I've been ever wandering to new areas, new topics, new mixtures of genres, motifs and impressions, and in the last few months, since publishing "Symphonic Tales of the Silmarilli" I've been busy with the composition and production of 3 new tracks that mix classical orchestration with various other elements from rock to electronica. The starting point is always the same: melodic storytelling with context, build-ups, morphing from one idea to other, yet holding the whole together in the frame of one uniting story.
So let them stand here in this new post, in order of creation.
First was very much inspired by my personal life happenings, not going into unnecessary details, it was a highly happy, energetic and yet harmonious time. It's called "Dawn of Fate", and is a mixture of symphonic music, electronica and rock.
Second one is my first attempt at mixing Carpathian, Hungarian elements into classical hybrid style music, with electronic elements. It's called "Dance of Warriors" and is based around an ancient Transylvanian folk song.
Third one is for a compilation at Radio Rivendell (check that station out, fantasy music 7/24 http://radiorivendell.com/), and it's called "Fire and Water at the End of the World". This one has a lot of changing, morphing parts, several ideas. Again many rock and even gothic metal elements are present. It's a tragicomic take on the end of the world topic, bit a la Fallout.
Showing posts with label soundcloud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soundcloud. Show all posts
Friday, August 7, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Symphonic Tales of The Silmarillion - Eight Movement: Oromë, The Hunter Lord - Compositional Diary
Here rides the hunter lord on his stallion Nahar, he, the Horn-Blower, menace to all the dark creatures of Arda and Morgoth. The one who remained most time on Arda before returning to Valinor.
"During the Years of the Trees, after most of the Valar had withdrawn completely from Middle-earth and hidden themselves in Aman, Oromë still hunted in the forests of Middle-earth on occasion. Thus, he was responsible for finding the elves when they awoke at Cuivienen, and the first to name them the Eldar.[3]
Being a powerful huntsman, he was active in the struggles against Morgoth. He had a great horn called the Valaróma and a great steed named Nahar.[2] Huan, a Hound from Valinor, once belonged to him and was later given to Celegorm, one of the Sons of Fëanor.[4]
" - source: http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Orom%C3%AB
The composition is mixing a few characteristic themes...after starting out with an intense, quite arrhythmic part it goes into a strong choral part introduced with fine staccato clarinet runs and a heavy marcato strings section. It depicts the fearless Vala archangel's might and furious hunting powers that swept through the forests of Arda even in the most menacing times when the Shadow of Morgoth was creeping over. After a small bridging part comes the more heroic, positively uplifting part culminating in a quick arpeggio of violin runs to give the over the edge burst, and depicting the majestic nature of the divine being. To accentuate the main melody, celesta is hitting up the beats of the brass melody, and a quick marcato of the string ensemble is following all through in the background. The main theme is also repeated by a choral part. After all this, a variation of the first powerful choral part is heightening the tension before the brass melodic uplifting line is returning with grace to win over, and thus the piece ends.
"During the Years of the Trees, after most of the Valar had withdrawn completely from Middle-earth and hidden themselves in Aman, Oromë still hunted in the forests of Middle-earth on occasion. Thus, he was responsible for finding the elves when they awoke at Cuivienen, and the first to name them the Eldar.[3]
Being a powerful huntsman, he was active in the struggles against Morgoth. He had a great horn called the Valaróma and a great steed named Nahar.[2] Huan, a Hound from Valinor, once belonged to him and was later given to Celegorm, one of the Sons of Fëanor.[4]
" - source: http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Orom%C3%AB
The composition is mixing a few characteristic themes...after starting out with an intense, quite arrhythmic part it goes into a strong choral part introduced with fine staccato clarinet runs and a heavy marcato strings section. It depicts the fearless Vala archangel's might and furious hunting powers that swept through the forests of Arda even in the most menacing times when the Shadow of Morgoth was creeping over. After a small bridging part comes the more heroic, positively uplifting part culminating in a quick arpeggio of violin runs to give the over the edge burst, and depicting the majestic nature of the divine being. To accentuate the main melody, celesta is hitting up the beats of the brass melody, and a quick marcato of the string ensemble is following all through in the background. The main theme is also repeated by a choral part. After all this, a variation of the first powerful choral part is heightening the tension before the brass melodic uplifting line is returning with grace to win over, and thus the piece ends.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Symphonic Tales of The Silmarillion - Seventh Movement: Aulë, Smith of the Valar - Compositional Diary
At last the seventh movement of the Symphonic Tales of the Silmarillion cycle is ready! Portraying Aulë, creator of the land masses of Arda, father of the Dwarves. He was the divine master of crafts, smithing many things, among them the Chains of Melkor. Link
"As Aulë is a smith, he is the Vala most similar in thought and powers to Melkor, in that they each gloried in the fashioning of artful and original things. Both also came to create beings of their own. But while Aulë strove to be true to the original intent of the Music of the Ainur, and submitted all that he did to the will of Ilúvatar, Melkor wished to control and subvert all things, and was jealous of the creations of others so that he would try to twist or destroy all that they made. There was long strife between Aulë and Melkor both before and after the creation of Arda. Aulë, however, traditionally opposed attempts to fight Melkor, for fear of the damage that would be wrought to Arda.
