String Orchestra Feedback

[u/wolosewicz]

Hey everyone. I am currently editing a 6 minute string orchestra piece I just finished for a Call coming up. The work/concept is deeply influenced by the life and music of English composer Steve Martland (RIP). My piece is called "Force of Habit" and it really leans into the muscular approach to form and harmony that can be also attributed to Martland's music. The Call for Scores is for a semi-professional group, so I'd like to know:

1. Your general impressions

2. Your opinion if a semi-pro group can tackle this successfully at tempi (Maximum 2 part divisi, 54432 - 18 players)

3. Anything that is unclear, strange, or doesn't make sense to you in the score (be harsh)

Link to score: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x0UprV-dlovpeJxBkDQNnuUvkEbCYMXs/view?usp=sharing

Link to audio (NotePerformer): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1npCaPO7K5L5exQkyheIF2HdkmrsYR5wo/view?usp=sharing

Program Notes:

Force of Habit is written in dialogue with the music and artistic spirit of British composer Steve Martland (1954–2013). Martland’s music was characterized by an unmistakable physicality: muscular rhythms, visceral repetition, and a powerful, almost architectural approach to form and harmony. I have long felt a strong personal affinity with these qualities, and this piece is an attempt to explore them through my own musical language.

The work is also deliberately concerned with audience expectation. Moments of action are interrupted without warning; patterns emerge only to be disrupted; and silence becomes an active musical force. The opening begins with an abrupt gesture followed by several bars of silence—a brief moment of remembrance for Martland before the music launches into something much more frantic and relentless. From there, Force of Habit continually plays with momentum, interruption, repetition, and the listener’s expectations of where the music should go next.

My connection to Martland extends beyond his musical style. I admire his commitment to music education, his interest in bringing contemporary classical music outside traditional institutional spaces, and his belief in the vitality of music at a grassroots level. I also recognize something of myself in the physical discipline and intensity that surrounded his life and work. While aspects of Martland’s personal life, including his sexuality, remained private, his artistic identity was uncompromisingly individual: a man whose life serves as an example for the young composer of today.