5 COMPOSERS 1 THEME - 1 ORCHESTRA! (ft. Adam Neely, Bec Plexus, Ben Levin, Tantacrul) 

I will watch this on lonely nights at sea, when all seems far away and dreary, and I will smile every time.

No one: Tantacrul: *Play it dirty for me mister sax man*

Just a shout out to the great editing of this video. There were so many more threads to pull together this time around but the flow was still brilliant. A pure joy to be a part of :)

I love how most people didn’t react to hearing their own themes in someone else’s piece, but hearing Tantacrul’s theme in any context prompted TANTACRUUUUUUUUL

Outer-Space Cowboy Bebop Lonely Jazz-In-Space is my favorite music genre

Big hand for David for organising this epic endeavour! So generous and fun.

Great job to all of you, and David for putting this massive project together!! Sorry I had to back out of this one! :)

"I thought it'd be an outer-space, cowboy bebop, lonely, out-in-space thing..." "...How Gershwin of you."

Man Ben's piece hit me in the soul. I love how the intro portrays that loneliness only because we know there is a full orchestra there. What a genius choice. Then it builds so nicely with the strings. I wish there was more!

I like that Bec picked to do Adam's theme too bc she was a fan lol

Imagine u in this orchestra, just getting a random piece from the conductor titled, “I guess I have to name it now, lol” 24:17

Timestamps for anyone who wants to listen back to pieces: 10:03 - Tantacrul's piece, Tantatheme 14:34 - Ben Levin's piece, Approaching The Astro Fair 20:10 - Bec Plexus' piece, Cutting In Line 24:17 - Adam Neely's piece, i guess i have to name this now, lol 28:00 - David Bruce's piece, Swan Themes

I want Ben to finish his little piece so bad. It could be very cool song.

Loved this! A jazz big band one would be fantastic for a next step.

David: gives a theme in 5/4 Adam: gives a piece in 7/8

For those who have trouble counting along with the songs: 3/4: Strawberry 5/4: Hippopotamus 6/8: Pineapple Pineapple 7/8: Epstein didn't kill himself

its crazy how this serie revealed the talent of ben to me

Wow might sound strange but I want to give a thank you to everyone involved in this piece. I know it probably doesn't mean much coming from an anonymous RU-vid comment but thank you so much for taking your time to make content like this all of you. It was fantastic. Great to be introduced to Bec as well!

“When am I gonna learn to let go and not care so much?” We all felt that.

Adam: "RAW! RAW!" Ben: "IIII'm nervous again.."

As Ben Levin said last time: "I can hear the funk in you David Bruce." The same applies this time, too.

To my ears David's piece sounds very much like it was written by someone used to writing for orchestra and it just gets on with being a piece of music, whereas the others are like, someone gave me an ORCHESTRA! :-)

“It’s got a Stravinsky vibe” “It’s kind of French, like something Satie would write” “It’s like a starfish with a ruby in the middle - a Pokemon” 😂😂😂

Ben Levin's rambly comments are the soul of this series.

This was so inspiring. I liked every piece in their own way. I wish Ben's was longer. It was so, so, so good, but so short.

15:07 The lick but with an octave shift in the middle

I love this series but it's also bittersweet due to how short all of the pieces have to be, it's like getting a teaser for something that fell through the cracks and will never see the light of day in a completed form. Ben's particularly hurt, it's like the start to a beautiful 5-10 minute epic that just abruptly cuts out after the intro. What if that could have been a new favorite song? How can we continue through life with this burden of unfulfilled dreams?! Anyway, thanks for the existential anguish. Can't wait to see what happens next time.

God I could listen to that Ben Levin melody for the rest of my life

man this is such a cool series :)

The "Tantacrul" motif just makes me think of The Incredibles

*I VOTE FOR 1 MINUTE ARIAS!* like, each composer gets an emotion picked out of a hat or something :D

I love how you can just hear when people are dutch on the internet.

everyone else: ok we made it easy enough for them to play but still interesting adam: *so...*

I really enjoyed Ben Levin's piece, really cool.

Ben's staryu analogy is probably the cutest in thing I've ever heard

Bec's piece had a very Stravinsky-esque feel that surprised me, dang Edit: oh Tantacrul said the same thing that's cool

Up next : Writing for a jazz big band. Lovely series David.

