Symphony No. 2

[PeteFine]

This is the first of four movements I originally composed in 2011, using only Garritan Personal Orchestra. I revised it a bit this week and changed most instruments to ASO. The 2 auxilliary percussion tracks are still GPO, as they are superior to ASO's percussion, especially the cymbals. This work, though 13 years old, is still (IMHO) one of my best and I hope you'll enjoy it. It begins and ends the same, thematically, and has many transitions and moods in between. It is about 14 minutes long. The other movements are almost ready to export.

A few technical notes for you fellow composers/orchestrators-

I had to spend much time tweaking the percussion which, had I created numerous staves so each percussion instrument had its own, I probably could have avoided. However, I hate having so many staves! A large orchestra is stave'y enough! So where there were huge volume differences, like choked cymbal vs ringing cymbal, or triangle verses snare, even snare hits vs snare rolls, etc. I had to tweak the velocities of certain notes as well as entering exaggerated dynamics (and making those invisible in the score). Also, it seems ASO's staccato keyswitch adds much volume as well, and it was out of balance with the legato notes. So I did not use that keyswitched patch, as much as I like the sound of it, and instead just put staccato dots on the normal notes.
Dynamics were also troublesome, as there was much discrepancy between instruments, and I used the OV mixer to balance it a bit but resorted to tweaks in the Data window as well.
Some of you probably have your own method of dealing with the shortcomings of OV and sample libraries.

In the end though, I am very grateful to live in an age where I can hear my orchestral compositions (some have been performed but most will probably never be) in a reasonably convincing form, and as much as I (and others) moan and groan about the things these sofwares cannot do, it's a blessing to have the things they can. I am extremely thankful (hear that, Don?).
Pete

[DrLeonard]

I intend to comment on this, Pete, but I am quite occupied right now (preparing to relocate) so I will get back to it later.

[DrLeonard]

This movement has some interesting orchestral effects (e.g., solo flute over contrabass) which keep up the interest, as well as the continuous interplay of various instrumental groups. Melodically, it is held together by the repeated rhythmic pattern - - - — (Morse code for "V" as in Beethoven's 5th Symphony). One problem is the string tremolos, which ASO doesn't seem to handle very well. But that's a software issue which, as composers, we can't do much about. Resorting to actual notes (32nds, 16ths or whatever) might improve the effect but would not look good in a score. Thanks, Pete, for sharing this.

[Dean K.]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for sharing your Second Symphony with us. I can tell the effort that went into creating this over the years.

I really enjoyed the journey of the piece. Some of the highlights for me were the opening momentum and build between 1:00 and 1:30, and the transition to another engaging climb between 2:50 and 3:26. I appreciated the mood change, although brief, to the darker/minor between 4:23 and 5:05. I liked the shift to what felt whimsical between 7:00 and 8:41, and then back to a more serious transition and powerful climax between 8:44 and 9:58. This part reminded me a bit of Jaws with a dash of Aliens mixed in (sorry for the movie references!). Finally, you brought us through to what felt like a heroic and triumphant ending.

This could shine with some serious MIDI crafting, better samples, and production, but I don't want to overshadow your writing, so I won't say any more about that.

Congratulations on creating a work you can be proud of.

Best,
~Dean

[PeteFine]

Much appreciated, Dean. I posted the complete 4 movement work on YouTube.



I also know that more could be done, with or without better samples. I'm a bit lazy there... but blessed to be able to hear a reasonably close rendition of what I do.