Author's Response:
Your absolutely right in your suggestion, the phrasing was very open to misinterpretation. My apologies about that. I reacted strongly to the review below, but on a certain level I maintain that to make such an accusation publicly one must delve deeper.
But with that aside, this was written for:
Glockenspiel
Harp (2)
Violin
Cello
Double bass
(all GPO)
Hmmm never thought about putting it in the MAC tho. For some reason I'm just not feeling particularly inspired to submit to the MAC.
Generally speaking this was a pretty idle piece, the phrases and dynamics work on a more microscopic scale, and the instrumentation is limited and not exploited fully. Nevertheless, what redeemed this piece in my eyes the most was its harmonic complexity in numerous parts (such as harp arpeggios on the third instance of the first melody). The harmonies were subtle touches when placed in this kind of dreamy, Nutcracker-y (as you mentioned) style, but always fun to experiment with.
Anyhoo, sorry about the tangents, thanks for the awesome review. :P