now if lady luck tapped me on the shoulder with a dream proposal to score (if you'll excuse the expression) then not even a lottery win would come close to the thrill of it all, though realistically I think that I would probably have more chance of winning the lottery

I'll post here again once I have developed this piece some more - hopefully over this weekend. As always, all thoughts, comments and constructive criticisms most welcome and thoroughly appreciated

Thank you again!

Brendan.

Brendan,

I liked it very much. I was a music composition major, so listening to an orchestral piece was very refreshing and brought back some fond memories for me.

This is definitely a beautiful piece from a compostitional standpoint! I really liked the way it builds and how you introduced new instruments along the way.

I also have to agree about the phrasing of the english horn. It needs to be broken up a bit more for both letting it "breathe" and for realism.

Great job! I have to give this one

Hi Gary & Chaz
Great to hear from you, and thanks for your feedback!

I can't profess to have any significant formal musical education (apart from private guitar tuition when I was eight years of age - a long <ahem> time ago). I'm only self-taught and therefore very grateful and encouraged by your educated comments and appraisal Chaz.

Since my earlier musical days (before the 9-5 took centre-stage) I've been drifting aimlessly with no-one to really learn from or share thoughts and ideas with. However, this is a fantastic community here and I'm really excited now and inspired to work much harder to achieve the objective satisfaction of my peers and more learn'ed musicians, whether it be on grounds of technical critique or just the overall impression.

So many tuneful sequences queueing up in my head now - it hurts!

Thank you again

Brendan.

Hi Andy.

Thanks for your review and comments.

Like yourself I'm often up until about 3am composing and the like, and certainly more recently reviewing websites and compositions of our artistic companions on the forums. I will also follow up with my humble suggestions on requests for comments once I have a bit more time.

I'm also putting together some ideas for another track which will probably be the start of my album project as I thought that, without just sounding similar, it would be nice to have just a little synergy between the "bookends" and probably a good idea to do that now.

I'll try to keep it sufficiently "different" though

Brendan

Brendan,

This composition is worth the listen. Good title. When you consider what we are doing to this earth, it should be sad and introspective. I would really like to hear the rest of your work.

-Ed Summers

ORIGINAL: brendantownsend


Prehistoric_Majesty.mp3

Brendan,

You certainly are not the average composer. The word "posterity" comes to mind. Very unique. Have you been commissioned in any way to do these compositions or is this your preferred style?

Good Stuff.

-Ed