When the Elves came to Valinor, the Ñoldor became the students of Aulë. Fëanor was his greatest pupil, and from him learned to make gems through craftsmanship that is now forgotten. This would eventually lead to the Silmarils, the greatest creation of handiwork within Arda. On the Flight of the Noldor, the Noldor who returned to Valinor under Finarfin named themselves the Aulendur, Followers of Aulë. Despite his lordly skill, Aulë is humble and compassionate, and indeed the Dwarves survived only because Aulë submitted them to the will of Ilúvatar. His spouse is Yavanna, with whom he dwells in central Valinor." -- http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Aul%C3%AB
The arrangement is heavily relying on choral parts, especially accented on the bass section of the choir, representing the dwarven folk who He created.
It consists of two main characteristic parts: first one is depicting the more serious, epic nature of this divine figure. At start the choirs are going light accompanied by some wind and stringed instruments playing piano, then switching to a higher gear with the epic Godzilla hits and some quick string runs and brass progressions.
The second part is giving a cheerful salutation to the archangel with quickly evolving melody in the forte part and slower choral parts, both in a graceful, light and positive context.
Hope you'll enjoy it!
"As Aulë is a smith, he is the Vala most similar in thought and powers to Melkor, in that they each gloried in the fashioning of artful and original things. Both also came to create beings of their own. But while Aulë strove to be true to the original intent of the Music of the Ainur, and submitted all that he did to the will of Ilúvatar, Melkor wished to control and subvert all things, and was jealous of the creations of others so that he would try to twist or destroy all that they made. There was long strife between Aulë and Melkor both before and after the creation of Arda. Aulë, however, traditionally opposed attempts to fight Melkor, for fear of the damage that would be wrought to Arda.
When the Elves came to Valinor, the Ñoldor became the students of Aulë. Fëanor was his greatest pupil, and from him learned to make gems through craftsmanship that is now forgotten. This would eventually lead to the Silmarils, the greatest creation of handiwork within Arda. On the Flight of the Noldor, the Noldor who returned to Valinor under Finarfin named themselves the Aulendur, Followers of Aulë. Despite his lordly skill, Aulë is humble and compassionate, and indeed the Dwarves survived only because Aulë submitted them to the will of Ilúvatar. His spouse is Yavanna, with whom he dwells in central Valinor." -- http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Aul%C3%AB
The arrangement is heavily relying on choral parts, especially accented on the bass section of the choir, representing the dwarven folk who He created.
It consists of two main characteristic parts: first one is depicting the more serious, epic nature of this divine figure. At start the choirs are going light accompanied by some wind and stringed instruments playing piano, then switching to a higher gear with the epic Godzilla hits and some quick string runs and brass progressions.
The second part is giving a cheerful salutation to the archangel with quickly evolving melody in the forte part and slower choral parts, both in a graceful, light and positive context.
Hope you'll enjoy it!
Monday, March 16, 2015
Symphonic Tales of The Silmarillion - Fifth and Sixth Movement: Elbereth & Melkor - Compositional Diary
The portraits continued! First released Elbereth, also known as Varda, wife of Manwë. Then just yesterday Melkor's portray got ready to be rolled out! Hope you will like them!
