I thought the main theme was very compelling. I also liked how you took away the orchestration at a few points to add contrast. I think like what mentioned elsewhere, adding more expression to the strings would really make it sing. All-in-all, great work!
The cat is indeed not only cozy, but also soft! It was a VST piano. I think I used "The Giant" from Native Instruments? So technically it was a real piano at some point ;) When I re-listened earlier today, I had a similar thought to it being warm and pronounced, perhaps a little too much compared to the strings..... but I guess that's what happens when you mixdown the night before a deadline, and it worked out well enough.
Coincidentally, it was a player piano which I had never seen before. And when the owner showed it to us, of course, the music it had loaded into it was "The Entertainer". Thanks for listening!
I really enjoyed the sound design and arrangement of all the synths. Nothing sounded like it was competing for space or function. Another thing I thought was done really well was that there were sections later in the tracks where you removed the percussion, increased the contrast in the piece.
I really enjoyed how I could feel a similar theme / continuity from the first track to the second. I also really enjoyed how you took away elements in your arrangement inbetween more intense sections (e.g. 0:50 in Rune Guardian). It made those subsequent sections more impactful.
My constructive criticism would be to add more "expression" automation to things like sustained brass and string parts (e.g. 0:50 of Mind Me) to add movement to the held note.
I thought the polyrhythm (3 over 2) that kicked in during the first track gave it a nice groove. I also enjoyed picking out all of the different voices and movements of the synths in the third piece.
I thought you had lots of compelling motifs and progressions, (e.g. the brass motif at ~1:20 of 'Beyond the Meadow' was very interest-piquing).
I think my constructive criticism would be that there were actually too many ideas for a given piece. I remember hearing and enjoying several distinct ideas, but I couldn't recall hearing any of them twice (and consequently, remembering what they were afterwards).
