Enchanted Valleys… Again!?

Behind the Music

26 Nov

Doubting your art, reworking it, considering to just toss it away and start over — these feelings and thoughts will likely be familiar to anyone who has experienced a creative process. And these feelings and thoughts troubled me for years regarding my first ever orchestral composition. I’ve loved that composition since I created it in 2017; it was a major milestone for me, and an eye opener that I could actually manage to convey emotions and ideas with music. This first orchestral composition reminded me of lush, green valleys. The music had a magical atmosphere to it, so I decided to name the piece “Enchanted Valleys.” But something was off…

Even though I loved “Enchanted Valleys,” I realised that the music was really crude, and unfit for release. It seemed to require too much work to make it presentable. And so, with pain in my heart, I decided it was best to leave it on the shelf, and move on… To honour this special composition, I used the title for my debut album and its title track, which I wrote to capture the same essence as my original “Enchanted Valleys.”

But plans change, and so do people. I learnt so much over the last couple of years, that I felt like I could rework that first composition and solve most of its “problems” with astute reorchestration. And so I did.

The name “Enchanted Valleys” is now tied to the title track of my debut album, as I didn’t think I was going to need it anymore for releasing my first orchestral composition. I therefore needed to find a new name for what was originally called “Enchanted Valleys.” I renamed the piece “Light Returns to the Kingdom,” as I used the music as part of my EP Aurendel’s Travail to tell the story of a fantasy army returning home after overcoming forces of darkness. Similarly, this reorchestration project meant a return to where my orchestral journey began and overcoming the composition’s weaknesses that troubled me for years.

Going back to my first orchestral project after over five years and working on it again in detail confronted me with how much I’ve learnt and grown during that time. This instigated a moment of self-reflection that I’m indulging in the form of this blog post.

A Candid Critique

My original version of “Light Returns to the Kingdom” from 2017 had some great ideas and lots of potential. It just took me years before I fully realised what was hiding behind the clumsy and unpolished presentation of the musical themes, which is part of the reason why it took me so long to rework the composition. And that’s why I don’t throw away ideas and sketches.

I had very little experience with the nuances of the symphonic orchestra, which showed: my original version of the piece consisted of a rudimentary division of strings playing chords, a harp playing arpeggios, and horns and flutes alternating melodic material. This became problematic as the string chords were exclusively block chords that allowed no breathing room — the chords were played with maximum intensity all the time, with just one exception of a solo section for the harp that allowed the listener to take a breath (my favourite part, which I kept largely intact in the reorchestration around 3:16). To make things worse, the string chords were spread out all over their full range from the lowest double bass notes to the highest violin pitches. This was maintained throughout the piece, which put a massive strain on the listener’s ears. Another issue I had with the piece was that it had too much one-on-one repetition: I had two sections that just kept repeating, all with the same intense and stale orchestration, only giving way once to that relieving harp solo.

I realise that this sounds very critical. And after reading the previous paragraph, it may be hard to believe that I genuinely loved the composition despite being aware of its crudeness. I had great fun creating it, and “Light Returns to the Kingdom” catapulted my passion for writing orchestral music. And as I mentioned before, there were lots of great ideas there, which inspired many more in subsequent compositions. The process as a whole was very educational as I spent lots of time studying composition and immediately putting it into practice. Continuous critical self-reflection of my work helped me find growing opportunities and guide my next steps in my musical journey.

Breathing New Life Into “Light Returns to the Kingdom”

Almost a year after finishing the original version of “Light Returns to the Kingdom,” I spent my summer vacation with my nose buried deep in orchestration books. And after applying and developing my new knowledge in my Enchanted Valleys album and Cycle of Life, I had lots of new ideas to reinvigorate “Light Returns to the Kingdom.” It turned out that I could tackle all of my issues with careful reorchestration.

The key was to keep passing the different layers of the composition between the instruments. Whereas the main theme used to be performed exclusively by the horns, it is now performed by most of the instruments at some point, whether solo or as part of a bombastic tutti. This creates some much-needed variety across the composition, as well as more natural breathing moments to let the music sink in.

The harmonies are no longer played exclusively as block chords by the string players, either. In my reorchestrated version of “Light Returns to the Kingdom,” harmonies sometimes emerge from complex, yet delicate rhythmic and melodic layers performed by strings and woodwinds. Other times, horn themes are offset against trumpet counter melodies to create harmonic layers. But there are still some carefully chosen occasions where the strings play block chords at maximum intensity across their full range to help create climactic moments.

All these modifications placed my original ideas in better light, revealing their charm. And they made me realise that the foundation of that original composition was solid all along.

The Enchanted Valleys Saga Continues…

I reshaped the main theme from “Light Returns to the Kingdom” into smaller motifs, which I used as the basis for a large portion of the thematic material for the EP Aurendel’s Travail on which “Light Returns to the Kingdom” now appears. In a way, then, Aurendel’s Travail is a direct continuation of my Enchanted Valleys album. Whereas Enchanted Valleys focused on the landscapes of an imaginary world, Aurendel’s Travail chronicles a momentous event affecting many of its denizens.

I derived much of the other thematic material for Aurendel’s Travail from the tracks “A Storm Approaches” and “Conquest of Light.” I began working on these pieces back in 2018, before my in-depth orchestration studies. At the time I put them aside as I knew exactly what I wanted those compositions to be, but had no idea how to accomplish that. Five years of study and experience later I was finally able to realise them into what I envisioned (and they turned out even better than that).

It felt right to bundle these three revised and completed pre-orchestration-studies compositions in one EP. I expanded their individual themes and ideas into an overarching story, which resulted in the cinematic project Aurendel’s Travail. I added two more pieces to this EP to complete the story: “The City of Aurendel” and “The Clouds Are Breaking.” The result is a tale of prosperity and adversity, and ultimately of hope. You can enjoy the story of Aurendel’s Travail at the bottom of this blog post.