# Some new orchestral fireworks



## Alex Temple (Feb 19, 2010)

Hi everyone,

It's been a little while since I shared anything new here, but now I finally have a couple of new orchestral pieces worth posting. The first, "Pyrotechnics," is pretty much summed up by its title - a lengthy, brass-heavy allegro for massive orchestra with a quasi- sonata/rondo form that nearly goes overboard in frantic excessiveness during the coda. It started as a rejected action cue that I greatly expanded and, hopefully, gave a lot more compositional depth. It has a much more gritty take on tonality than anything I've written before.

The second one, creatively titled "Adagio lamentoso," is a slow piece that essentially revolves around two alternating notes followed by a little turn that get transformed again and again throughout the piece. I think it's one of the best pieces I've written - much better than the previous two cracks at brooding adagios that I posted some months ago. The piece owes much to the tormented adagios of Mahler and Bruckner.

Enjoy!

http://www.alexandertemple.com/_music/org_sm_pyrotechnics.mp3 (http://www.alexandertemple.com/_music/o ... chnics.mp3)
http://www.alexandertemple.com/_music/org_sm_adagiolamentoso.mp3 (http://www.alexandertemple.com/_music/o ... entoso.mp3)

If anyone has problems downloading from my site I'll be happy to upload them to my box.net account.


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## caseyjames (Feb 19, 2010)

I just listened to the first one on my laptop... Ill give them a proper listen later tonight...

Its very thorough work, in trying to let the music conjure the context of the movie to which it may have belonged... I'm at least positive its not about a hotdog stand.

Do tell.


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## dcoscina (Feb 19, 2010)

Alex this is some of the best stuff I have heard on this forum from a musical standpoint. And your rendering is pretty damn good too. Are you using mostly VSL? I love the Williams styled sound to the first track. There's some really complex writing going on here. How did you put this together? Did you compose on Sibelius or Finale? This strikes me as the only way to do music this involved with all of the meter and section changes, but then again there are some pretty talented folks using DAWs.... I love your treatment of the motivic material. There's a short figure that has the same rhythmic character as the Raiders march that slightly distracted me but I cannot rave enough about this music. It's solid solid writing.


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## dcoscina (Feb 19, 2010)

Okay, now to the second track. throwing names like Mahler and Bruckner up gives one a certain preconception of what they expect to hear. As a huge Mahler fan, this adagio is more indicative of his earllier symphonies, definitely not anything post Symphony 5 where he started using more chromatic passing tones in his inner lines. This is still pretty tonal centered. Even Bruckner used a lot of chromaticism because his idol Wagner was big into that. The main thematic idea here is...oops, okay, I can hear you're starting to break away from the triadic diatonicism as the piece goes along. Nice semi climax. 

Sorry I sound so critical. Had you not mentioned Mahler I would simply be complimenting you on a wonderful composition. The key theme sounds very Middle European folk like. It's not quite Bartokian- maybe Smetana like. I dunno, I still like it regardless. It just ain't Mahler to me. 

p.s. I don't know whether it's just the time of day you posted this or whether folks on this forum prefer a more simplified type of bombast but I'm actually quite surprised you haven't had more feedback. These are terrific additions to your already impressive canon and I do wish you would continue to post more.


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## Dave Connor (Feb 19, 2010)

Wow just stellar Alex. How you manage to be so sure footed with that kind of arsenal of ideas and orchestrations is really amazing. I hear your influences and modeling which is fine of course but I would say that you can abandon most of that and be totally original at this point. Could not be more impressed in any case.

The second piece probably is not an Adagio both as far as tempo and even content so I don't really understand that description but a minor issue to be sure.

Excellent work!


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## JBacal (Feb 19, 2010)

Wow! Impressive and confident writing (and production). You are a musical force to be reckoned with! :shock: 

Please keep posting more pieces.

Best,
Jay


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## michaelv (Feb 19, 2010)

Fine and mature writing. There was some slightly dodgy "sucking" artifacts on the strings in places (remedied by more reverb, lol), but I was listening in headphones, which are always unforgiving on mockups, in that respect. Otherwise, two really good pieces, with an original take on existing styles.


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## re-peat (Feb 20, 2010)

I’m speechless. This goes far beyond where words still can convey the degree of amazement and admiration that I want to express.

