KERSTEN: "Shadows of the Soul"

[William]

In trying to sell sheet music I did a youtube video using just the printed score of this piece. It was originally for a rather impractical ensemble using choir, vibes, celesta, strings, etc. so I did an arrangment for just strings and harp, maybe actually an improvement (?)  Anyway more practical to play.  It uses the Pernegg Monastery MIR  -

[agitato]

I really enjoyed this piece.

Sonically this sounded like a (good) live performance. Maybe occasionally the solo viola sounded a teeny bit unnatural in expression (sorry I dont know how to express what I hear) but it was nearly perfect and hardly compromised anything in the piece.

The voice leading and counterpoint were sophisticated. Beautiful range of expressiveness. I am already hearing the third time.

I am sure a lot more could be said if it werent for my limited knowledge.

Congratulations and thank you for sharing the wonderful piece.

If you could please tell us how you produced this...did you use the articulations from the score to directly trigger the samples (like using Sibelius soundset), or did you program this using a sequencer or otherwise? Would help amateurs like me.

Thanks

Anand

[jasensmith]

William, Beautiful work here. Sonically it's like skirting the boundary between a fantasy and a nightmare. There's a haunting quality that fills you with dread at first before evolving into something more soothing; kind of like this is the afterlife but it's actually quite welcoming. And when it comes to making strings sound authentic you're probably the best on the forum IMO. That's years of blood sweat and tears to get them to sound like that I'm sure you'll agree. The Pernegg monastery sounds glorious BTW. Another thing. Thanks for posting the score. I'm kinda weird about reading scores at live performances as I try to do every time I see one. People give me dirty looks because they think I'm being critical by listening for mistakes from the orchestra but actually I just like to read along with the score because I'm interested in the orchestra's interpretation. Your score here flows nicely and is easy to follow along. Thanks for posting.

[William]

thanks Anand and Jasen

The MIDI was done with a sequencer using a slave.  I feel the same way about always wanting a notated score to everything.  But on this I didn't have the score at first which is not the best approach.  I've done a number of pieces directly into MIDI and it requires a huge amount of quantizing and editing to get the sheet music notated which can drive you crazy...

[Paul McGraw]

Love the piece. The gradual metamorphosis of the harmony from consonant to more disonant is brilliant. The quality of the midi-performance was, as always, superb. 

I really enjoyed having the score to follow. I have a lot of scores that I have collected over the years, and as others have shared, I find I most enjoy listening when I follow with a score. 

I bought the Shadows of the Soul CD which includes this track in a different arrangement. I prefer this new version. It is somehow more intense. 

[William]

Thanks Paul, that is interesting to hear about the different versions as I wondered about it since it was reducing the scoring to smaller number of instruments. 

[Jos Wylin]

Hi Wiliam,

Again a wonderful score, set in VSL samples perfectly, although this is not so simple as it looks at first sight. I've experienced that percussive short notes are a lot easier to work with than the stretched long sounds as in your piece here. Yet you did a brilliant job (as a composer and as a sample performer). I do agree with Paul about the subtle transgression to a more dissonant style. This is really magic with harmony. Well done! I've enjoyed every second of it.

Max

[William]

Thnaks very much Max I appreciate it!  

[fahl5]

Nice melancholic -romantism and fine very natural use of VSL-Libraries. I do not have anything to criticise with the warm Soloviola, It is the way a Soloviola sounds, but perhaps we are not that much used to hear soloviola what makes it always an interesting instrumentationdecision expecially for such more gloomy melancholic atmospheres.

[William]

thanks Stefen I appreciate your listening and thoughts on the piece. 

[Acclarion]

Another fine piece that absorbs the listener in its rich harmony and romanticism.  Thank you for providing the score as well.  While I personally prefer to first listen without a score, it's nice to go back a second time with it.  

Dave

[William]

Thanks Dave. I decided to do the score mainly because I am publishing the sheet music.