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Yes, very tough to get any work noticed. We are swimming in a sea of music.
Anyway, nice track. The instruments sound great.
Hi Johannes
I just had a listen to it. I don't mean to damn it with faint praise but it is very nice - certainly something to be proud of. If by "Highlands" you mean the Scottish Highlands, then I have to say it doesn't particularly evoke in me a feeling of my homeland. It sounds to me a bit like a film score.
The orchestraton, instruments & mix all sound great to my ears but i have to say the choir sounds a wee bit clichéd. Do you always compose with film/video games in mind? - I guess that's where the money is these days. I've nothing against film scores but I don't think i would go to a concert hall especially to listen to one.
Cheers, Colin
"I've nothing against film scores but I don't think i would go to a concert hall especially to listen to one." - Colin Dougall
This statement is totally arrogant. Yeah you do have something against film scores obviously - you think they are inferior to concert music. They are not - any more than opera scores or ballet scores are.
So - you wouldn't go into a concert hall to listen to Bernard Herrmann's score to Vertigo played by the LA Philharmonic? Or Erich Korngold's score to Robin Hood played by the London Symphony? Or Dimitri Shotakovich's score to Hamlet? Or perhaps Vaughn Williams score to Scott of the Antarctic?
Hi
I guess I touched on a nerve here. Making a choice regarding what you would go a listen to in a concert hall has nothing to do with being arrogant or not, it comes down to personal taste. Indeed "arrogance" might be your outrage at such. I didn't say I thought the music offered way rubbish or in any way unworthy of the composer - quite the opposite in fact. "Across the Highlands" is one of the better compositions I've heard in terms of its instrumentation, orchestration, and production. But I've also heard others that are more musiclly interesting but not nearly as well executed.
What's said in ordinary language isn't meant to be absolutely definitive and unmoveable. When I say I wouldn't especially go and listen to a film score doesn't exclude the possibility that I might indeed go and listen to Shostakovich, film score or not. Neither does it mean that I can't appreciate the skill and talent of film score composers.
I probably wouldn't especially go and listen to say a program of hollywood blockbuster hits. There are some memorable moments on the Lord of the Rings score and in many others but overall I don't think ihey travel well from one environment to another. But that's just my personal taste and opinion. And I may of course change my mind.
So I suggest you be a bit more "well tempered" if future responses.
Thanks, anon.
Music is music, Film is Film, William is william Johannes is Johannes and Colin is colin and personal taste is personal taste. After all in my humble opinion absolutly nothing worth of any excitment. We all have simply no choice than to accept differences as they are and as far we are nice are always might perhaps able to try to understand what is different. Just a guess to make discussion here a bit more pleasant.
Hi Johannes,
I really enjoyed the music and it doesn't matter at all whether it sounds like film music or pure concert music. One thing is sure: an orchestra programming such music will reach a broad public. The music has enough refinements to seduce even classically trained ears. Of course not everyone will be as enthusiatic, but it all depends on what you're after in music. When you go for filosophic deepening, your piece will not offer enough. But who cares, most music has been written to please an audience in style and habits of the period. Nowadays a lot of music lovers only know film music and music that tells 'a story'. I'm sure you could have written a totally abstract piece as well with your orchestration and compository skills.
Thanks for sharing,
Jos
Thank you for your input, Colin, William, fahl5 and Jos.
It was quite enjoyable to read your exchange. I found Colins criticism to be perfectly reasonable and constructive, that said I can also appreciate William's sentiment that there can sometimes be an air of elitism among composers of differing genres. Each one to their own, as falh5 suggested. That said there are definitely elements and features from classical music that I would like to hear more of in film music and vice versa. Personally I think that John Williams, who is my musical idol of sorts, manages to blend and balance the past with the present beautifully, incorporating the many complexities and nuances of classical music while also creating memorable and enchanting melodies enwrapped in modal and mediant-centric harmonies and textures characteristic of modern film and video game music.
Personally I've grown up with the likes of John Williams, Koji Kondo (Zelda, Mario), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings), so on and so forth. I've also listened a great deal to classical music, and while there are many composers of this genre from different eras that have select pieces that I find very beautiful and enjoyable to listen to (Hungarian Dance nr. 5 by Brahms, Turkish March by Mozart, the main theme in the Swan Lake suite by Tchaikovsky for instance), it is the lush passages, unforgettable melodies and pastoral landscapes evoked by the works of Edward Grieg that consistently capture me.
I was gonna write some more stuff but I just noticed what time it is, I need to get back to studying for my exam this week. Thank you all for your feedback once again and if (Colin), you'd be interested in hearing something I've composed that's a bit more in the classical direction, here's a link for you:
I'll be watching this thread in case of further discussion, i find the topic of classical vs film/vgm music quite interesting!
Hi Joesson
Apologies, I don't know where I got Johannes from! I'm off to Prague for a few days so I'll have a good listen and reply to you when I get back. Cheers, Colin
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