The look on the orchestra's faces makes me think they needed a little more time to get comfortable with Adam Neely's "Adam chords" as Tantacrul refers to them. I wish would could have gotten some comments from the conductor on what she thought about the works.

finally after so many years know what the German exchange student meant by H chord xD

Would love to see y'all write something up for maybe the Chinese orchestra or traditional Chinese instruments, to see y'all get out of your comfort zones!

composers of the world, unite!

So, I'm REALLY wondering what Orchestra of the Swan thought about these pieces, and whether they performed them that night.

Ben's was just my favorite. The restraint in the beginning with everything swelling/ blooming made the whole thing so satisfying to listen to. I'm not super well versed with all the abstract abilities that music has. I'm pretty basic. I have to bust out my intellectual cap to appreciate the other pieces, but if I just wanted to listen to something and feel something emotionally, I'd go back and listen to Ben's.

I love how Ben's theme is basically a tritone, but he made it sound sooo sweet!

People complain that orchestras sometimes only have 3-4 Rehearsels for a popular peace, and here they get 10 minutes...

"You can always count on Adam to make something badass" - Ben Levin

Since this series was inspired by Andrew Huang's series, I'd love to see a future video include Andrew as one of the composers. Granted, Andrew is more of a producer than a composer, but he is such a skilled musician I'm sure he'd be up for the task. Maybe he could get a little extra help arranging his score. Or maybe do composer teams for a future video? Andrew Huang and Grant Stinnett would complement each other well on a team challenge, Grant bringing to the table the orchestral arranging perspective.

Worlds collide! My old teacher plays (mostly) timpani for this orchestra, and another old teacher is in the percussion section! Great stuff David!

I'm so damn impressed with this! Music is mostly very barely accessible to me because of my hearing issues and just strange psychology (kinda afraid to listen to new stuff because I'm scared of missing something out), but here am I on a Friday evening, exhausted AF and still I found this very much enjoyable! I honestly have no idea how y'all do it. Maybe it's the way you illustrate your themes - no way I could've heard them without visual guidance, but this is such a great aid I literally have no words! And while you say this is less accessible than the previous one, somehow I disagree. Maybe it's my love of progressive metal (& rock) helping me to open up to different ideas, but the very way these pieces are presented helps a lot. Please keep doing that! Please please please!

Ben definitely wins the thumbnail. I think that terrifying perm comes in second all on its own.

Ben's piece actually gave me chills, I swear my eyes watered a little bit

Ben Levin's is my favorite. It's the most emotional piece. It's full of human emotion. But I loved David's almost as much as Ben's, for completely different reasons. I guess that I have a sweet spot for Leonard Bernstein's more abstract passages in WEST SIDE STORY... and that's what it came to mind listening to that beautiful blend of Latin rhythms with jazzy harmonies. Excellent job.

8:30 This discussion about making it entertaining made it quite entertaining.

I love how their "Avengers" theme is just Mars but metal

To me, Tantacrul's sounded like a superhero type theme, which is a big "duh" because that's what he was going for. Ben's sounded a lot like the ending to a noir-type drama, so I felt like the length was pretty awesome. Bec's sounded like a smaller movement in-between two larger movements of a symphony, and I really felt it having more to tell and more it already had told. I've settled on Adam's sounding like the opening to a cop/spy drama (could also be a comedic drama). David's is a bit more ambiguous, sitting between the opening of an action rpg reminiscent of Kirby and some kind of informative TV show (a travel show sticks out to me the strongest). I'd love to analyze these pieces more to help justify why my brain associates them to these specific subgenres of music, but I'm just proud of the work everyone put in to have something done in such a short deadline. Composing is a tough job, and this is all very inspiring (as was using the old name method for forming musical ideas, which I will gladly exploit asap).

There's not enough gushing over how much of a musical genius Ben Levin is in this video. I keep coming back to this video just to manually loop his piece and the reactions. That emotion-first design approach he has to composing yields incredible results.

Wow, the premiere of this video was such a happy, wholesome experience! Love this online music fam!

You separated "Cowboy" and "Bebop", but I'm almost certain he was referring to the anime Cowboy Bebop.

I actually had the great opportunity to play with a few members from Orchestra of the Swan a couple of times! Coventry University holds a yearly collaborative event called Mixup and i was a part of it during all three years of my studies there. David LePage is a phenominal violinist and an absolute pleasure to perform with!

