A Study in Orchestral Tension

Lately I have been fascinated with adventure music. They are so energetic and carry so much suspense, have a strong interplay between instruments, and all this they manage with usually a simple melody. It’s amazing. I spent some time studying them. This piece is less of a composition and more of an exercise in trying to apply some of the tidbits I learned.

Composing for an orchestra and for a piano solo are so vastly different. For a piano solo, one is tightly constrained as far as sound is considered. And because of this, one needs to do a variety of other things musically. For example, if you want to bring in tension, you can use chromatic notes or transpose a serious melody into a higher register temporarily. You can increase speed and use various forms of arpeggios. You can use dramatic chords, even chromatic ones. You can introduce dissonance to varying degrees. You can change the dynamics. You can even use polyrhythm to great effect, and have multiple voices competing for the melody.

With an orchestra however, you can simply bring in horns for a heavily dramatic effect, employ violins playing repeated sixteenth notes for tension, change drum rhythms without changing melody to change the atmosphere, it’s all very interesting really. The focus becomes more on the sounds and their interplay with each other, than the musical sophistication. This doesn’t mean that there’s lesser to explore here. It’s just different. Though, I wonder if classical/jazz orchestras have both.

A simple example of the focus on sounds is Hans Zimmer’s composition for The Dark Knight. It has an iconic section featuring french horns playing two notes, lending great effect. You can watch it here, from 0:19-0:25. Imagine the same two notes, if they were played by the piano. It’s impossible to have the same effect without extensive intelligent harmonising and/or accompaniments.

Perhaps less popular, but a more livid example, is in Garou’s Theme of One Punch Man Season 2, found here. The “sad” version of the theme, check 1:56-3:05, features prominently a flute, acoustic guitar, piano, and a simple drum rhythm, and culminates in just the piano. Right after, 3:05-3:24, the scene is dominated by an electric guitar playing the melody, accompanied by another electric guitar playing the melody in a higher octave and a bass guitar. This is followed by the introduction of heavy drum patterns and another electric guitar from 3:25-4:00. What’s interesting is that in each of these three sections, the same melody is being played. Even harmony is the same. Yet, the first section is released as a “sad” version of the theme. The second and third, form the “violence” version of the theme. It’s insane how drastically different the impact can be by simply replacing one set of instruments with another.

However, a certain trap I sense in this approach is that one may be limited in using each instrument in a certain way only. I suspect this is the reason too why the public opinion of the piano rose as a soft and gentle instrument, which I believe explains the many “calm piano” playlists found on any platform. As an instrumentalist first, I lament this. There is such a wide variety of ways any instrument can be played. A simple look at Rachmaninov’s pieces (my favorite - Musical Moment No. 4, highly recommend!) shows how powerful piano music can be. At the same time Scott Joplin’s ragtime music (everyone’s favorite - The Entertainer) shows how the piano can be humorous too. Consequently, one of the things I’m very interested in is using instruments that have a certain public perception emotionally, in a very different setting. For example, the glockenspiel, which is usually employed for a happy sound, gives a creepy, almost sinister vibe in the piece I composed, shared below.

All that said, composing orchestral pieces are really fun. I hope I get around to doing more of them!

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