"Bukkehornets kall" for piano and french horn

A piece which is great to play on the horn. Took me about a week. What do you think about it?

The piano part is interesting, it just gets really muddy in the left hand. Obviously if you were going for that effect that's fine, but you might want to try sticking to just perfect intervals that low in the register. Also try spicing up the horn part, lots of times it doesn't really go anywhere melodically. But good piece nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

I can see why this would be enjoyable to play on the horn

Reminds me of a rather odd cavalry charging, except for the gentler part near the end which seems, IMO, a little out of place. I also think you could have ended it a little more concretely but otherwise a fun and enjoyable piece

I can't say that I didn't like this piece, but...for me, there is too much energy, but little sense in it. Try to improve the part of horn, make it more brighter, bring some thematic development in the whole piece, it will make the piece much better, I think.

I just went through this on my horn... I liked a bit of it, but it needs more intensity. The part from measure 25 to 36 is a bit boring in my opinion, not much is happening, it's polluting the rest of the piece with boredom. In my opinion you need more .... stuff to balance with this section. It sounds like a great place to modulate upwards a step or two, build some intensity.

I'm normally more comfortable with the high range stuff, so I had a hard time with all the low G's you've written. Even to a better horn player these quick snap to low G and back tend to be sludgy and lethargic, unless you have a great horn player who excels in the low register.

Since I just played it, I had an itch to change a few things... one of them is measure 24.... regardless whether I can play it well or not, I just don't like this measure, it doesn't seem to meld with the rest or provide a smooth transition into the next section. Measure 12, the repeated eight notes in the piano.... I think you should change these repeated eight notes/quavers into Bb's, I think it sounds more interesting that way. Measure 16, due to the building intensity, I've wanted to play a high G every time I've hit this measure. I would suggest in the horn for the second eighth note/quaver to be a high G with an accent like the D. Leading into 17, I felt that the piano needed more attention... I would suggest a stronger dynamic in the piano and possible a pianissimo/pp in the horn, horns are loud, remember? Pianissimo here in the horn sounds beautiful. Also in 17, I think the right hand should have accents on the downbeats like the left hand, possibly even on the third note of those measures, but not entirely necessary, I think it's 'felt' anyways. I really like measure 36 to 41, especially since it's a nice calm little interlude and the horn just bursts in with the Kall (though I would suggest a loud dynamic leading into 41). In measure 36, I suggest the eighth notes/quavers in the piano be changed to Bb's just like I suggested in measure 12.

Also, every time I play it, it seems like that pickup that the horn has, the eight note followed by two sixteenths, it seems to me it should be tongued, not slurred. Maybe slurred the very first time and any subsequent time at a piano or pianissimo, but at any louder of a dynamic, when I play it I tongue it, so I suggest unslurring all those figures except the very first one. I also feel that the dashes/tenuto markings you have measures 16 and into 19 are unneccesary... possibly slur the whole passage three notes at a time, the two pickups and the downbeats, makes more sense to me.

I'm not very convinced that the ending is all that effective... I didn't like how you went to the F major chord in the final measure, I would have used another C major chord instead. And at measure 44, have the horn hit a high G on the 'and' of '1', right after the first D, after the breath mark, and have the G held and faded out until the end, merging with the C chord that I would put in the last measure.... and a fermata on the last measure I think is needed or would at least be a plausible idea.

I enjoyed this call, or 'Kall', but I think you need to keep up the intensity in it a little better, changing around a few chords/notes (some I mentioned) and changing a few dynamics here and there (again, I mention a couple places). Other than all that, I really liked the sound, feel, and sense of meter in this piece, I like the heavy pounding chords, reminds me of MechWarrior 2 for some reason....

i think that this piece has a greatt piano part. one of the best ive heard here on the forum..I think that the horn part could use a bit improvement. When the piano plays an interesting chord, let the horn accent some of the "odd" tones. There are many opportunities to modify your harmony in this fashion.

wow, many thanks!

I actually changed the 'boring' part in the middle not long ago, or, I just deleted a few measures. When I saw the last replies, I added the measures again, and then changed the 'boring' part. I had to listen to it a few times before I got used to it, because it's weird when I change my own stuff. It sounds so wrong in the beginning. When I'd listened to it a few times, it sounded naturally.

I didn't do as all the suggestions said, but some of them. I'm quite satisfied how it became now.

Here's the changed version, if you want to hear it, or still have any comments.

I hate to do this, but you made a mistake. I could have sworn my life away that the repeated notes at measure 10 were G's, not F's. You must have changed them on accident. Besides, it's not consistent with measure 14, where you have G's.

At 25, I think you need to start thinking about changing the piano part a little. Especially going into 28, you have what I'd call a B.S. part. It seems like you just put in some random notes on the stave. I have to say, I actually like the change in the horn part here less than before. I think what you could do is change the piano accompaniment a bit, to make it fit the horn part better. You keep repeating the same set of chords, and this short development section is an excuse to use some different chords. Besides, as it stands, the two parts don't seem to be going together that well and it makes the horn licks sound like crap, they would sound perfectly fine if the piano part supported them harmonically. Especially starting at measure 27 you'll need some new chords to fit the new, more ambitious horn solo.

I must say, I still like measures 36 through 39. Any chance of expanding that in some way? I still don't like the last two measures, but then again, I'm just being a rotten snob.

Oh, and by the way, high-five for a fellow horn player actually COMPOSING!! I forgot to mention that before.

Alright, here's what I have-
1) Consider bringing the Piano up an octave. It is very muddy at the beginning, and hard to listen to. Either that, or reduce the chord (to IE CG instead of CEGC)
2) Nice transition to variation.
3) Owch! I didn't like the ending a bit! What did you think you were doing- it sounded like the piano got lost, and the horn had no idea what note to resolve on!
4) As others have said, the Horn part is very monotonous. Try a B section, or a development of some sort.

It's a good start, but it has a ways to go still. I enjoyed the melody, but thought some things could use some work.

Good piece, interesting piano part.
I just left me feeling like i wanted more. I feel like you could really expand this piece if you wanted.