I feel like a kid picking up The Legend of Zelda for the first time again.
I'm in awe of this piece. It does everything it's supposed to with ease, and you captured the grace of an ensemble with it. Great job!
Reviews for "Rite of the Woods - NGADM ROUND 3 (2021)"
Santi-Montali responds:
I'm glad! Thanks :)
I love this <3
holy heck, you never fail to impress!
very nicely done!
This is a (overdue) judge review from NGADM Round 3.
This piece's strong point, at least in my eyes, is its composition. It keeps itself on its toes throughout and consistently changes to keep everything fresh, and yet it still builds upon a common theme without overdoing it. The key changes and consistent changes from major to minor throughout, the different themes and the ways you play on them... like I said, this is the song's strong point by far. The rest also isn't bad, either - the sounds you use are really good and help push the emotion throughout, and the production, at least through my headphones, isn't too bad at all.
If I had to really nitpick on something, I'd say a couple of things. First, I definitely think that first theme could be played upon, and I know you mentioned that as well. Maybe even an interaction between the first and second themes could be interesting and enjoyable to the listener. Alongside that, I think the piece could use a proper ending. What you have is serviceable, but an ending that helps wind down the energy or signal the closing instead of leaving the listener in a sort of cliffhanger would not only help to build on the story you're telling, but also keep the emotion and ideas going too.
Overall, though, I absolutely adore this piece and I think it's one of my favorites from this year's ADM. There's so much going well here that it's very much worth a listen.
Another one I'm sorry I missed the first time around. Again, very dreamy, like you're trying to capture a child's sense of wonder in a song. I love the gradual sense of climax over the first couple of minutes, and the woodwind melody at :45 is gorgeous. In fact, all of the sound design here really hits the spot, from the crisp strings to the subdued percussion to the evocative mallet riffs. The percussion really shines during the middle section of the piece - 2:10-3:00ish, before the woodwind melodies take over again. The transition at 3:38, while a bit abrupt, fits well with the narrative arc of the piece, and the modulation at 4:13 was a great way of driving the track home. Really great stuff, Elias! ^_^