VOTING

All votes will be made publically, and this thread will last until August 28th! Reviews or comments regarding you decision is not necessary, although it is encouraged. The pictures which were used by the composer are available for viewing here (http://forums.ichigos.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5470&d=1183818394).

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Thorn's Dream Coast (http://forums.ichigos.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5651&d=1186785628) ("Dream Coast" picture)
Noir7's Golden Mellow (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=723256&songID=5582834) ("A dog" picture)
Inuyasha_1052's Serenity (http://forums.ichigos.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5672&d=1187016243) ("Snowing in the Summer" picture)

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The mentioned entries were composed for either of these pictures (http://forums.ichigos.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5470&d=1183818394).

I vote for "Golden Mellow," because of the interesting and creative thematic interpretation of the story behind the painting, not to mention very good orchestration, and show of skillful composition utilizing very interesting melodic ideas and chord.

Edit: BTW, can I get an mp3 of it? It wouldn't let me download the mp3 from the site, it would only let me listen to it in the built in player, but I want to have it on my iTunes playlist :)

Aw~ So little entries for this time... But oh well, I'll criticize nonetheless.

~~~

Dream Coast - Thorn

I like the idea of leitmotifs to represent that dream coast picture as it was fairly abstract too. The way you put it all together in the piece was quite effective too, however, the only thing that bugged me the most in the piece was the flow between the motifs. I hear that you used a lot of silence between parts, which made it fairly choppy. But it was quite a subtle issue. I thought that you could've used even more dynamics in the piece, even if it was a MIDI. Another thing that I felt this piece lacked was the ending; the ending wasn't aggressive enough, it was merely just 'loud'. It lacked the aggressive momentum. And the last 10 seconds or so felt unfitting, you should have ended it in an even more distorted way. Perhaps this piece would be even more effective if you had a larger contrast section, as it only gave me one feel or one atmosphere throughout. However, you managed to represent the picture quite well, especially with the symbolism used in your piece. Well done.

Golden Mellow - Noir7

The opening with the harp was absolutely adorable. The thing in this piece that amazes me the most is the ability to make the entire 'familiar' atmosphere of the piece not cliche. However, perhaps you should have made the English horn a little louder when it's presenting melodies, as it was too soft at times. For the middle section, perhaps you could've used more bass strings, though, it is fine the way it is as you were trying to create an ethereal atmosphere. I don't have much comments other than that. You exceed beyond the normal 'represent the picture' standard! You actually had a story behind the picture, which is extraordinary. Very well done.

Serenity - Inuyasha_1052

As I commented before, my favourite thing about this piece was the ending. This piece really reminds me of my older compositions. And again, as I commented before, perhaps the predictability of this piece was the major concern. Maybe you could've done more variations. That transition at 2:08 was a decent surprise. Maybe your accompaniment in the piano could have had more interesting parts to play. Your very last chord could also be improved upon. Perhaps the only thing that was a little disappointing was representing the picture. I felt that there were no connections between the picture and your piece. Yes, the picture was graceful, and so was your piece. However, something you missed from the picture was the mystical and enchanting idea of 'summer snow'. Perhaps that was what took away my chance for voting for your piece. Nevertheless, well done on the piece.

Idealistically, Thorn gets my vote. Musically, Noir gets my vote. Symbolistically, Noir gets my vote; hence the fact that Noir7 gets my vote!

However, the other two pieces were definitely well done as well~

Man, sorry I didn't get my entry in so we could have more to vote on. Anyhow, here is how things come down...

Dream Coast - Thorn
This piece is ill properly named in my opinion. It should be more like "Nightmare Coast." NOT because it was bad, but because it reminded me more of a nightmare then a dream. I could imagine someone falling deeper and deeper into a nightmare because you slowly built tension through the piece by increasing the tempo and then dynamics until you reached the climax. Things then got back to more or less normal, as if the person was sitting on the bed in a sweat after just having woke up from said nightmare. Very nice interpretation. I felt that some things just came into too sudden or changed too fast between ideas. If those transitions were a little smoother, it would sound much better.

Golden Mellow - Noir7
Beautiful, it just ate me up after listening to it. Days of work must have gone into getting those sound fonts to sound just right. Those efforts were well worth the time, excellent balance! I don't think it's a hard choice to tell who won this competition. (There is nothing I can pick out that I don't like about this piece.)

