Fatis,

You have handled yourself admirably in spite of the childish and petty behaviour of others.  Thank you for sharing your insight and regardless of whether or not your views are shared by others, your ability to stay grounded in the face of such intellectual arrogance, reflects on your character, as their posts reflect on theirs.

Much respect,

Dave

William's music serves to heighten the emotional impact of the lyrics and draw the listener in to this hauntingly beautiful work of art.

As to the discussion on being discovered and/or recognized for one's talent, if a composer depends on the popularity of their work for self-validation, they will be playing a loser's game.  All we can control is our own efforts in the pursuit of excellence, staying true to our own voice and convictions.

It can be hard to understand why some things gain (what we determine to be) undeserved adulation, while other works, like the one featured here, sit in relative obscurity.  Remember though, that we are the sum of our life experiences, and the vast majority of people have simply never been exposed in any meaningful way to art music.  Learning to appreciate and cultivate interest in this form of art is no different than acquiring a taste for good coffee.  And even then, the finest connoisseur of java excellence will still be frustrated that everyone else doesn't share his/her deep understanding of what makes "good coffee."  

That's the funny thing:  composers, educated listeners, etc. all lament the lack of recognition for the kind of music they enjoy...but I suspect that if suddenly there were a surge in popularity and "art music" became the popular music of the masses, these select few that currently enjoy the work of talented, but unknown composers, would suddenly find themselves seeking new undiscovered talent to shine a light upon.  

I can only speak for myself, when it comes to the frustration of having my own work largely ignored.  Everytime a work is left un-listened to, un-commented on, etc. I remind myself that the goal is not to win everybody over and revel in the adulation of others.  The goal is to make connections...real connections to those few that may understand and/or appreciate what I'm communicating through my work.  The rest are free to enjoy what they like, while I remain steadfast in my commitment to continue exploring my own talent, with or without the approval of others.  It can be tough and lonely being a composer in the 21st century (or at any time in history, really), but the rewards are there, with or without fame and recognition.  It is up to us to find the beauty in our own path and not waste energy wondering why others don't share the path with us.

Alright, time for some "good coffee." :)

David Carovillano

Agree with MMKA, absolutely beautiful.  Very impressive!  I'm happy to see some life again with some new members.  Welcome, Andrea :)

Cheers!

Dave

Thank you, Jos, and Tom for taking the time to listen.  I'm glad you both enjoyed the piece!

Tom, you're too kind, and I appreciate your well wishes for a live performance.  The score is ready to submit, and the pesky D Flat Major section with many double flats, has been "fixed."  Your sleuthing skills are on display, as you could have caught me red-handed, had I not anticipated the massive surge in traffic to my website, and...wait a minute!  You visited the website?  I guess there was a massive surge in traffic :)

In any event, I did swap out the new version on my website, so you'll be very hard pressed to hear the difference between the old and the new!  The old version, as I mentioned above, had a D Flat Major section, which through a little chromaticism, was able to transpose in the lead in to the section and lead out of the section.  I didn't simply want to transpose the whole piece, as it would have adversely affected the other sections that needed to be in the original key.  The small transposed section actually works quite well in the new key, both for ease of playing and for the timbral aspects.  I also made a few other minor orchestration adjustments to create greater clarity, and reduced the instrumentation to match the realties of what will be available to the orchestra.

Probably more info than you cared for, but hopefully you can set your mind at ease now that you know the version on the site is the same as on youtube!

Cheers!

Dave

Thanks to both of you, PaoloT and William!  There are a lot of talented composers on this forum, and not enough hours in the day to listen to it all.

LOL!  Paranormal legato?  There's inspiration for your next work, William!  Add some overtone singing for that polyphonic voice performance, and you can have solo instruments and voice performing as "ensembles." 

Dave

Hi Sam,

So glad you enjoyed it.  I really appreciate your enthusiasm and would love to replace star ratings with pizza ratings :)  

Re. the global/mono legato settings, as far as I understand, the global legato affects the length/overlap of the notes, such that it can help smooth out a legato between two notes, but with too much overlap, will essentially allow both notes to play simultaneously, which obviously isn't possible with single voice instruments.  In my own experiences, there's always a trade off between "authenticity" and achieving a desired sound.  If you put the clarinet on mono, sure, the pitches won't overlap, but you may not achieve as smooth a legato sound as you might want for a particular passage.  It really is a matter of experimentation to find the sweet spot, which at times, I'm guilty of not finding :)

Cheers!

Dave

Thank you MMKA.  Your comments are most appreciated.  Believe it or not, I struggle to comment on the music of others as well.  Music is so personal, and of course, there are myriad technical aspects which as a listener, one may or may not feel equipped to discuss.  This often leads to general silence on the forums, for fear of saying things that the "know it all" types will correct and/or dismiss.  There is also the desire to not offend the composer, if what we want to comment on might be received incorrectly.  We all love music, which is why we're here in the first place.  It's my hope that in the future, more people will feel safe to share, and also encourage the composers that already share.

Cheers!

Dave

Thanks for listening, Francesco!  PM'd you the info.

