My first Symphony

[paulrmartin]

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/29/ ... 20rev2.mp3

Here is something I have been wanting to share for a long time with you guys:
My first Symphony.

All done with Advanced Orchestra a bit after 9/11. It is my tribute to that very bad event in history. I tried to reflect the despair and the realisation of what terrorism implies in all our lives. It is a true description of my feelings as I watched the Twin Towers fall to the ground live on CNN.

Enjoy

[hubird]

wow...that's quite a piece of work, well done Paul .

[kensuguro]

this is a grand piece of work. The pace is just right to recall all the emotions and graphic images of the event. Perhaps we didn't know at the time of the greater terror that would come afterwards. (else the piece would have been much more violent?)

It seems like the variety falls short towards the middle section, in terms of texture / rhythm, but maybe that's me loosing track. It's amazing how you can make the seemingly random dots come together in a cohesive motion. Are the individual notes hand placed, or with some sort of software?

It's so hard writing pieces like this.. free in tempo and harmony.. The thin line between random gibberish and a complex cloud of texture is easily obscured with such a technique, and I've never managed to cross over to the comprehensive side like you have.

[paulrmartin]

Thanks for the good words, guys.

As per Ken's request I will now tell you the technique I used for this composition.

1. I was fiddling with some pictures in 2D Warper and as usual got an ambient wave from it.

2. I had the inspiration of putting that wav file through Akoff Music Composer to see what the MIDI file would be like. Of course the MIDI file was a jumble so I had to turn down the metronome to a listenable speed. I then noticed that there was a very subtle chromatic harmonic shift throughout the piece. A very nice D minor chord sticks out at the end of the introduction and had a very strong emotional statement attached to it for some reason.

3. Divine intervention made me think of a symphonic setting for this MIDI file probably because of what I saw on CNN on 9/11.

4. I did a lot of hand placement for certain key notes that had melodic significance. I left the middle part kind of static because it conveyed the feeling of disbelief, the kind numbness I felt that day.

5. To this day I am still looking for the best way to transcribe this to conventional notation but all I can come up with is the Stockhausen technique of boxes with diverse rhythmic notations to be played by the individual players of each section to their taste, especially for the "detaché": notes.

One of my composition teachers from university heard this and was a bit dismayed when I told him my technique. Of course, he defended the fact that he still wrote his own notes but I told him that these were in a sense my own notes because the picture was mine. A bit out of left field I grant you...

Notes to Chris and Neil, I will be sharing a few of my Cosmics I could not upload here now that I have an account on Fileden

[LHong]

Very cool, Paul!
I will have another listening!

[ChrisWerner]

Very interesting to experience your emotion through this track.
I closed my eyes and imagine the broadcasts from 2001.

Your track is a good transport for the feelings I and probably most of us had on this day.

When I listen to your track I can hear the aghast, the boweld over feeling.
Then the mind comes back again but stays in the attempt to understand what was happening.

Good conservation of emotions Paul, that´s our task as composers, isn´t it?

P.S.: I am looking forward to your comsic tracks.

[braincell]

Sounds very original. It would be so much better with a real orchestra of course. The orchestra sounds are very fake to me.

[Neil B]

What a huge piece of music and it really does convey the mood of the moment.
Well done Paul and it's great to have such a different piece of music available here.

As Chris said - I look forward to your cosmic tracks now you have some webspace.

BTW - I'd be careful about using the words "divine intervention" around here

[BingoTheClowno]

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/29/ ... 20rev2.mp3

Here is something I have been wanting to share for a long time with you guys:
My first Symphony.

All done with Advanced Orchestra a bit after 9/11. It is my tribute to that very bad event in history. I tried to reflect the despair and the realisation of what terrorism implies in all our lives. It is a true description of my feelings as I watched the Twin Towers fall to the ground live on CNN.

Enjoy

Very eery.

[Nestor]

Hello Paul, sorry not to have reviewed this before, but unfortunately, I don’t have much time left in my personal life. Too many things are going on, and I have to take care of them all.

This song is so unusual, so strong… it really has this emotional power you’re talking about; you have not exaggerated at all. As said before, if done with a real orchestra that would be killing, but too hard for those involved with the real thing. For a movie it would be tremendous. But if I think about those who actually faced up the tragedy, that would be like burning them onto their burn.

I don’t want to talk about it musically, or let say, in a cold way. I preferred to go through it as if I was one of the survivors. I would recommend you to listen at it again, while you read, so to make sense, try to go as the times indicated. Very nice indeed, despite the fact that it is painful, here you have:

Confusion… There’s not up, there’s not down… no clues to feel oneself secure. Those bases coming up anyway, give a clear answer, something dreadful is going on. 1.45: pain is growing and cannot be stopped… it grows up… the giant hands of desperation are taking me up, the is nothing I can do, it is much bigger than me, and than anything around me.

3.15, the search began, I’m looking for survivors, there is no philosophy, no politics, no race, no division whatsoever between the others an myself… we are “human beings”, that’s all… 4.45, unfortunately, my search finds death bodies laying apart, in pieces… there is not much I can do, but try hard to be strong enough to come out of there alive, myself. Life is an imperative command.

Desperation starts to take my whole body 6.20, I am facing up the biggest tragedy of my entire life… Images of my entire life comes to the screen of my mind, I can see my parents, my beloved ones… teachers, soldiers, workers… everybody I have loved in my life is running in a rush through the corners of my mind, and I feel them all as if my emotional capability would have been increased by a strong dose of drugs…

8.50, I absolutely want to get out of this… I need for it to finish right now… It is too painful, and this pain is too real to be taken, I explode and cry loud and clear, saying things that cannot be repeated, ever… I will keep them for myself, like one keeps the ashes of a beloved one and never talks about it…

12.00, I see some survivors around, we join together and cry, there is no need to talk, no need to know names, occupation or age… we are there and there is no distinction between us. All the superficial things that in life have alienated us from each other, have disappeared, for good… The biggest change of mentality in my life has just occurred, in a few minutes. Nothing, nothing will be ever the same…

We walk helping each other, trying to breath, but we can hardly do it. Some people from around the nearest streets run onto us, trying to help, they are in a much better shape than us. They ask many questions… but we all limit ourselves to an eloquent silence that shocks them, as our eyes say much more than one million words could!

16.35, we can see there are hundreds of death bodies being taken, some are dismembered and it is impossible to know if it is a man or a woman, or even which part of the body it is.

18.00, there is an extreme confusion… everybody is questioning the entire life, the way we live, politics, religion, philosophy, profession, family, likes, dislikes, it is the moment of the truth, it is the moment to face what we have become in this world…

[hubird]

all this just by the music?

[paulrmartin]

Well, Huub, an artist friend of mine made some CD jackets for this music, inspired by the music:



Knowing what inspired the music helps but I never thought I was so dead on.
It's really is unfortunate that I cannot get this played by a real orchestra since there is no budget in this world for new music composed by unknowns. Symphony orchestras depend on deaf old people for their livelihood and we all know those old folks only want to hear Mozart (and "geschlaff" in the front rows). Never mind that the tribute might be poignant enough to be heard for what it may be worth to some people. If there are no clarinet arpeggii, it isn't worth listening to...(I do give a good rant, eh?)

Thanks for the perfect description, Nestor! You have put the narrative in my music. If ever I get the nerve to fix the sound of this and put the CD out, I will add your notes to the liner.

[Gordon Gekko]

je peux juste dire bravo. et qu'est-ce que ce serait fabuleux avec de vrais instruments.. parce que la tension que t'arrives déjà à créer est épouvantable. tu es rendu loin, très loin Paul, je te salue bien bas