COMPOSITION SCORE COMMENTS                                    
CLASSICAL & ORCH.                                        
N.C.F. Theme 6.90 "Late-breaking news, live at five!"  Just kidding, but there is a sort of "typewriter-clacking" rythym to this that reminds me of the seque into the nightly news.  Of course, it's punctuated with legato melody, even if the chordal progression is a bit simple.  Nicely orchestrated, and uses drums in a way I only dream about.                                    
Camelot 2 6.20 Stately and regal enough, but with not-often-enough-taken opportunities to vary the expression (particularly with respect to passing the melody/theme to different voices).  I would have jumped on the chance for a little fugal treatment at measure 19, myself - but the composer set out to convey a royal sort of approach, and mostly achieved it.  Pleasant - as most of the pieces this month are - to listen to, but there needs to be more variation, more "concertante" style, more differences between sections.  It's through the juxtaposition of apparent opposites (loud vs. soft, or fast vs. slow, or intense vs. languid) that really bring fire to a piece.                                    
NN 5.00 A symphony is a very complex, organized, varied and intelligent piece of music that lasts so friggin' long because the music itself, the themes themselves, DEMAND it -  - not because the the composer just wants to fill it out.  A chord progression of d to C to B-flat to a does not a symphony make.  I am not discouraging you from continuing to write, but perhaps you ought to start relatively small (as in solo piano, or small woodwind ensembles, or quartet).  Not only do smaller groups tend to support monotony better, but there are tricks you can use with less instruments to make it seem like more is going on than actually is the case.  But with a symphony-sized group?  Not a chance - you can't hide the fact that nothing interesting may be going on.  Keep trying!  The best part was the end!  (not being a smart-ass here; I mean, the punctuated close of this piece, followed by the fading choir, was very dramatically significant).  More surprises like that in the middle of what came before, and you're on your way!                                    
Piano Concert 1 in C, mov 1 6.50 Very interesting - a bit long for the repetitive elements, but the piano part captivated me, and the stretto-treatment starting at measure 261 was a stroke of genius….again, not many are up for it, but if only you could have sustained that potential fugato entrance, and made it a complimentary part of the main thematic material's return!  A worthy effort.  Is it just me, or are the pieces getting longer and longer every month?  That's great!  But in order to make the length pay off for the kind listener, you MUST have MORE GOING ON.                                    
My Clair de Lune 7.00 Well done!  I won't grade above a 7.00 if the piece isn't yours, but I wish I could - very fun to listen to.                                    
My La Malaguena 7.00 Well done!  (did I start a trend with Spanish music???)                                    
Menace 8.10 TOO SHORT!!!  GREAT flowing harmonies and key changes at 19-24, and other than muddy middle sections, this is spirited work.  The ambiguous ending may have been intentional - but there's no way to tell.  You might have just pooped out.  Play with switching around the notes of the final chord (give them to various different instruments) to see what I mean.                                    
2nd Movement 7.30 "Trills are us!"  I had to listen quite a few times to get to like this piece, and appreciate the directness of approach - so open, not fancy, strong like coffee.  Again, however:  see-sawing back and forth between the keys of C and B-flat is interesting - - - for a moment, not for essentially the entire work.  Chord modulations are NOT themes, and melodies should suggest a key or chord without one having to write out the parts all of the time.  That way, there's less chance of unintended dissonance (and believe me, dissonace should always be intended, and there are ways of telling when it is properly and judiciously done).  I'd be interested in hearing the difference between this and the last movement.                                    
Mechanoscape 8.80 Brilliant, frenzied, wild-eyed-whirling-dervishly good.  Drum solo, though appropriate, was too long for my tastes, but was more than made up for by the abrupt change to the slower middle section.  Then willy-nilly to the ritornello, finished with a final chord that'd make Miles Davis smile.                                      
Symphony 1, mov 4   n/a                                    
Sometimes I Dance 8.05 A little mis-titled, perhaps, but it has that poignantly sad violin / string part so laden with vibrato that could be crying.  I don't think I'd listen to this while drunk and depressed, but THAT hardly EVER happens….once again, needs balancing with a middle section that kicks off it's shoes, and makes us appreciate all the more the return of the funeral procession.  Part of the challenge in developing ideas is - in addition to developing each separately, intelligently - juxtaposing sections and motifs that, independently are tempting to make whole pieces themselves, but which compliment each other when used together.  Good idea here, but it's just one idea.                                    
