*NO* Donkey Kong Country 'Kremlings Sonata'

[Emunator]

Title: Kremlings Sonota

Original: Gang-Plank Galleon. Game Donkey Kong Country - SNES, author: Leandro Abreu

 

Source:

Edited May 13, 2015 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Emunator]

I paneled this because there's a lot of cool interpretation to the performance here, it's very dynamic and expressive, but I'm concerned about a couple of things.

 

First off, the recording quality has a HUGE amount of white noise in it. Way more than I would be comfortable passing on any piano mix. Perhaps this is something that could be fixed up in post-production with some help, but right now this track is DOA because of the excessive noise levels.

 

There's some parts of the performance itself that I'm not totally enjoying, either. The transition at :50 was weak/non-existent. The section from 2:25 - 2:40 felt very out of place - I see where in the source you derived it from but honestly, that part just didn't sound good to me.

 

Overall, the performance was a bit sloppy overall - maybe it was an intentional style because the arrangement is very carefree and loose, but I think the performance could have been tightened up, too.

 

Personally, I still don't think this would be a pass due to sloppiness of transitions and overall performance even if the recording quality was fixed up. I thought there were some very solid, creative ideas here, but I wanted to see what the rest of the panel thought.

 

NO

[zykO]

yeah, this is fairly DOA as far as submissions go but like wes said, there is a lot to like here.

 

let's start with the good. the compositional ideas are fantastic; i'm especially a fan of how you not only arranged it in a minimalist treatment to suit solo piano, you draw attention to certain melodic elements of the original source that make it appear as though the piece was intended as a solo piano piece all along. you've got some great chops, as well.

 

the bad. not sure what you're doing at 0:50; you just stopped. and then went again. i'm a big proponent (and notorious repeat offender lol) of jarring, seemingly-accidental transitions but that literally just sounds like you stopped playing. that is a interchange that can be cleaned up a great deal even if just by adding another beat to the transition so that the abrupt stop at least appears to be intentional. speaking of cleaning up, this is pretty sloppy play despite the obvious skill level. perhaps it's by design, perhaps it's not. sloppiness in solo piano tends to stands out a lot more than most and that is generally frowned upon. the white noise is something i've been guilty of throughout my own career and i've gotta say: YOU JUST CAN'T HAVE THIS MUCH WHITE NOISE IN A SOLO RECORDING. there, see? even zyko learns lol

all in all, i like it but the unfortunate thing with solo piano is that the bar is REALLY high and this falls just short of it. clean it up and you're on your way.

p.s. i personally LOVE the awkward little section from 2:25-2:40 lol tighten that up (and perhaps quote it earlier in the piece for context and it'll work even nicer as a tie-in).

NO (resubmit)

[Liontamer]

Yeah, immediately on starting this track, the level of white noise disqualifies this on account of poor production. Props for doing something outside of your usual zone, but the execution still needs to be of a reasonably good quality.

 

Arrangement-wise, the interpretation was good. Loved the slowed down introduction and flourishes here to start things off. The transition at :50 was awkward, I'll agree, but it was nothing to stop the show over.

 

At 1:29, when the piano became more forceful, it seemed like it should have been even more powerful. The left-hand timing from 2:05-2:12 was pretty stiff, even for a live performance; not a big deal, just noting it. Even within a more minimalist piece with less pronounced peaks & valleys, I felt the writing implied more power and dynamic contrast than what was presented here after 1:29. It basically peaked at 1:53, with some very brief intense moments, but that was it.

 

So consider 1) tweaking the structure, if you think it could improve the presentation, and 2) and tightening up the performance, but I agreed with the others that 3) the white noise was the big issue.

 

In any case, you're an awesome musician, so hopefully you don't let this piece not making it get you down. You get our respect for sure in doing a piano piece, and I hope you send more arrangements like this in the future.

 

NO (resubmit)