_


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## Rob (Feb 20, 2010)

wow, Alex, I think it's rare to find a good composer who is also able to produce such renderings... there are three or four strings notes here and there that have a rather abrupt ending, but overall it's impressive. =o


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## Frederick Russ (Feb 20, 2010)

Hi Alex, I particularly loved pyrotechnics - excellent harmonic structure and arrangement! Really great. Legato strings in the second piece were less convincing but the writing itself remains top notch. Keep posting!


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 20, 2010)

Jesus..this kid is the next Thomas J Bergersen but even better. Thomas J had a slew of custom personally recorded libraries yet this kid is only 23 and doing all of this on VSL and with harmonic/theory knowledge well beyond anything Thomas J has ever displayed. We may have amongst us a prodigy ladies and gentlemen!


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## Guy Bacos (Feb 20, 2010)

Very impressive!

Pyrotechnics displays very skillful writing as well as orchestration. I agree, this is one of the finest and most original piece I've heard in virtual music.

The adagiolamentoso, I thought was also great, but a few notches below the first one.
I get the feeling the realization is a bit flat compared to Pyrotechnics. 

One thing that bothered me is the the cut off of the string notes in medium and slow passages, could be smoother.

Congratulations!


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## michaelv (Feb 20, 2010)

Good to see that you've realised that there's life after goalkeeping for Manchester United, and pursued a music career.....


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## dcoscina (Feb 20, 2010)

requiem_aeternam7 @ Sat Feb 20 said:


> Jesus..this kid is the next Thomas J Bergersen but even better. Thomas J had a slew of custom personally recorded libraries yet this kid is only 23 and doing all of this on VSL and with harmonic/theory knowledge well beyond anything Thomas J has ever displayed. We may have amongst us a prodigy ladies and gentlemen!



I don't know if its necessary to compare the two. Thomas J doesn't seem to be as Williams inspired on all his material and it's evident that Alex draws great inspiration from his body of work. 

I do think it's irrefutable that Alex has monster chops and talent. I hope he goes far in his music career. =o


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## dfhagai (Feb 20, 2010)

Amazing writing & mockup.
The brass writing is amazing.
Envy =o


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## Alex Temple (Feb 20, 2010)

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'm glad to be getting such good reactions to the first piece. The second one was not nearly as intensive a project and I didn't put the same level of effort into nailing the mockup (which shows). Lyrical virtual strings have never been my strong point and even after spending a lot more time fine-tuning them, I'm usually dissatisfied with the results. 

Needless to say both pieces took a lot of time to compose, and the process sadly included a few instances of chopping out large chunks of fully orchestrated music because in order to improve the piece overall. Pyrotechnics originally had a Don Davis-inspired orgy of brass clusters and a complete collapse of tonal and rythmic structure as its ending.

The Williams influence in the first one is certainly strong, but I think that aside from the orchestrations of the shrieking winds and petulant brass outburts the most present (especially harmonically) influences are Ginastera and Rozsa.

Everything is exclusively VSL except for the brass, which is:
Horns: combination (often layered in unison) of Epic Horns, Sam Horns, and the VSL triple horn. The triple horn + SAM gives a great incisive tone, while VSL + SAM gives a noble, broader sound. The three together create the fantastic a6 or a8 sound, to be used but not abused... not too much anyway 
Trumpets: 1st trumpet is VSL's Bb trumpet, 2nd and 3rd are C trumpets, unison lines layer the Bb with the 6-trumpet ensemble.
Trombones: usually the SAM solo trombone (far samples) layered with the VSL trombone section. Sometimes I'll use the SAM section trombones but I generally find them too weak in their upper registers (as opposed to the brilliant sound from their solo trombone).
The tuba is either VSL or SAM depending on the situation.

The setup I'm using is only slightly modified from previous works I've posted. The only major difference is that the percussion has a more thorough reverb setup (as in, 7 or 8 instances of Altiverb instead of 1). The strings are still a bit of a problem, because I don't want to have to dealing with breaking them up into 12 instances of altiverb instead of the 2 they use right now, and either way my computer wouldn't be able to handle it. This is why, as you may notice, there are very few places in either piece that use strings alone.

Again, thanks for listening everyone!


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## michaelv (Feb 20, 2010)

Can I ask, Alex, on a purely mechanistic level, how did you realise the "sequencing" of this? Are the notes step-entered, then painstakingly adjusted for expression/dynamics, etc., or did you play the stuff in on a keyboard, then, perhaps, tinkered with it? I ask, because I note that you're a guitarist (!) Sometimes, being a keyboard player can actually be a hinderance to achieving realism, unless one can think outside the box, and ignore the constraining factors of playing,say, an ensemble from a keyboard.

