This is the work Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus', by Ralph Vaughan Williams, from 1940. It's a long work for string orchestra and double harp, clocking in at over 12 minutes. I fell in love with this work the first time I heard it and thought about recording it. I found the score from OUP and started transcribing it about 6 months ago, finishing the transcription last week and the recording today.
It's been a huge effort. I scanned one page at a time using SmartScore Pro, then corrected the many errors and problems with that, dividing out the voices, assigning them properly in Notion, etc. The work is very complex in terms of the layering of the different sections and the divisi parts, sometimes dividing into individual desks and in some cases solo instruments against the sections, or solo quartet violins and violas against other ensembles. I've tried to capture this complexity accurately.
Technically, there are six Vienna Ensemble Pro instances (one for each string section and one for harps), with about 60 instruments in them (there are some sections where the violins are forced on the G string, or each desk splits G string playing against normale, for example, which I've captured accurately using the special G string instruments in VSL to create custom desks). They were placed in MIRPro Grosser Sendeshaal venue, with a VSL Hybrid Reverb added for sweetening of the strings.
Although the piece is complex, in the final result it sounds just right. In my humble opinion, this is the result of a composer who has mastered his palette, and knows exactly what small strokes to apply here and there to create his desired impressions.
Feedback always appreciated, and thanks for listening!
Michael
https://soundcloud.com/tensivity/dives-and-lazarus-dimension-strings