Christus Cterben 7.60 I liked the overall cathedral-like approach, but for 113 measures, you've GOT to have more happening in the lower voices.  When you don't, and use whole-note accompaniment to boot, you open a can of worms that all budding composers eat regularly.  Things happen that you may not want, as at measures 77 and 87 (high c against b-natural, and other passing tone no-nos - you handled it better at measure 101); again - and again, and again - always try to mix what first appealed to you for an idea with something completely opposite - if it's whole notes, then make another instrument syncopated, offbeat.  If it's a clean melody (as you have here), then balance it with an interesting, rythmic supporting chordal structure.  If the piece sounds the same thoughout as when you started it, then you need to address that - it's not my opinion, it's the way music works, when it does work.                                    
Cello & Strings 8.20 If you're really 16, then this is outstanding.  All right, maybe a little too full of teen-angst, but there are remarkable imitative passages, and plenty of dynamic inventiveness.  I'd only say that you may want to experiment (even with this piece) with more separation of parts (both octave-wise and with bringing out soem muddier parts that I had to do myself, just to make sure you'd thought about why they were there in the first place.  You did think about it, and I look forward to more variety from you in the future.                                    
April 6.60 Pleasant enough, but too short.  Interesting modulations, but altogether inappropriate drums.  I think that if timpani were to used here, they ought to be the thundering kind, not the fife-and-drum-corp variety featured here.  Opposite from other works, there's almost TOO much separation of voices in this work - but which undeniably gives it it's traveling-troubador appeal.  Simple, understated (which is almost always good), but not by design.  You've got some interesting ideas...keep plugging, baby!                                    
The Spanish Sowcase Festival   n/a                                    
March, Elegy and Victory 8.80 I hate band music - I grew up near the Coast Guard Academy, and unhappily attended many of their exemplary performances.  But this is exactly what this composer set out to do, and he/she did it very well in style.  I had to laugh - I kept thinking of "Mork and Mindy" during the playful sections.  The piece is organized, evenly divided into distinct sections, and comes complete with a blending-development-style near the coda that neatly ties everything into a bundle, and which is not at all easy to accomplish.  And he/she stuck to the plans they'd laid out, so that while there are few surprises, I was personally surprised at the level of coherence evident here, dynamically, melodically, structurally, and thematically.  Well done!                                    
Speedy 8.30 Lovely.  I know that sticking to a progression is potentially a crowd pleaser, and is always tempting - and I can see where you were going with this - but d-minor to c-major to B-flat major (pivoting occasionally to g-minor) to A-major, over and over and over again.... well, I know this works in a lot of situations, and I felt like, if you were going for this kind of repetition, then you did the smartest thing by making each time around just a little more complex (adding instruments, lines, punctuationg phrases with the drums).  But where was the flight of fancy, completely free of such constraints?  Contrast!  Contrast!  Contrast!  Then come back home, but not until you've left the house for a little adventure - and took us along with you.                                    
Concerto Italiano 5.50 215 measures is a bit long for something so unvaried in tempo, thematic material, dynamics, and emotion.  I play such ancient-sounding, Eliabethan ditties myself…while timing the boiling of an egg on the stove, or waiting for my favorite t.v. show to come back from commercial.  It's not that this isn't perfectly lovely - it is.  But it is not inspired.  If it's meant to elicit pathos, or melancholy, this it does in the first 40-50 measures - - and then I get really tired of feeling so melancholy for so long, and begin to wish you'd made me just all-out weep.  You're on the verge of making us putty in your hands, but you're still going to have to work at varying things.  There MUST be more going on in the voices, because even the best old-timers (Orlando di Lassus, Byrd, Morley, et al) didn't keep one emotion going in their music for 6 minutes.  The King would've gotten bored, and we'd never have heard of their sorry asses once they'd been beheaded.  Work, work, work - this IS lovely.  And sad.  And long.                                    
Themes of an Angry Specter 8.20 Man, I MUST be getting tired…. I just read the title as "Themes of an Angry Sphincter."  Excellent, spooky stuff, with some phenomenal little-used chords and transitions/bridges.  This sort of music has never been my cup of tea, and I hardly ever use timpani this way, but their impact on this piece, combined with outstanding volume/dynamic control (in spite of some "hidden" parts that could've been brought out more, like the orchestral harp) made me enjoy listening to it (all frigging 276 measures of it, God help me) many times.  Fun, and funny.                                    
A Journey in the Flying Machine 9.00 Superb cinematic style, professional handling of woodwinds, strings that, in turns, are supportive and carry the theme well, fantastic crescendos/diminuendos, classic movie-music-piano-part.  And all of this somehow IS evocative of an adventure in someone's flying machine - the composer's, the one atop his/her shoulders.  Here, sweeping symphonic-hall swells and calls from every major player in the orchestra hide - extraordinarily, and expertly - the fact that not much is really going on thematically or harmonically, but you'd never know it.  It's from the gut, and so there the punch lands in your own, and in spite of the fact that it almost certainly depends on the title to suggest images for the listener to put together with the music, I still like it very much.  And if that's what the composer intended, then they were successful.                                    
