Okay - hear it is… some sad music. Okay, it’s not 100% sad. It is a bit hopeful sounding as well and thus the idea for the title and the music video, “The Last Hope”. I hope you enjoy it… being sad.
I wrote this piece using SATB choir and solo cello. This was my first time writing for choir and I was pleasantly surprised how rich sounding a choir (Voxos library) can be with the 4 “voices”. When I was writing it, it wasn’t sounding very sad (too hopeful) so I added lyrical cello (Tina Duo solo cello library). It was at that point that I found I could play the hopeful choir vs the melancholy cello voice and I thought it worked well. While I did find the choir created a beautiful sound, it was challenge for me to develop the piece without it sounding too much the same (another reason why I added the cello, to vary things up). I think this is something I will need to work on in the future when using voices.
The composition is ABA form. The second A is almost an exact copy of the first. While I don’t usually do copies of second A sections, I thought it seemed to work well here - having the repetition of sadness. Another interesting thing (at least to me) was that there were not any accidentals in the piece. I think helped to create some of the aura sounding nature of the work - no surprises harmonically.
My family will be happy that I have finally finished this piece with being such a downer. My daughter gave it a “thumbs sideways”. Appreciate any feedback to be given. This includes any comments on the music video. Does it work? Is it too distracting? I spent more time on the video (partly because I was learning Adobe Premiere) than I did on the piece so I curious for feedback on the visuals as well.
@Mikael thank you for these opportunities for participating. Hoping September’s contest is a bit more cheerful!
The cello is a really good color to add to this. But I must say, it illustrates why we need to hire real players when the project is critical. Tina Guo is thought by many to be the best solo cello library. But it just won’t do legato right. Every next note has its own swell, identical to the last. There’s nothing you can do about it, of course. Solo string libraries just have this problem. Some more than others (I think Guo’s is egregious), but a real player is the only way around it.
But that’s not a criticism of your composition. It’s a fact of life that mockup composers have to live with. I love the piece.
The harmonies of the choir are great. I like it. And I think the idea of choir and solo cello is very novel. I do not know a piece in this set. Can you give a historical example for it?
Only one point I have to add:
the cello is sometimes too fast and too energetic and too loud. It build up conflicts with the choir. The cello part can really stand for it self, but I suppose it could be better the cello support the choir. The pizz part is very beautiful. But be that as it may it is just my opinion.
Great piece Brandon! It does carry that “silver lining” feel to it and works quite well with the video. The harmonies in the choir are lovely and the solo cello accompaniment was a good choice. My only critique would be to add more reverb to the mix as it sounded a bit dry to me. But that’s me; I like more of the concert hall type of sound to my pieces
Klaus - thank you for your comments. I haven’t listened to enough choir music and I’m certainly not aware of the combination with cello. Seems like a good fit! I was inspired to use choir when I had heard Barber’s Agnus Dei on the radio a few days before and thought it sounded transcendental.
I consciously had the cello out front of the choir and wanted some energy from it to (try to) give some realism. I liked how the cello and the choir were a bit at odds with each other. Almost like two different entities in conflict (ie. sorrow vs hope). But yeah, having the choir be out front or in balance with the cello might have worked as well.
Amazingly I used a 4 second hall! I think it got eaten up by the choir. Listening back again now, you might be right, and I could have a added a bit more.
Yeah I find reverb levels are tricky. One day they sound fine, another day too much, etc. Also, one listener will find too much and another too dry, depending on their preferences. You can’t win! My approach now is as long as they are not distracting, I don’t worrying about them so much.
My approach with reverbs for most of what I do… I use UAD 480L and add an ambience reverb to place in a room and usually a longer verb (hall, room or plate). I find this makes a fuller, and more interesting sound.
Great piece. The choir and cello combination is great! In all fairness, I usually do a first listen to just the music (not watching the video). Sometimes I get a different feeling from just the music and don’t want to be distracted from the video.
The music and arrangement is incredible (plus…Tina Guo!!! LOL).
Thank you Marcus for the kind words about the music. I know what you mean about the video sometimes being distracting. I find I have to be careful with these music videos that music is primary and not secondary focus when listening.
Definitely. Of course, when you get those big scoring gigs, that’s a different story. LOL. I actually like what sites like CueTube.com is doing (providing clips for composers to score to) to help have a story that the music can guide. Great piece!
