Orchestral Works -- Original Orchestral Compositions Across Genres

For more orchestral tracks please check out my full orchestral album here:
soundcloud.com/pianissimo/sets/orchestral-works-original

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Track Notes
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As the track title and image suggest, "The Dark Side" is a sonic homage to the world of Star Wars. A rousing, energetic kaleidoscope of bombastic brass and operatic vocals, this track is meant to pull the listener into an epic planetary battle between the cosmic forces of good and evil. May the force be with you as you enjoy this journey with a good pair of headphones!

Thank you for listening (and reading)!

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Instruments:
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Brass: trumpet ensemble, horn ensemble, bass trombone, tuba ensemble
String: violin ensemble (legato and spiccato), cello ensemble (spiccato), viola ensemble (spiccato), bass ensemble (pizzicato)
Woodwinds: piccolo flute, solo flute, flute ensemble, bassoon ensemble, contrabassoon
Percussion: timpani, cymbal, gong, bass drums
Vocals: female choir, male choir

The Dark Side

For more orchestral tracks please check out my full orchestral album here:
soundcloud.com/pianissimo/sets/orchestral-works-original

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Track Notes
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My goal with this track was to create a Hitchcock-esque retro thriller type of vibe. There are 4 particular things that are rather unique to this track as compared to my other orchestral works:

(1) This piece is a fair bit drier than most of the rest of my orchestral work as I preferred a strong sense of clarity over putting my listeners in a particularly reverberant space. The increased dryness I think adds to the immediacy of the sound and makes it feel therefore more menacing/threatening in a way. 
(2) I used quite a few non-traditional orchestral instruments (basset horn, cimbasso, etc) in unison parts in the track to create a rather unique sonic palette. 
(3) I use quite a few less common articulations (ricochets, marteles, rips, various trills) to add additional sonic interest and engagement.
(4) I added some intentional dissonance in spots to further lend to the creepy vibe. 

Hopefully my little experiment has been successful. Please put on a good pair of headphones and enjoy!

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Instruments:
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Brass: horn, tuba, bass trombone, cimbasso, euphonium
String: violin ensemble, viola ensemble, cello ensemble, double bass ensemble
Woodwinds: flute, piccolo, oboe, bass oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, basset horn, saxophone, contrabassoon
Percussion: timpani, marimba, xylophone, tom ensemble, bass drums, piano (used percussively)
Vocals: female choir, male choir

War of the Worlds

For more orchestral tracks please check out my full orchestral album here:
soundcloud.com/pianissimo/sets/orchestral-works-original

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Track Notes
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As the track title and image suggest, "Rebel" is a sonic homage to the world of Star Wars and a sequel of sorts to my prior Star Wars themed epic orchestral track "The Dark Side". A rousing, energetic kaleidoscope of bombastic brass and operatic vocals, this track is meant to pull the listener into an epic planetary battle between the cosmic forces of good and evil. May the force be with you as you enjoy this journey with a good pair of headphones!

Thank you for listening (and reading)!

Image: "The Mandalorian" by Andrew Sebastian Kwan (https://the-andrewkwan.artstation.com/)

Rebel

For more orchestral tracks please check out my full orchestral album here:
soundcloud.com/pianissimo/sets/orchestral-works-original

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Track Notes
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"Metropolis" draws much of its aesthetic inspiration from Fritz Lang's famous 1927 German science fiction film of the same name as well as various sources from comic book canon (especially Superman and Batman). A lively and rather bombastic piece, this track is meant to conjure up images of a sprawling, hectic, dystopian metropolis. Put on a good pair of headphones and enjoy!

Thank you for listening (and reading)!

Metropolis

For more orchestral tracks please check out my full orchestral album here:
soundcloud.com/pianissimo/sets/orchestral-works-original

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Track Notes
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Thematically this track went on a very interesting journey from its inception on through completion. To explain that journey adequately I need to first explain how I typically compose ... 

