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  4. Ennio Morricone - Gabriel's Oboe

  • Ennio Morricone - Gabriel's Oboe

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    As I continue to tweak my Sibelius/MIR/VSL template, I wrote an arrangement to one of my favoriate compositions written by Ennio Morricone for "The Mission" soundtrack. Comments are always welcome....

    Gabriel's Oboe
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    As I love the composition, I thought I'd write a comment. Very nicely done, a lot of warmth - well done, my two suggestions would be a) to give significantly more emphasis to the strings' counterpoint (they sound a little like block-chord pads now in my opinion), and b) a few more breaths for the oboe, especially towards the end; yes, double reeds can go on for longer than others, but in this case it hurts the phrasing a little as well.

    On another note, I have never heard this piece done this slow - I prefer a faster tempo, but due to the slowness, it is the first time that this track sounds the way a missionary would actually perform it; more so than the original, so that was quite interesting; that I feel this performance identifies more with the character in the movie. Congratulations.
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    This sounds great.  The only thing I noticed was the oboe should have some more obvious breaths.  Though Errikos noted that also.  Beautiful performance !  Morricone is such a great composer.  Thanks for posting this fine work. 

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    Hi Errikos,

    I'm happy you enjoyed my version of "Gabriel's Oboe".  I understand what your recommending about the "block-chord pads".  I was attempting, as in the original version, to keep the string parts very simple.  I may have made them a little too simple.  It's great to have a second set of ears.  Initially, I thought the oboe part was phrased correctly but after reading your suggestions and listening to it a few times more, I realize that yes, I did hold some of the notes too long and probably should have created diminuendo's towards the end of the long notes to give it a more realistic feel.  I truly appreciate your feedback and will be more sensitive to how I construct a solo oboe part moving forward.

    Again, thanks for taking the time to listen and more importantly, to critique the piece.
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    Hi William,

    I'm glad you enjoyed my rendition and performance.  Yes, your correct as I commented to Errikos in the previous post on the oboe phrasing.  It's amazing how I can play something over and over again, but until someone actually critiques, things get missed.  Thanks again William for listening and critiquing.  I surely appreciate it.
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    I thought it was a lovely performance.  I just wanted to note that the really only thing that stands out to me is the bad breathing of the Oboe (which was previously noted).  I am familiar with this piece and adore it very much.  Ennio is awesome.  Great mockup!  Fix the breathing and it will be even more realistic!  Congrats on a good mockup :).

    Maestro2be
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    Compliments - this sounds very,very good. Very expressive oboe solo - well done!
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      Very nicely done, Chuck. Congratulations. It's also exciting to have something by the great Morricone done with VSL. I always found his opening track "On Earth as it is in Heaven" to be an incredible exercise of musical imagination. 
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    Hi Chris,

    I'm glad you like my mockup.  Yes, I agree the Oboe phrasing needs some work.  I did this piece using Sibelius and I am coming to the conclusion that I still don't have the instrument control that can be achieved when using a sequencer.  I thought I could and maybe it's just that I'm more comfortable using a sequencer rather than notation software.  I plan to import the MIDI into Cubase and refine it at some point in the near future.  Thanks Chris for taking the time to listen and critique.  I truly appreciate it. 
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    Hi Goran,

    Thank you for the compliments....  I appreciate it very much.......
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    Hi Servando,

    First off, I'm happy you liked my mock-up.  I never heard the track "On Earth as it is in Heaven".  After reading your post, I went to iTunes and purchased the entire soundtrack.  It was "Yo-Yo-Ma Plays Ennio Morricone" that introduced me to Gabriel's Oboe for the first time.  Then I purchased the single off of one of Morricone's consolidation albums but never listened to the entire soundtrack nor have I seen the movie, which I am purchasing.  I must of missed that one when it was originally released.   I just fell in love with the song......

    So I thought I'd better listen to "On Earth as it is in Heaven" a few times before I respond back to you.  Yes, it's different for sure...  I haven't got to the "I like it point" yet .....  maybe too busy for my taste but it is amazing how he had everything (choir, percussion, etc.) mixed in with the Oboe theme.  I'll have to listen to it some more for sure......
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    Speaking of the great composer

    That may be the last chance to see him performing :

    Live in Berlin, Zurich, Wien and Cologne between February and April.
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    Thanks for refreshing this thread, I totally missed this beautiful rendition the first time araound. Really lovely work Chuck, I'd be very interested to know which specific libraries and processing plug ins were involved in your rich string sound. It absolutely shines to my ears, even in the context of the "latest and greatest" competitor strings libraries now on the market.
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    Thank you Arbee for your kind words.  At the time, I was trying out Sibellius (contrary to the popular belief that one needs to use a sequencer in order to obtain the upmost realism) and created a complete set of Sibelius Sound Sets for a Modern Symphonic Orchestra.  I was using MIR that sat inside of Vienna Ensemble -- the first version that came out that wasn't a MIR stand-alone.  Everything on the arrangement was from the Vienna Library.  For the Strings, I blended a mixer of the Orchestra Strings and Appassionata Strings libraries.  I remember pretty much making a determination on what library I was pulling each articulation from while building the instrument presets.

    I used Herb's Teldex MIR preset for a starting point, then modified it to fit the voicing of my custom orchestra.

    To be very honest, I have all the competitor libraries as well but thinking back, rendering this piece using Sibelius was probably the most enjoyable, straight forward, and fun to work with.  It's pretty darn hard to beat what Vienna has accomplished with the quality of samples and the amount of articulation that one has to choose from.  Add to it, the MIR environment.... one spends more time writing and less time dealing with the mixing/technical stuff....

    Very Happy you enjoyed the piece.

    Chuck
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    Thanks for the information Chuck, very much appreciated. TBH, I came across your track while considering one of the latest string libraries on the market to supplement my VSL strings. After hearing your track I thought "why would I bother, I already have all the tools I need, just need to get better at using them".

    All the best,

    Robert
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    Your wecome Robert.  I believe your on the right track with your thinking.  There are some great artist on this site that do an absolute great job of making VSL sound wonderful in their performances.

    Chuck out Philippe Baylac performance (I just received this link in SoundCloud):

    https://soundcloud.com/philippe-baylac/c-p-e-bach-symphony-for

    Also William Kersten at:

    https://soundcloud.com/william-kersten-music

    There are so many but a couple that come to mind whose performances highlight the capabilities of VSL.

    Take care and the best to you moving forward.

    Chuck
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    @Arbee said:

    I came across your track while considering one of the latest string libraries on the market to supplement my VSL strings

    I may have just come to the same conclusion listening to this too [:)]

    Bravo Chuck for a beautiful rendition.  I remember wearing out my cassette tape (remember those?) of this soundtrack when the film came out.  It is a beautiful piece and you have delivered a lovely performance of it.
  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on