Length: 5:38

• Setting (Is the picture well-represented?) 1-10
• Composition (Is the piece original and interesting?) 1-10
• Orchestration (How well crafted is the piece, technically?) 1-10
• Anything else?
• Overall Score, 1-10

Final Score, average of all four numbers, multiplied by 10.

The writing for strings and trumpet are heading in the direction of Ernest Bloch and Shostakovich, which the composer should have a look at. It’s a fairly naïve and simple piece, and I mean that in a positive way. They can be hard qualities to achieve, but the overall effect is a little grey in colour. The programmatic content works well, even though the thematic content is a little pale, at least it’s not obsessively tonal, which shows a mild sense of adventurousness. Good work.

By: wobbie

The slow beginning was fine, but took too long to start burning the forest.  I think the fire service would have had it out in seconds. The fire here took a back seat to the programme which I thought very weak in itself, deviating from the picture, the deer are not so important as the fire. The result was too static, both in tempo and mood, the deer seemed to walk away from the scene when in reality they would have run away at top speed. Animals understand well enough the dangers of fire. The music is pleasant enough to listen to but ultimately unsatisfying.

By: Judge No. 1 (See Notes)

By: Judge No. 2

General

1. Complexity - Interesting use of complexity. Can't say much there. It sounds a lot different from the actual score, so I don't know what to grade by, however, I did like the MIDI much more.
   

2. Instrumentation - The instruments used for each part made the song sound very strange. I can't say I enjoyed it much, however, each instrument you used sounds unique, but that may be the soundfont.
   

3. Composition - I am a bit lost at this point. I can hear each instrument harmonizing, but it didn't seem to flow well for me.
   

4. Initial Inspiration - The song has a very eerie feeling to it. Like 'what is going on?' - I like that. When I first saw the picture, I thought to myself 'what is going on?' as well.
   
   

Specifics

1. Opening - As it begins, I can already hear the eerie scene. Indeed strange.
   

2. Middle - I don't know about this. I don't really know what to say, but it didn't spark my interest.
   

3. Ending - As I was listening to the song, I had the whole song in repeat, but when it ended, the beginning played again, and I thought 'Is it supposed to continue?' I looked at the song and realized that the song had just ended. I don't see an ending.
   

I can't say I liked it, but it is a very unique.

From the composer of: Abysmal Flames

From the composer of: Affordable Wisdom

From the composer of: Blisters

From the composer of: Fate of the Forest

From the composer of: Forest Fire: A Brief Tone Poem for Orchestra

I enjoyed the smaller instrumentation for this piece, although I wish the strings would have had a more prominent role.  I would have liked to hear the strings provide more than just chords underneath the trumpet.  I don’t recall hearing a main motif.  In a way this piece almost sounds atonal, in that I hear no emphasized pitch over any others.  The use of pizzicato was an effective contrast.

The supplied program was more (of) a hindrance to my listening experience than it was an aid.  While a general description of what the music is conveying is fine, the marking of specific times in the music that correspond to events is not something I agree with.  In my opinion, programs help the music express its meaning, instead of the music doing so by itself.  I feel the music should be able to do this without the need of a program.  I believe if the program were not present I would not have been able to connect this music with a forest. 

As it was, even with the program telling me exactly what to listen for, I failed to make this connection.  I heard no fire, and I had difficulty being convinced that this music portrayed the thoughts of the animals seeing their home destroyed.

From the composer of: Inferno

From the composer of: Of Desperation, Death, and Hope

From the composer of: Prelude for Solo Piano

From the composer of: Tell Me About The Forest

• Harmony: Very good. This is the strongest element of your compositional style. I appreciated the melancholic feel of this piece. I really hear a strong influence by composers such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
• Development: Well, there was some reuse of ideas and a noticeable feel in terms of continuity. Still, I didn’t notice a conscious effort to develop the material within the work. I did particularly enjoy the effective transitions. There is potential here.
• Orchestration: Good job actually writing for real instruments. You were one of the few composers who did. Overall, you didn’t make use of all the coloristic capabilities of your ensemble, but the writing looked to be idiomatic especially with the lyric melodies for (the) trumpet. Your player didn’t have much trouble playing the lines.
• Form: The idea of following a program is nice. Overall, the mood of the piece doesn’t change enough to reflect the varied moods specified by the program. Still, having the tempo changes was a very nice idea.

Musicality [10/20]:

• There are some interesting things that happen but overall, the piece is lacking in content.

Relevance [15/20]:

• The program is directly related to the theme of the picture, but the mood isn’t quite as chaotic as what might be expected.

Overall Thoughts [B / Good]. The piece works on a formal and harmonic level but it lacks ideas. Your ideas aren’t strong, i.e. the melodic content isn’t particularly interesting or strong. The shapes tend to be a bit flat. If you had spent more time coming up with good ideas rather than rush composing at the last minute, you may (have been) able to come up with something that would surprise you and everybody else. For what it’s worth, this piece turned out well.

From the composer of: The Dance of the Clumsy Bear

From the composer of: The Wildfire Suite