You managed to achieve, like Guy Bacos, a sense of spontaneity into the composition, that's very difficult to pull off. Really great writing like that always manages to make the orchestra sound like one instrument expressing the idea: a kind of single organism, that one feels is simply springing out of the composers' head, fully formed.


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 20, 2010)

Who here thinks Hans Zimmer can compose a piece of this complexity? ...Anyone...? ....you over there in the corner were you raising your hand..oh just scratching your nose...sorry...anyone...?


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## Guy Bacos (Feb 20, 2010)

requiem_aeternam7 @ Sat Feb 20 said:


> Who here thinks Hans Zimmer can compose a piece of this complexity? ...Anyone...? ....you over there in the corner were you raising your hand..oh just scratching your nose...sorry...anyone...?



I wouldn't go there. Better start a different thread.


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Feb 20, 2010)

dcoscina @ Sat Feb 20 said:


> requiem_aeternam7 @ Sat Feb 20 said:
> 
> 
> > Jesus..this kid is the next Thomas J Bergersen but even better. Thomas J had a slew of custom personally recorded libraries yet this kid is only 23 and doing all of this on VSL and with harmonic/theory knowledge well beyond anything Thomas J has ever displayed. We may have amongst us a prodigy ladies and gentlemen!
> ...



No one said it's necessary, hell it's not necessary to even compose but some of us enjoy doing it. 
Unfortunately for Alex his creativity and monster chops could likely be a hindrance for him. His music is a little too 20th century/late 19th century laden to the point that it sacrifices listenability and doesn't 'tickle the long ears' i.e. here's a fitting quote:

"

"I recommend you to think when at work, not only of the musical but also of the unmusical public. You know that for ten true connoisseurs there are a hundred ignoramuses! Do not neglect the so-called popular, which tickles long ears."

â€” Leopold Mozart (1719-87) Austrian violinist: advice to his son Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91)"


In short, the music I've heard from Alex so far to ME at least is purely concert idiomatic and would fly only in small doses in a cinematic/film/media setting. It doesn't have enough tonally centered, easy to hear themes, etc...keep in mind a typical Williams score may have moments like this, but much of it is also very harmonically simple with easy listening melodies that the masses can appreciate. Now of course don't get me wrong, I'm not presuming that Alex is even ATTEMPTING to pursue a film music career, after all this site vi control is about virtual instruments NOT specifically film music although it just so happens that the majority of people here are in the entertainment/film industry of some sort. So with that said if Alex is creating these works simply for his own benefit and/or the concert stage then they are in fact stunning and breathtaking works for a 22 year old(or any age for that matter), showing a talent well beyond other so called child prodigies like Jay Greenberg (at least to me), and I think it's UNFORTUNATE that his skills would mostly be passed over in 'hollywood' but hey that's the way the world turns I guess and hopefully he can eek out some sort of career that rewards his prodigious gifts.


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## Alex Temple (Feb 22, 2010)

Michael: 

I rarely use a keyboard because my pianistic skills aren't really at the level I'd like for this type of writing. I do all too much of my programming using the piano roll view in Sonar. If I were better I would play the parts in, but using the PRV for sequencing will always be necessary to a degree simply because of all the keyswitching going on. The farther this is from the actual compositional process the better though - otherwise it becomes way too easy to get caught up in all the meticulous detail while losing sight of the bigger picture. 

The issue some of you raised of complexity is something I definitely think about, and I don't have any illusions about how unsuitable this would be for most commercial purposes. These pieces were composed for my own enjoyment, but also as practice in expanding my pallete with each piece further than the last one. I think it makes sense to try more complex, demanding (especially for the composer) music and then scaling it back to meet the requirements of most projects. I would hate to be in a position to actually do a complex concert piece for orchestra where the sky is the limit, and not have had any experience with that kind of writing.


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## germancomponist (Feb 22, 2010)

requiem_aeternam7 @ Sat Feb 20 said:


> Who here thinks Hans Zimmer can compose a piece of this complexity? ...Anyone...? ....you over there in the corner were you raising your hand..oh just scratching your nose...sorry...anyone...?



What an unqualified contribution here. >8o 

@ Alex: I am very impressed! A true listening enjoyment!

Thanks a lot for sharing!

Gunther


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