Elbereth, Queen of the Stars
Melkor, The Dark Lord
Elbereth, Queen of the Stars
Melkor, The Dark Lord
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Symphonic Tales of The Silmarillion - Third Movement: Ulmo, Lord of the Waters - Compositional Diary
Dear Fans and Friends,
I'm happy to report that after a longer period of silence, the third movement of the symphonic tales has been rolled out. The focus now has been shifted from the story telling of the Ainulindale to the portrayals of Valar derived from the Valaquenta of The Silmarillion.
The first in the portrayal series is the majestic, dreadful and all surround Lord of the Waters, Ulmo, the lonely divine figure of the mythology of Tolkien. Second in power to Manwe, most hated by Melkor, knowing of all news on Arda through all the waters flowing through and surrounding the landmass of the world.
"ULMO, Heru Rasa, or in English - Lord of the Seas, was second in power of the Valar only to Manwe. He was one of the nine Aratar, or those of chief power and reverence. He was a loner, the only one of the Valar to not have a wife (wife here is not in the common sense, but one who has similar interests and share deeds). He would never stay in one place for long, and took to resting anywhere he might be. He seldom came to the Councils of Mahanaxar, and only when in great need. He preferred to stay in Arda, not by walking on the land, as his form would fill man or elf with great dread. All waters were under his government; bays, rivers and even the waters under the earth. It is through these that he kept in touch with Arda, and thus knew more of the goings on with the children of Iluvatar than even Manwe."
The music is somewhat starting as an enervated and sad, musing part which shows the lonesome preference of this Vala, and also incorporates powerful and majestic parts which symbolizes his appearance before the mortal beings of Arda. The major part of the orchestral sections this time goes to the low and middle brass and also the contrabasoon and is accompanied by accentuated choral parts. Also touches some modern elements of compositional work with many less common harmonies and also random-like notes which depicts the watery, hard to glimpse nature of this divine figure. Strives for positive, uplifting images at times with some clearer, major chord resolutions, but also dwelling in strong, fast and agitated parts that outlines the unpredictable nature of the waters and the powers of this all-mighty Vala.
I'm happy to report that after a longer period of silence, the third movement of the symphonic tales has been rolled out. The focus now has been shifted from the story telling of the Ainulindale to the portrayals of Valar derived from the Valaquenta of The Silmarillion.
The first in the portrayal series is the majestic, dreadful and all surround Lord of the Waters, Ulmo, the lonely divine figure of the mythology of Tolkien. Second in power to Manwe, most hated by Melkor, knowing of all news on Arda through all the waters flowing through and surrounding the landmass of the world.
"ULMO, Heru Rasa, or in English - Lord of the Seas, was second in power of the Valar only to Manwe. He was one of the nine Aratar, or those of chief power and reverence. He was a loner, the only one of the Valar to not have a wife (wife here is not in the common sense, but one who has similar interests and share deeds). He would never stay in one place for long, and took to resting anywhere he might be. He seldom came to the Councils of Mahanaxar, and only when in great need. He preferred to stay in Arda, not by walking on the land, as his form would fill man or elf with great dread. All waters were under his government; bays, rivers and even the waters under the earth. It is through these that he kept in touch with Arda, and thus knew more of the goings on with the children of Iluvatar than even Manwe."
The music is somewhat starting as an enervated and sad, musing part which shows the lonesome preference of this Vala, and also incorporates powerful and majestic parts which symbolizes his appearance before the mortal beings of Arda. The major part of the orchestral sections this time goes to the low and middle brass and also the contrabasoon and is accompanied by accentuated choral parts. Also touches some modern elements of compositional work with many less common harmonies and also random-like notes which depicts the watery, hard to glimpse nature of this divine figure. Strives for positive, uplifting images at times with some clearer, major chord resolutions, but also dwelling in strong, fast and agitated parts that outlines the unpredictable nature of the waters and the powers of this all-mighty Vala.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Epic Fantasy Tracks - Compositional Diary
Recently I've been investing a lot of time in one of my favorite compositional genre which I am most compassionate about: orchestral music in the fantasy topic. Most of the tracks carry the recently so popular hints of Epic Fantasy style. Let me go into some details about the tracks here.