Piano Sonata mov 3 10.00 Perfect in almost every way.  If anyone else can do this kind of fugue in this kind of style, then they deserve a "10", too.  I loved the contrast between the fugal section and the little waltz theme introduced at measure 131 - and how you got back to the original thematic material afterwards was even better - and better developed.  You, Sir/Ma'am, have my respect - and I don't even LIKE modern music.  Amazing!                                    
String Quartet, mov 4 9.90 Almost certainly inspired by Beethoven, I can still hear OUR composer's voice thoughout - and so, this means he/she not only did his/her homework, but went through the unbelieveably difficult task of working out exactly what they wanted to do.  I cannot tell any of you the lengths to which this person went to accomplish this - it is extraordinary.  "Conflicting fugatos", indeed!  You have a sound foundation in counterpoint, and a good ear for melody - and it's rare to hear both at once.  Bravo                                    
NON ORCHESTRAL                                        
I Don't Care                                        
Where You Came From                                        
5AM2                                        
To Morrow Too                                        
Time Passes By                                        
Message From The Venus                                        
Rain Dancing                                        
Waltz Theme                                        
Musical Happiness                                        
Just The Way You Are                                        
Solitude                                        
Hungarian Girl                                        
MIXED & UNKNOWN                                        
Walk in the Park                                        
Did I Pass You By                                        
April Tango                                        
Percussin and Swearin                                        
Tuna Salad                                        
Little Tree                                        
Legend 22                                        
Progressive Divertimento                                        
Eagle                                        
Great Wall                                        
EXPERIMENTAL                                        
Oleoneptric 7.90 Simple, organized, with succesively more interesting development/addition of instruments, this was a fun piece to listen to.  Weirdly attractive (though at first I didn't like it) were the often unison triplets - originally, you stated the triple portion of the theme in the treble, supported by common-time accompaniment, and I was sort of expecting the reverse to happen instead of what you did.  But it grew on me.  Also:  Unless you're going to fade out like a pop song on the radio, you should end the piece on measure 65 - otherwise, it just sounds like you ran out of gas.  Overall, very infectious, and showed imaginative treatment of a ridiculously simple and straightforward theme and chord progression.  Good work!                                    
Theme 1 8.20 Work needs to be done on the "string ensemble" section - I only heard low strings, no violins - and better volume control would help, too.  But I really liked the odd use of horns, juxtaposed with the chromatic piano runs.  Is it a complex, extraordinary work?  Nope - but you are to be commended for the effort.  Watch out for the "never-ending Alberti-bass" approach of which so many early writers are guilty.  And finish more strongly, more definitively.  Without a firm begininning, middle, or end, a piece (however well-constructed) can sound like a piano-exercise, where one can jump in and out of playing anywhere in the score.  Promising beginning!!                                    
Chopping up Freddie 5.00 Though the instrumentation is interesting - and, yes, I KNOW the category is experimental - this still comes off sounding very chaotic and unorganized.  Even when that is the intent of the composer, there's a way to accomplish it while still making sense - and this ain't it.  The frenetic activity could be offset (or perhaps complimented) with a section more calmly or languidly odd and offbeat, but instead the psychosis continues throughout without variation.  Again, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but quite frankly, I've seen chickens with their feet dipped in ink run across a blank piece of music paper, and before I knew it, the "finished product" was at an area concert hall, and received all sorts of accolades, praised for being "innovative" and "daring", and "speaking to the modern human condition, full of stress and unresolved conflict."  Sorry, I don't buy it.  If anything can be said about intelligently produced music, it's this:  it is not just doing whatever you feel like doing, because ANYONE can do that.  It is more about choosing a form (even one as amorphous and slipperyly defined as "experimental"), and seeing how you can express specific and intended ideas while still staying within the form - because forms, and specific treatments within that form, are what give the listener a reference point from which to explore new frontiers and concepts.  Without them, the listener has no firm ground to stand on, and the music cannot speak to them in ways that are meaningful and enriching.  And it gives them an easy "out" to play along, and pretend they are in the know about "what the artist is trying to express in this groundbreaking work..."  If they say they don't understand it, it is easy for the "artist" to imply that it's because they're just too dim-witted, or not advanced enough.  Welp - I must be dim-witted, because this sounds like so much noise and meaningless patter to me - and it surprises and disappoints me precisely because I can tell how much work was indeed put into it.  If you can spend this much time on blathering, then I can't wait to see what you produce when you are ready to actually say something that a reasonable human being can understand, identify and connect with, and respond to.                                    
                                         
TOTAL AVERAGE 7.57