Adam wins the "Best Name" category, hands down

This series just proves that David is an orchestration god.

ben is just an absolute unit. i swear, he just does his own thing and does it perfectly and it comes out amazing and i love it. the 1 minute didn't do him justice. i loved it

Just a suggestion. Ben Levin should make it a full song. Please Ben.

ben's piece is like the epitome of sweet loneliness, you dont realize how lonely you are until you think about it, and then comes the tears at the end

I think it would be cool if y’all did this for wind ensemble next

Outer-space cowboy bebop lonely jazz-in-space... Ben just described my favourite music... Everyone did such an amazing job

Do you ever feel bad for liking someone's work so much that you go into a video featuring them, hoping you won't like their piece the best, but then of course they blow you away yet again? Ben, you're a blessing to this planet.

Tantacrul just smashed it. Every piece was great, but man, Tantacrul. So tight.

My favourite this time was Ben Levin, gave me goosebumps, and was just the kind of smooth and easy listening I needed while I'm not feeling well, the others a bit grating and overwhelming for me right now.

What an incredible project. Hats off to David, the orchestra, the production crew and especially to the composers. An interesting and enlightening way to spend 33':45" of one's life: totally worth it, thank you to all 💞

I adore this video, David! Keep up the brilliant work. For those who wish to go back through the pieces and additional sections, here you go: Tantacrul's "Tantatheme" Explanation of Piece: 8:58 Orchestral Playing: 10:06 Reaction: 11:12 Ben Levin's "Approaching the Astro Fair" Explanation of Piece: 13:32 Orchestral Playing: 14:34 Reaction: 15:40 Bec Plexus's "Cutting in Line" Explanation of Piece: 18:37 Orchestral Playing: 20:10 Reaction: 21:12 Adam Neely's "i guess i have to name it now, lol" Explanation of Piece: 23:17 Orchestral Playing: 24:17 Reaction: 25:13 David Bruce's "Swan Themes" Explanation of Piece: 27:33 Orchestral Playing: 28:01 Reaction: 29:10

As brief as it is, I can't imagine Ben's segment as any more of a full piece. Those few seconds are such distilled perfection that expansion would only feel like dilution. What a piece.

That glissando in Adam's piece was wanderful, but my favorite was once again Ben Levin's piece He surprises me everytime

I gotta say Ben's sounded like a TV show theme, the kind that gets you excited and sets the mood for the show

Ben Levin's piece "Approaching the Astro Fair" is really aptly titled, like a grisly character limping, dirty sneakers against grit and mudwater of an illegal astro blackmarket held somewhere behind thick toxic fumes. The corners of neon lights, an elegant wiremesh of vintage and modern machinery, scrapped from various sources over time. Off-kilter, lonely, haunting... a man out of place, out of time, with strange motivations and a sense of danger, tension. Amazing how you nailed such an evocative atmosphere with texture, Ben!

Obviously Tantacrul went on wisest path. Keep it simple. Don't strain players. In just few minutes without thorough rehearsal (s) that many people in orchestra have very little chance of comprehending complicated rhythmical constructions and execute it well in synchronised manner. I like to listen to outtakes of Star Wars main theme I've got. First takes were complete mess, and the thing started to sound as we love it after like twenty takes! Adam and Bruce. Appreciation for ambitious approach. I can only imagine how differently it would sound after many rehersals and thouthfully mastered interpretation.

David's piece put me in mind of La Valse. What you have with this exercise is 5 distinct pieces, each of which has to start, develop and finish within one minute. Would be fascinating if you could do a sort of 'pass-the-parcel' development, where the 2nd composer picks up where the first left off, develops it further, and so on.

o: Bec is so cute! But like, not as an euphemism of attractive or whatever, she really just has something about her that suggests joy and affection.

The orchestra's conductor has some SERIOUSLY EPIC ENERGY holy crap!

I love how you can always see the timpani player counting out loud

I’m at work just smiling the whole time with ear buds in

I was really really hoping for a new 5 Composers 1 Theme video! It was so great! My personal favorite is Tantacrul's piece, although you could kind of guess the direction he would go based on the theme (he and the orchestra nailed it though). I also love Ben's writing too, but I ended up being very frustrated that it stopped after a minute or so. Adam and Bec parts are unnecessarily too busy and overly complicated for my taste, especially considering that the orchestra only had little time to deliver. David is the boss. Challenge idea/request: instead of 5 independent pieces, the challenge would be to sequence them one after the other with each composer in charge the transition to their piece. Here, Ben would have had to pick up where Tantacrul's piece ended and manage a smooth transition to his piece, etc.