Hi Fabio,

Just saw your comment on youtube.  Thanks again for listening and yes, the goal will be a recording with Becky down the road.  We've got our hands full with a little toddler who doesn't let us do anything remotely related to performance at this time :)

Cheers!

Dave

Thanks to both of you, William and Tom!

William:  Your ears don't deceive you.  You are the King of Detail when it comes to this stuff.  Yes, guilty as charged of forgetting the global legato setting :)  It is a midi performance, considering Becky's in the midst of some busy work that won't give her the time to learn the piece.  Of course, that's the end goal one day, with a suitable pianist...not me.  The fact that there was a time when certain composers on this forum felt it necessary to let me know how bad my music and/or mock-up skills were, and in consideration of the fact that they are highly respectful of your work...well, I guess I feel good getting your approval, William :)

Tom:  Thanks again for your always kind and motivating words.  I believe one of the reasons William's production chops are so extraordinary, is his uncanny sensitivity to sound and how instruments work/behave.  He really is at the top of the heap of VSL masters, alongside the usual heroes, like Guy Bacos, of course!

Cheers!

Dave

Hi all,

I have just completed a work with deep personal meaning.  Sonata, Opus Something (yes, I get the irony of my previous sentence vs. the title of the piece!) is a new clarinet and piano sonata, written for my beautiful wife, Rebecca.  It's in 3 movements, and I've included a youtube link below to the whole work, which is 17 minutes.  No, I haven't separated the movements with timecode, because I would much rather anyone that listens, give the whole piece a listen.  I think it's worth it, but of course, I'm partial :)

Seriously, I contemplated not posting this, because it seems that there is less and less interest in listening and commenting on music shared via the forums, which of course, has the effect of demoralizing those that spend so much time (foolishly?) tweaking endless midi data. 

I'd love to be proven wrong in this case, and receive some "I listened to the whole thing while downing a box of Twinkies,"  or "I couldn't get through it without a six pack, but I finally did...get through the six pack," comments. 

Sonata, Opus Something for Clarinet and Piano

Enjoy!

Dave

Hi Jim,

While I can't assist you directly with your request for someone to do a mockup of your piece, I can suggest that while that approach may give you a sense of what is possible with VSL instruments, you will ultimately be at the mercy of the competence/effort of the individual that you have hired.  Working with midi, especially to realize a piece with all the nuances and aesthetic considerations you likely would expect (based on your suggestion of a string quartet) requires an inordinate number of hours, which may make it less feasible, unless you find someone willing to do it for the sheer pleasure, and not for adequate compensation.

The other concern is, that even if you are satisfied with the individual's rendition of your piece, it doesn't do anything to help you with your own efforts.  That will require a fair amount of practice, experimentation, and oodles of patience.  Remember, your musical skills/composition chops have no bearing on your ability to feel comfortable working with daws, virtual instruments, plugins, mixing, and mastering.  Most of us that pursue this, coming first from a musical background, suffer years of frustration as we hone our skills.  There are amazing composers that wouldn't have the skill/patience/desire to ever render their pieces with virtual instruments, and there are less accomplished composers that possess a lot more skill in terms of computer music production chops.

With all that being said, my suggestion to you is to definitely try to find someone to commission (trust me, there are many composers that will welcome a pay day doing what they love, even if it is less than an ideal amount), but to also demo a few of the virtual instruments offered by VSL and try your hand at it yourself.  I believe you can demo them for 30 days (could be wrong on this?) so while an "expert" is working on your piece, you can at least explore the articulations, and workflow with your preferred DAW.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

Dave

p.s.  if you do get your piece done by someone, please share it here, along with your own thoughts on how it turned out!

Thank you, WIlliam, Fabio, and MMKA!

William, I had to smile when I saw your comment re. the release samples for the oboe.  We have the releases cranked up to the mid-80s (I think they default in the mid 60s?)  Anyway, the oboe is what it is, and to be honest, those abrupt cut offs are less pleasant to me than a little more tail/reverb to help make the oboe sound sweeter than its raw/natural sound might provide :)  We were listening one day to a string quartet performing live in a radio talk show studio setting (PBS) and were originally thinking it sounded like a cheap late 90s midi recording.  At the end, the host introduced them as a quartet of members from a major symphony.  It is absolutely amazing how much we can change the perception of sound via the recording environment/techniques, etc.  I think, sometimes, our access to these tools does give us the possibility of moving away from true realism to idealism in sound.  In any case, for this piece, we actually were modeling the sound as close as we could to a piece by Glick, recorded in a cathedral in Toronto.  It definitely has a little more reverb than some might prefer.

Fabio, thanks for your encouragement.  It will be a while before I do more of these, as I'm finishing a clarinet sonata's midi performance, along with some bigger Acclarion pieces for our next (last) CD.

MMKA, that's great that you played oboe!  Did you fiddle with making your own reeds?  That seems to be the life of an oboist, and always amazes me how much time they devote to that part of their instrument.  I'm glad I'm a "pick up and play it" instrumentalist, without having to spend time on maintenance/reed making, etc.

Dave