Recordings Part 2 (Motordom)
Last week my recording of Motordom came in the mail. Due to popular request (2!), here's the recording. My critique follows after the jump. [N.B. This recording lasts 9'30"; plan accordingly.]
When I first started this project, I was a little apprehensive about writing my first band piece. At that time, I had no prior band-writing experience, but Xavier University was going to PAY me to create my first piece for them. This was risky on their part; however, I thought I wrote a decent piece. In fact, this is something I'm proud of. That being said, I think I can tweak a few things.
1. I could use more orchestrational glue, especially during the second part. For example, some instrumental sections could sustain more, maybe hold a long note and fade out. This is an easy fix.
2. The piano, harp, and glockenspiel combo is slightly unbalanced. I wish I had been more specific in regards to the glock beaters. During the performance, I know the glock had the all-important role of keeping the three of them together, but it was a little overwhelming. I will have to ponder the solution.
3. According to my calculations, this piece was approximately 9 minutes long; this recording is 9:30 minutes long. During the performance, the second half of this piece seemed a little slow to me. When I revise this piece this summer, I will make the tempo a little faster and maybe repeat the beginning of the second section. I don't know if this will work, but I'm going to try it anyway.
Any other suggestions?