All of the pieces are spectacular. Adam's in particular reminds me of the score for The Incredibles, and I think Ben absolutely nailed the feel he was going for.

Everybody's so nice. Here are my professional, constructive comments: 10:03 Tantatheme - notationally speaking, the piano is written out very awkwardly; really, it should just be a dotted rhythm instead of tied 16th notes. 14:34 Approaching the Astro Fair - for such a "short" assignment (1 minute), the opening is too long. If he expands on the piece as a whole that's one thing, but the 16-bar intro (at that tempo!) is like half the piece already. I would've cut the phrases in half; 2-bar vamps before harmonic change for a total of 8 bars. Or, 8 bars with a 4-bar vamp and go through the harmonic cycle only once. 20:10 Cutting In Line - Not too much to say here, only that I wish it would settle on a more distinct "melody" during its short run. I think there are too many motivic ideas and it feels more pastiche than organic. But I recognize the challenge of only having a minute to write something. 24:17 i guess i have to name this now, lol - last five measure, the little counter-motif in the second flute and sax doesn't come through at all, it just gets lost in the texture. Maybe should've had both flutes play it with the sax, or something, just to get it to pop out a little more. 28:00 Swan Themes - probably my favorite because it's the most cohesive I would say. But the opening figure in the saxes is super tricky to convey with such a short rehearsal. Maybe a triplet or some sort of visual clarifying marking like a "tuplet" might've helped the sax players understand how it lines up with the strings. (Maybe the whole thing should've been written in cut time). And the strings are too "divisi" for the size of the orchestra. I wanted a fuller sound from the strings, like the size needed to be at least doubled. Not saying their playing is bad, just that David wrote a piece for full orchestra but had it played by a chamber orchestra-sized string section for the amount of divisi he wants. If any of the composers happen to read this, please don't misunderstand where I'm coming from. I'm a working composer in the LA area myself, and this video series is very inspiring overall. Just wanted to give my two cents. Because it's sooo easy to rave about everything that is good about these pieces (I could do that as well), but I always appreciate the other side of the coin, as it were.

ben's piece is so sensual

that sax solo was so good. i can easily see ben's song being the theme throughout a sci-fi space movie and this specific version being played when the main character is lost in space during the climax or something. 14:34

I want to see the orchestra’s reaction to playing Ben’s piece for the first time. Must’ve been awesome.

Tantatheme made me think of Korsakov, something about the Brass and percussion and the drama, very complete and well orchestrated. Ben’s blended late 19th century French classical with a very Gershwin lazy jazzy feel like a swirling shot of a NYC street focused on one person walking and panning out to see the entire panorama of the city. Cutting in Line has the most avant garde feel to me, the strings and flutes in particular gave this such energy and poise, felt like the opening of a modernist ballet. Adam’s piece made me think of 1950s and 60s cinema, just as Tantacrul said, maybe a glamorous heist movie, it was so pacey and energetic and restless, felt very suspenseful. David’s was my favourite overall, it had such a swinging Afro-Caribbean or Afro-Brazilian feel to it, made me think of dancing in the street, the mood was so golden and optimistic and seductive.

Ranking them least to most favorite: 5- You can’t rank them! 4- Each composer is talented. 3- Each composer is unique. 2- Each created something interesting and fun. 1- *TAAAN TA CRUUUUUL*

Next Video Idea: 5 COMPOSERS 1 LIBRETTO

15:22 that's my old drum teacher!! small world. also, please keep doing these, they're suuuper inspiring!

This is amazing, David. Just breathtaking of an endeavour. Great pieces by all, my favourite was Bec's, but Ben annotating "dirty" on the sheets was the best part.

“I tried to keep it easy since they only have 15 minutes to learn it and get the recording” *Writes 16th note double stops for the piano* Literally every composer.

To quote Count Basie: "leave them wanting more."

2:31 I see you Mr. Horn playing that Tchaikovsky 5 solo

I aggressively love this series. Everyone involved is phenomenal!

I would like to hear a Cowboy Bebop soundtrack composed by Ben !

A cycle of five one minute operas. Now that's a gesamtkunstwerk that I can get behind!

I want to hug Ben Levin, he seems like such a huggable human being

"My girlfriend and I" Thank u you just made my day 🥰