Serenity - Inuyasha_1052
Very nice! This piece was very flowing and easy to listen to. It really depict a snowy scene. I will have to comment on your choice of solo instrument. The flute, in the octave it presently in, just wouldn't work for a live performance. The next octave up is where the true beauty of the beast lies, but for this composition, unless it was a professional flute player, would also not sound right. The way you have repeated notes in the flute's melody (like playing eight notes of the same note) leads me to conclude that this piece is meant to be sung. So if you added some words and a good singer, you can sell this song to anyone! Great job otherwise.

Well, obviously my vote goes to Noir7. Great job to all the participants! Not a bad composition in the lot for this contest.

Alright...

Dream Coast ~ Thorn
An, absolute, masterwork! There's almost too much to say how this piece is so great; it's very pianistic (just from the MIDI audio)! . . .Getting to the picture part of it; this piece represented in a different interpretation that I had with when I was writing for this piece (Yes, I was writing for the competition), and I'd have to say I like this a lot better. As mentioned, you give it the nightmare-ish quality that the picutre has with all the spatter to it and darkness you feel exuding from it! I could go on forever. . . :heh:

Golden Mellow ~ Noir7
"Wow!" is what this piece is! Everything is very nice and warm, and matches the picture as well as your story (a lot more the story, though). All I would have said has already been mentioned before, so just think of me saying all that. ;)

Serenity ~ Inuyasha_1052
Really nice piece; see your thread for my comment (you've posted it there). Although I like the piece, it doesn't match that picture at all really. . .the piece reminds me of a more pathetic and possibly of a person having a small-yet happy-tear in their eye.

Let's see who gets my vote :

Thorn

Everyone, great job! (Too bad there wern't more. Lol)

Dream Coast ~ Thorn

I agree with Porsche, it seems like the title should have been different. The interpretation was nice. :) Great ideas, but as mentioned above, the transitions could have been better.

Golden Mellow ~ Noir7

I wasn't expecting the use of a harp for an intro, but you did it well. :) I hear an English horn in this piece somewhere, which could have been somewhat louder.

(I have to go- expect more... :heh: )

EDIT: I vote for Noir7.

:cry: I actually wrote a song for the friends picture, but sadly I wasn't able to post it in time. Anyways here are my comments and vote:

Thorn
I liked the idea and most of this piece except for the lack of a contrasting section and the ending. But I think you grasped the ideas of dreams very well...especially my dreams.

Inuyasha_1052
I really enjoyed this piece, but I don't think it represented the picture very well. That picture had a mystical quality as well as the peace that your composition portrayed nicely.

Noir7
Your composition was really beautiful and fit very well with the dog picture.

So my vote goes to Noir7. Congrats!

All pieces are very good. I like them very much but I vote for Noir7 because it sounds so beautiful.

How did you get the quality so good? Is it the page or do you have a programme for it? It sounds like real;)

While I can't offer much in the way of good criticism, I guess I'll at least throw in my two cents.

Dream Coast: The piece was well written, but dissonance and general weirdness of it just aren't my thing, sorry :sweat:

Golden Mellow: I loved the entire piece mainly because it just sounded so nice!

Serenity: Enjoyed listening to it very much although it got to be a tad predictable as it progressed.

I liked all three of the compositions but my vote has to go to Golden Mellow because I just enjoyed it so much!

My vote goes to Noir7 allthough I think you´ve got enough votes allready =)
you are one of the few that really inspire me around here... but thats not why you get my vote obviously, your entry had an edge over the others both musically and in fitting the picture IMO. The other two piece had some really nice parts to them too.

anyway, Noir7 don´t let your ego get the better of you now, I will retun to challenge you as soon as my muse returns and a suiting competition comes up =)

good job all of you!
But as said above my vote goes to Noir7

Dream Coast ~ Thorn
I thought this was quite fitting for the picture in terms of it's "abstractness", it has the same feel to it - dark and mysterious. Although this kind of music is normally not my favourite, your song was very well done and thought out. :)

Golden Mellow ~ Noir7
I love dogs! <3 And the picture, and, of course, your song. It sounds very cinematic, which is a very good thing in my opinion. The song gives of a very, well, mellow feeling, so your song title fits very well. I particularly enjoyed your use of the strings and your orchestration.

Serenity ~ Inuyasha_1052
I enjoyed your song, especially the light melody of the flute and, as SirDot pointed out, your ending. I have the impression though, that it is a bit too "light-hearted" for the picture, but that depends on one's own interpretation I guess.


I really enjoyed listening all three of the pieces and your interpretations. My vote goes to Noir7 this time, he frankly did a brilliant job capturing the feeling of the picture.