# Two movements from "Epochs", for chamber orchestra



## Jason (Feb 7, 2011)

Hi everyone,

I've spent the last little while working on a suite of pieces for performance by a chamber orchestra here in Regina, Canada this summer. Part of the project involves creating mockups of the pieces for a CD to be available at the concerts. I've written several of the pieces, but thought that it would be a good idea to get some independent and fresh evaluations of how the compositions are going. I decided to post two of the movements here. I'm interested in comments on all aspects of the pieces; the composition, the mockup, and the suitability for live performance. In fact, any and all comments and suggestions are welcome.

The suite is called "Epochs". Each two to four minute movement is inspired by a different era in the history of life on Earth, from the formation of the planet to the voyages into space by our astronauts. I've never had to squeeze over four billion years of history into a half-hour piece before but there you go  . The two movements I've uploaded are:

Epochs #2: "Life Forms"

This piece is inspired by the stark ancient seas where an organic soup of chemicals was churned by lightening and volcanic eruptions, gradually leading to the first self-replicating microscopic cells. The piece attempts to convey the alien landscape, a tumultuous storm on the planet's surface, and finally a moment of creation in a starlit tidepool.

[Edit Feb 08 - Made minor adjustments to the strings]

[mp3]http://jasoncullimore.com/demos/vicontrol/Jason_Cullimore_-_Epochs_-_Life_Forms_v02b.mp3[/mp3] Download link: http://jasoncullimore.com/demos/vicontrol/Jason_Cullimore_-_Epochs_-_Life_Forms_v02b.mp3

Epochs #4: "Devonian Forests"

The Devonian Era, about 400 million years ago, saw the colonization of the land by green plants. By its end, great forests of strange, towering trees had grown over vast tracts of the once empty desert, and early land animals had started to crawl and skitter amongst them. I wanted to write a pastoral piece that captured the grandeur and majesty of these Devonian trees which laid the groundwork for the grasslands and rain forests of today.

[Edit Feb 08 - Made minor adjustments to the strings]

[mp3]http://jasoncullimore.com/demos/vicontrol/Jason_Cullimore_-_Epochs_-_Devonian_Forests_v02b.mp3[/mp3] Download link: http://jasoncullimore.com/demos/vicontrol/Jason_Cullimore_-_Epochs_-_Devonian_Forests_v02b.mp3

As I said, any comments or advice on these pieces are welcome. Also, I still have to write five of the ten pieces and would love any input on the project based on these two pieces.

Thanks!
- Jason


----------



## nikolas (Feb 7, 2011)

Hi Jason,

It's nice to hear something different in here, once in a while...

I'm posting while I'm listening, so I might be a bit off (until I've heard the whole piece).

*Life forms*

I think that the begining is very nice and the use of tremoli in the strings envoces the images, I think, you want to. 

A strange feeling I got from the beginning and moving further down the work, was that it seems to change 'scenery' (musically speaking). I was expecting something a bit more contemporary and modern and... vivid in terms of colour, but I guess this is just me. 

If I may ask, the orchestration is given, but is it for string orchestra or solo strings? Cause if it's a string orchestra, then you're probably looking at an orchestra, rather than a chamber orchestra. Without having a good look at the score I can't tell everything (I'm a rather 'visual' type, rather than just 'aural'). I also think that the percussion is missing, or even percussive sounds (to be a bit more adventurous in the use of the instruments...).

Other than that I think the production is quite fine. Perhaps a bit missing to those who will listen to the work live vs recorded with sampls, but never the less it works. I'm listening through laptop speakers (only my laptop is connected to the Internet and don't have the time to transfer files all the time, sorry about that), but it seems to me that the strings are a bit louder than I'd like them to.

*Devonian Forests*

Pretty much the above apply here as well. I wasn't really expecting something more contemporary anymore, due to prior listening of the 1st movement, so I wasn't surprised by the fresh approach to chord progression. The orchestration is again very successful (and by now I have to assume that the chamber orchestra doesn't have percussion, or you simply don't like them, both of which cases are fully acceptable :D). 

Production works fine here as well as previously.

In all I think that these two represent a very nice, full work, that will be performed live and work great in every sense of the word! Just make sure you get a great recording of the show, right? 

Finally, I hope I'm not discouraging you in any way with my comments. They are personal, of course and just an opinion based on who I am, rather than something subjective!


----------



## Jason (Feb 8, 2011)

Hi Nikolas,

Thanks so much for listening, and for your detailed comments! I'm glad you found some things to like in both the movements. I'll try to answer your questions:

First, "Epochs" will be performed by a chamber orchestra, strings being at most 3/2/2/2/1. I know the strings sound bigger here, I did that deliberately so that the mockup would sound more realistic. To create the strings in the mockup, I layered LASS C chamber strings with the LASS First Chairs. I originally tried using the LASS First Chairs alone in all my mockups, but the sound was not as authentic as when I used the string sections, and these mockups need to work as an album recording. I chose to work with the samples I had, instead of against them, and compensate for that disparity when I edit the score for the live performers.

