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Absolutely Delightful!
Thank you for sharing this Beauty!
Do you have a recording with a live orchestra?
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So glad you enjoyed it! It was fun, especially doing all the internal musical references and polyphony.
This was all done on my computer using Finale software (as are all the pieces on my YouTube channel which I see someone kindly linked; no live performances (yet 
). But at least it does not involve trying to herd cats, which live performances always entail. The computer does not have any human limitations . As Dr. Farrell knows when he produced his own compositions via computer, it is a s-l-o-w process since each note must be put in by hand; the only exception is when doubling a line or repeating passages, they can be cut & pasted. I actually am quite amazed at the quality of sound, especially in the winds and the piano pieces. Strings are a little less close to the true sound, but all in all it does a good job. I am especially pleased with the sound of the clarinet which, to my ears, sounds pretty close to the real thing… This one is relatively easy to generate compared with the works for larger orchestras such as the Gothic Overture and my orchestration of George Hage’s Rhapsodia, which took almost a year to complete bit-by-bit 
! Be sure to check out the shorter humorous pieces on the channel. I think you will enjoy them too. There is more information (AKA brief program notes) for each composition at the link as well.
Thanx again for your kind words and encouragement. By the way, J.C. du Tour is my nom de plume . My user name is WhiteRaven (thus the avatar 
)
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Wow @knej6776 – that is impressive that you composed this with Finale. I know how persnickety that software is, how devilishly slow, and can appreciate the amount of effort – probably much longer than it took Mozart to whip off with his old-fashioned ink and paper.
But, Mozart had musicians who would be there on the spot to play his music, and nowadays, it’s hard to find the musicians, given all the blockages put into their way by a corrupt industry, and so Finale comes to the rescue so that you can at least hear your composition outside of your own mind.
I agree that the software did a good job with the clarinet part – do you play clarinet?
(Although, my own personal preference is to listen to straight acoustic instruments without amplification. We love music of the style of your composition, and know that you are very deeply talented.)
A group of musicians played part of a clarinet concerto locally here in Victoria, British Columbia – and I could imagine, a little, what your beautiful piece would sound like with them playing: Mozart Clarinet Concerto KV 622 1st Movement - YouTube
I think it will be worth your effort to round up the musical cats to play your piece in front of an audience, even a small one. We love your melody and harmony, and I will share the recording of your piece with our musical friends.
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Hi,
Thanx for your further comments and kind words. Finale is slow, but gets faster with practice, just like an instrument. I play violin & viola, not clarinet, but did buy a cheap one on Amazon to fool with and can play a little by ear. I have been involved with performing in orchestras in the past as well as chamber ensembles, giving concerts around the area with my wife and others, including Fr.George+ Hage, who composed most of the Rhapsodia on my channel and who also is a classically trained pianist. When COVID shut everything down, my wife and I began making recordings with our home recording equipment for family & friends. We have made 10 albums with around 150 songs and are working on more 
. Keeps us off the streets, and a lot less stressful, with better quality control, than live performances!. She is a singer, mostly jazz/blues standards, some soft rock/pop and classical/religious too. I do everything in the production process except the singing so have not played with her on the recordings, in addition to the fact that she is a much more talented performer than I am! My main interest is actually composing & arranging and have been thrust head first into sound engineering, graphic design, etc as well by these recordings.
It sounds like you are involved in music too, given your apparent familiarity with Finale, so I would especially like your feedback on the other compositions on YouTube if you have time. BTW, what do you do musically?
A friend uploaded all our albums to the internet. Here is a link to two of them, one jazz, one soft rock.
ALBUM #1: BALLADS BY BETH
ALBUM # 7: YESTERDAY ONCE MORE
Hope you enjoy them too! Let me know if there is a problem hearing them. If you like them, I can send the rest in an e-mail later. Thank you again for your support!
Ciao,
WhiteRaven (AKA J.C. du Tour, AKA Ken Detrick )
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Bravo! Bravo! + 20 more.
I have no musical talent but do have the appreciation.
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Thank you for your kudos. Greatly appreciated!
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congratulations!
thank you!
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Thank you, Ken, for your very generous sharing of your albums.
I will try and download the files (praying that our simple computer set up can handle these downloads, as we don’t own any fancy gizmos), and once I have done that, and listened, and also to your recordings of Fr. George, I’ll have a few more comments. We’re really looking forward to listening!
I am not a professional musician, but studied violin and accordion during my youth, accordion also more recently, and can play piano and harmonica at a very basic level. I can read orchestral scores. I did play in amateur community orchestras during my earlier years. For us, we’re basically music appreciators. We feel harassed with all the noise that passes for “music” that assaults our ears everytime we go to a public place in our city. That people are composing the kind of classical style music that you are, gives us some hope that there’s something “higher” operating in our world, making its way into some artists’ minds.
We have some very talented musical friends scattered about the world, who are musical artists and composers (they’ve appeared on concert stages as soloists with professional symphonies), and we can feel for what musical artists like yourselves have been through with this abrupt cultural assault on musicians and artists with the covid scam (although there’s been a palpable slow-acting erosion on “beauty” in the arts for a few decades now). We are really impressed that you and your wife found a way, through recordings, to keep your artistic impulse alive during this Dark Age. We appreciate the arists, and love going to concerts in our community. One of our friends, during the covid lockdown, organized some concerts in his friend’s garden!
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Hi again,
FYI, the tracks can be played one at a time by just clicking on the square for each song, if downloading the zip file and opening them all does not work for you. Also, if you are wondering, my friend uploaded the cover and playlist of the albums. The pic with both of us was his idea and has no specific connection to the music 
.
It sounds as if our musical backgrounds are similar and I fully agree with your comments about the state of modern ‘classical’ music. My impression is that the true modern art music is best represented by high quality jazz & theater/film music not by so-called classical composers such as Schoenberg, Cage & the minimalists like Glass, Reich & Adams.
Delightful way to start the day - thank you!
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Very nice thank you!
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Thank you so very much for your positive response. Coming from you, I am especially honored! Hope you noticed the polyphonic aspect of my stuff, as well as my penchant for ‘alchemical’ thematic and developmental transformations which I like to incorporate in my music. Blessings to you & Shiloh; I am sending a small contribution on the website to help with your storm expenses. I suggest others do the same if they can afford to do so.
Thank you for that delightful work and performance… so simple and pleasing. I subscribed to your youtube channel and will enjoy listening to more.
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You are welcome. I am glad you liked it and hope you enjoy the other music on the channel and linked above as well! I hope it contributes a little to adding some beauty & grace in this chaotic world and to counter the noise passing as ‘music’ these days.
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The sign we use on our door when recording. You might recognize the face 