Nothing is more important to my composing process than IMAGERY. My songs tend to be rather evocative. They all live in their own world replete with their own history, their own culture, their own lore. The songs then give a window into that world by painting images in the minds of my listeners (I hope anyway!). People often ask me what inspires my music. The answer is that this imagery inspires it. The world that the songs live in inspires it. 

What's interesting though is that said imagery is not actually present at the time that I sit down at my piano to start on a new piece. Rather typically I'll just sit down and start messing around until I latch onto some interesting sonic ideas. Then once I have a fledgling new song, the imagery around it slowly starts to take shape. It's that initial imagery that then informs further development in the song. And then once the song is further developed, the imagery comes into even sharper focus ... and so on and so forth until the song is finally complete. In this way, my inspiration is actually almost paradoxically derived from the music itself. So how then does this whole process I'm describing relate to this particular piece of music?

Well the initial version of this song, despite not being terribly far removed from the final version, had a rather different thematic aesthetic. Initially it evoked strong imagery of Russia, soviets, communism, order, marching soldiers, etc. (I kept imagining those soviet-era propaganda posters in my head.) As a result, the initial working title of the piece was "Tsar". 

Once the piece developed further though, it outgrew this initial moniker. Instead now it was evoking a rather dark, industrial vibe. I saw factories, machines, gears, clocks. Cobblestone streets shrouded in a sky tainted with soot.  There was also a bit of a retro, dystopian sci-fi vibe that emerged. I saw robots, automata, an army of drones (and this is where it tied into the original soviet imagery). This new imagery informed some development in the composition and I ended up changing the working title to "The Machine". 

But then the piece developed further and once again the song outgrew the name. Some of the original imagery remained, surely, but there were new elements now. There was an element of fear, but also an element of excitement, adventure, and almost child-like curiosity and wonderment. Now the imagery in my head revolved around exploring an uncharted and perhaps somewhat scary/forbidden land. This is when the name "The Black Forest" emerged as I feel that it ties in all of these ideas. The wonderful piece of visual art also ties in nicely with the name and the music and rounds out the world that this song lives in. I imagine that the little girl in the image has escaped home. Adorned in her little crown and dress she makes her way rather naively into The Black Forest, the place that all children are forbidden to enter. She's afraid but she also has a lot of courage and she stubbornly marches on into the unknown. 

I invite you to please put on a good pair of headphones and march right along with her :)

Thank you for listening (and reading)! 

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Instruments:
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Brass: tuba (staccatos + legato)
String: violin ensemble (legato), cello ensemble (spiccato), bass ensemble (pizzicato), solo violin
Woodwinds: piccolo flute, c flute x2
Percussion: timpani, toms, bass drums
Vocals: female choir, male choir, children's choir
Other: music box

Image credit: the Swedish painter John Albert Bauer (4 June 1882 – 20 November 1918)

The Black Forest

I'm a 35-year-old software engineer and amateur composer living in the beautiful city of Seattle. I have no musical training or background at all. I taught myself to play piano in August of 2014 and then started actually composing in January 2015.

I focus on crafting atmospheric, evocative pieces that take my listeners on a journey through both time and space. Although my focus in the past 6 years has been on cinematic ethnic music (celtic, middle eastern, medieval), I'm now starting to venture into the orchestral realm and couldn't be more excited to mix some of my ethnic sensibilities with more traditional orchestral elements.

Every piece you hear on my cloud is 100% original music that is composed, recorded (using VSTs), and produced by myself. No remixes, no covers (unless explicitly stated), no loops, and absolutely NO prerecorded "musical phrases" of any kind (with the *very* rare exception of an occasional vocal phrase to lend some added color and depth). I manually compose and record every single note of every instrument you hear ... whether it's a violin, flute, vocals, drums, or anything else! 

Also, don't be shy! Feel free to shoot me a message even just to introduce yourself. I love connecting with other soundcloud artists :)

Now that that's all out of the way, put on a good pair of headphones and enjoy!

~Tim

War of the Worlds

Pianissimo