Right now, it looks like there will be no percussion at the concerts, which is definitely a pity, but it's what I have to work with. I would LOVE to have percussion, I agree it could add a lot of color! Actually I've decided, partly based on your comments, to add percussion to the mockups when the full piece is finished. I think it will add something special to the sound, and the fact that the live versions lack percussion is no reason to limit myself when finalizing the mockups. I have Spitfire Percussion, and know I can add some amazing effects that will color the themes of the movements. Thanks, Nikolas! 

As for the sound being a little traditional, that was more or less on purpose. I wrote this piece with the idea of it being more like a concert-ready modern film score than an extremely innovative contemporary art music piece, in part because I'm using these pieces as an opportunity to develop my film scoring and orchestration ability. Also, I just love melodic, richly orchestrated Romantic and Impressionistic music from the early 20th Century and before, and I often try to emulate aspects of those styles in my music and film scores (although I do work hard to be creative and avoid sounding dated). I really like the American minimalists as well, and there may be some Philip Glass or John Adams styled elements in some of "Epoch"'s movements. So I would say that I'm trying to sound fresh while working in a style that has elements that a more general audience would respond easily to.

As for the pieces changing scenery, I was trying to make each movement feel like it takes one to a few different places, while keeping the overall character of the movement consistent. In the concert there will be a short poem for each movement telling the story of the era being presented, plus I'm hoping there will be a slideshow of images inspired by each era. In conjunction with this, there will be three or four different ideas in the "story" of each movement and it will be important that I connect different sections of each movement smoothly. Do you have any suggestions regarding this issue?

Thanks again, Nikolas, your comments were very helpful and much appreciated! 

- Jason


----------



## Jason (Feb 8, 2011)

Just a quick note to say that I've uploaded new edits for both pieces, fixing a few minor issues with the strings.

Comments are welcome!


----------



## Mahlon (Feb 8, 2011)

I can't be critical because I love your compositions. It's just great. So I'm not even listening on a critical level. Just enjoying the good writing. Maybe later.

Mahlon

These are mockups!?!?!?!


----------



## Alex Temple (Feb 9, 2011)

I always like seeing concert music posted here and pieces like this make me wish we saw more of it. Your mockups already do a good job selling the pieces, but I'd love to hear the live versions once available if you're allowed to post them. Especially on the "Life forms" movement. This is already a pleasure to listen to, but I'm sure that those undulating string lines will have a whole new life given to them from the players. 

It sounds like a fun assignment and I'd be interested to hear what kind of variety your source material brings to the other movements.


----------



## Dave Connor (Feb 9, 2011)

Enjoying Life Forms right now - very nice - interesting and thoughtful music.


----------



## Jason (Feb 10, 2011)

Thanks Dave and Alex!

Dave, I appreciate your taking the time to comment. It is great to hear that Life Forms is working so well for you (especially when I know you have heard some earlier versions of the piece in the world outside vi-control). While I've got a lot of work still ahead of me, the suite as a whole is really starting to take shape and I'm enjoying working on it.

Alex, I'll definitely record the concert. Hopefully I can get permission from the musicians to use the recording as a publicly available demo, and not just as an archival recording that must be kept private. I agree with you that the string players will bring a lot to their parts that is hard to replicate in samples; mocking up the strings was the hardest part of preparing Life Forms.

When I've written some more of the suite, I will post another movement or two here on the Members' Composition Forum.


----------



## Jason (Feb 21, 2011)

Many thanks to both of you!

adg21, I'm really glad you went to my website and enjoyed some of the music there. "Icicles" was actually written for a TV documentary about environmentalists in my home province of Saskatchewan, Canada, so it was a originally a soundtrack cue. I liked it enough that I did a fuller standalone version, which is the one on the website. 

Jay, I *love* your VSL mockups, they are actually an inspiration to me. So it is very gratifying to hear you think I did well with my "Life Forms" mockup. I appreciate your taking the time to let me know! 

Best,
- Jason


----------



## Lunatique (Feb 23, 2011)

Very nice stuff. It's nice to hear something that is allowed to have room to slowly develop instead of changing pace at neck-breaking pace (such as all the trailer music that is posted). 

I'm a big fan of impressionism, so this is right up my alley.


----------



## Ethos (Feb 24, 2011)

These are very well-conceived pieces. Enjoyable to listen to and with great artistic merit! Great job.


----------



## Jason (Feb 24, 2011)

Glad you liked the pieces so much, Lunatique and Logicology! 

Lunatique, I love impressionism too. Listening to Debussy and Ravel (along with a few other composers of that era) as a teen was one of the things that led me to start learning to compose art music instead of the poppy stuff I was doing when I got my first keyboard. It is really nice to know that some of those early artistic influences can still be heard in my music today. 

Thanks again for the comments.


----------