All three tracks were composed in Cubase 7.5 and most of the virtual instruments are Sounds-Online EWQL ones, and the lightly used synthesizer VSTis are Loom and XFer Serum. Mixing was aided by Native Instruments, Waves and iZotope plugins.
First in the line of compositions is 'Power of the Awakened Ones', which working title started off as 'Storm Within'. It's a three minutes long short and energetic, 4/4 track, constantly building-up one, that has the power of culmination, like so many of the popular trailer music tracks these days. I was playing around with the strings and brasses along with some powerful percussion instruments, and was starting with a sinister introduction part which was in the end removed, when the main melodic idea was inspired and invented along with the epic vocal part that was accompanied with a quick powerful arpeggio. The strings and solo vocals took over quickly the melodic and harmonic dominance in it together with the brasses, but the final touch was given by adding the light, oriental tasting sound of xylophone. It gave the main melody a very nice shine. Also I had plans of adding complementary synthesizers to the rhythmical bass section to give it an edge, and finally did weave it in at the culmination parts. And to reach the final structure, a small calmer part was interlocked between the tense energetic parts. The acceptance and criticism of the track was quite positive, and as a result of great positivity and support on SoundCloud it went right into the SoundCloud Explorer Classical part.
Second one is 'The Invincibles' which had the working title of 'Knights of the Ethernal Wisdom'. I was keeping the template of instrumentation. I was going for a 7/8 rhythm, to give it a nice riding feeling. It's speed is a majestic, middle tempo. The first part to be born was the starting brass melody and harmonies accompanied with a heavy, staccato/marcato contrabass/cello strings that later received at some parts an overlay of woodwinds and choral. The variation between minor and major parts is added to give some introspective on the light fantasy nature of the composition. Then came the idea to add a powerful/medieval adventurous melodic line with the fantastic EWQL Gipsy solo violin instrument, and that went as far as additions of harpsichord and strong brasses at the culmination parts. A very light addition of Synths were the last step to give a little buzz to the already heavy quick and rhythmical marcato of the strings. I'm very content with the result, it symbolizes a true companionship of adventurers, with courage, bravery, honor, piety. Again the acceptance and criticism was very positive, and it also landed in the SoundCloud Explorer Classical chart after the first day of publishing it.
Third, and most recent one is 'Sailors of Fortuna', which had the same working title. I was going for a quicker, more pulsating rhythmical approach, and an even heavier use of percussion. First of the composition was to lay out the bass line with heavy marcato/staccato strings, contrabass and celli. The playful, pirate era like melody was invented first using the viola and violin section, but slowly the brass took over the stronger parts. Then a longer choral part was added, adding new harmonic elements to the weave, and using the soprano part grabbing out of the context and adding it to the non-choral parts, the melody was extended with shining celesta. Then came the idea to add guitar (acoustic and distorted) to the lighter parts of the track. It gave a really adventurous and modern touch to the material. Also this addition of guitar lines then crept into the stronger orchestral parts in form of choral and higher brass additions (horns and trumpets). As a final step, I felt the urge to add a dance-like even quicker celebration part to mirror the triumphant pirate/sailor thematic of the era. Quick piccolo and xylophone together with some guitars and quick rhythmical strings gave the final form to it. The recipe was well formulated again, and the first day it got int the SC Classical chart again right into the top 30.
In the end I feel like it has been a successful venture back into the symphonic/orchestral composition which I was on a hiatus within the last half year. Hope you will enjoy the music as much as I enjoyed the creation of it.
All three tracks were composed in Cubase 7.5 and most of the virtual instruments are Sounds-Online EWQL ones, and the lightly used synthesizer VSTis are Loom and XFer Serum. Mixing was aided by Native Instruments, Waves and iZotope plugins.
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| Cover art by: Daniel Warren |
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| Image by: artofjokinen |
In the end I feel like it has been a successful venture back into the symphonic/orchestral composition which I was on a hiatus within the last half year. Hope you will enjoy the music as much as I enjoyed the creation of it.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Latest mystery adventure - eclectic tracks of album length
Here you will find the latest tracks by pZi, over 48 minutes long set with all original and unique tracks ranging from fast paced DNB and breakbeat to chillout, downtempo all with a hint of fusion with world, folk or classical music.
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