Memories of Winter - Wind Trio for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon

[@ChadCrall]

I'm truly impressed by your talent and creativity. Keep sharing your music with the world. ❤

[@baroque4days]

Just caught your post by chance at the top of r/composer. Welcome back after 8 years. A pretty great comeback. Loving this!

[@gingersroc]

Movement I: Overall, this movement is motivically very solid. The gesture in bar one I found to be used organically throughout the piece to provide a convincing musical narrative, and draws the listener in immediately to desire the answer to the question that this gesture poses. The texture of this movement (along with a few others in this work) is a bit dry to my ear, and I think I can quantify why: 1. the counterpoint, and 2. the depth of range and timbral color. Contrapuntal writing in a modern work is a difficult thing to critique, as many great works have musical moments that are contrapuntal enigmas; however, I do think a few things aren't quite working here. As a few examples: The interval of a tenth in the clarinet and bassoon moving in similar motion is very open, especially which the sustained F# in the oboe against the F# two octaves below it in the bassoon. Personally, I would write the bassoon part an octave higher here; the music will really breath, and the lines will have much more cohesion as opposed to this great distance between lines. Again, the similar motion in bars 10-14 creates a lack of identity and purpose of both the clarinet and bassoon parts. When writing in this manner, it creates a series of shifts of color from bright shimmers occurring from sonorous dissonance, to a sudden stark grey of perfect consonance. This seems quite intentional though, so if you find this texture desirable, then roll with it. My point is simply that it's very noticeable. Just a small notation thing I noticed: the quarter=36 could perhaps simply be written as a continued ritard, as that is likely how the musicians will actually feel and interpret those last four bars. Overall, nice movement. The transferring of the opening gesture throughout the piece really can't be understated; that is an aspect of the piece that I feel works very effectively. Movement II: I really like the fugal section; it's a great contrast from the previous material. I would be curious as to how you constructed bars 1-7. (I'm looking at the bassoon part.) The sixteenth figure in bar 3 is a great harmonic moment. I don't have much to say about bars 7-39; the piece is doing what a fugue does very well, and the I can really get behind what you're presenting. Bar 29 is a great moment of suspension, and really makes that D natural have impact when the other two voices join. Bar 39 is an incredible moment! The ear expects the subject to continue within the clarinet, but you seem to present new material based on it. (It looks to function similarly to a counter subject.) It was an unexpected moment, and it was perfect timing too; it's also a great change of texture! With 51 to the end, I have a similar critique as I did with the first movement. The similar motion in the oboe and clarinet parts is such a stark contrast from the contrapuntal independence that each part had a few bars before. Movement III: Your harmonic language (and once again, counterpoint) is definitely a bit adventurous in this movement. Something that I am definitely starting to notice is a lack of exploitation of the individual instruments' strengths. The chalumeau register of the clarinet has a richness of tone, and a breadth of overtones that is very unique from the oboe and bassoon; I am definitely starting to yearn for variety of timbral color, which is lacking so far. The C sustain in the bassoon at rehearsal A is a nice moment. It creates the feeling of infinite register, as we haven't experienced that arrival point before. (There have been a B & Bb, but those were not points of rest for the music to grow out of.) Bar eleven... YES! This is exactly what I was talking about earlier with timbral color; the bassoon absolutely sings in that register. You are doing very well to assert a feeling of discomfort with frigid temperatures with your harmonic language; it's a great use of programmatic material. My main critique would be that the movement essentially just wanders a bit aimlessly. I'm not really noticing and motivic or gestural element that ties anything together, so the music feels a bit incohesive, (Perhaps that adds to that discomfort as mentioned prior though.) The only thing I can really grab onto is the gesture in bar one occurring in the oboe, bar five in the bassoon, rehearsal A in the oboe, and then bar 11 in the upper register of the bassoon. That is really why that moment is so heavenly. Movement IV: This movement feels like a continuation of movement II; almost like a development section. I like the crescendo at the end of movement III, but the pause between the movements brings an abrupt halt to that drama, so the contrast is perhaps not quite as effective as it may have been with an attacca. (That's me being pretty picky though.) I don't have much to say on this movement. Everything presented feels very natural, and seems to have been the result of cause and effect between movements. I really enjoy the interplay the clarinet and oboe in this movement. Movement V: This sentence from your post came to my mind as I listened to this portion of the work: "My personal biggest complaint about my own music is that it can be very dense; lotta notes going on." This is actually one of the first times in the piece that I would really consider "dense," and I think it works great. Much of the piece has been open harmony, especially in lyrical sections. This is much more closed, and it really makes for a moment of great tension. By the resolution in bar 8 and on from 9, you move away from that back into open harmony; perhaps you could have utilized more time with each of the voices close together. It was a texture we haven't really come across yet. Movement VI: This is by far my favorite movement. It really takes advantage of what the clarinet, bassoon, and oboe do very well, both individually and as a trio. Much of the piece has been very lyrical, and a bit rhythmically inactive aside from the fugue in movement II and some other choice sections in prior movements. The activity present in this movement really breaths life into the music. Another notation thing I noticed: do oboists and clarinetists read buzzes with the z stem? I've seen and written that with a tremolo marking similar to indicating flutter tonging on trumpet. That was just a thought, as I have only seen the z stem associated with snare literature. Although I think the beat groupings really drive the music forward, (which it really needs to do) I can't help but feel that 3+3+2 is a bit trite, or at least gets uninteresting quite fast. The moment you introduced the 5/4 meter, I think you could have begun to create some really interesting rhythmic gestures. (I wasn't really convinced with the 3+3+2, 3+3+2, 3+3+2+2 groupings.) My philosophy with odd meters is if the listener is obviously aware to the fact that the music isn't in 4/4 or 3/4, then it's just a bit tongue and cheek. If you can convince the listener that a meter like 5/4,, 7/8, 13/16 or whatever is just as normal as 4/4, then you are really working with what makes odd meters truly tick. (In my opinion) Overall, this movement is a phenomenal way to close a great piece! I had a great time looking through this score; there are a lot of things that you are doing in this work that I find musically fascinating, even if I may not agree with it in a functional, technical sense. This is definitely a piece that you should consider getting performed; it looks like a super fun piece for woodwinds! (As I said earlier, it is utilizing many things that this instrumentation does very well.) I hope that this is helpful to you; it's definitely not everything that I had to say on the piece, as there were many small, nitpicky things that can really only be mentioned clearly in-person. Thanks for sharing this great piece. Cheers!