// Variations in A minor for violin and piano \\

Very nice piece. I liked it very much. The piano was also well-written; it isn't the easiest, but it's doable, and it's well-composed.

Some violin parts nearly burst my eardrums, but I'm sure that's just due to crappy MIDI sound quality. The violin part was also excellent, too.

In general, very good. ^_^

Just an idea Tomás. You are a violinist and Miguel a pianist, can't you two play it and record it for YC?

It would be very cool, no?

Okay, so it's fairly simple harmonically. I wouldn't mind seeing some chordal notes that aren't 1-3-5-7. But that might not be what you are into.Those fast harmonics might be a little hard to pull off, maybe? I'm not sure. Have you had a violinist look at this yet? Probably not, now that I think about it, since you just wrote it. EDIT: I see now that you are a violinist, and I a fool. Nonetheless I will keep my comments, so maybe you can better clarify the limits of string instruments for me.

Variation #2 reminds me of Dance of the Jesters, with that god-awful run that I had to play on xylo once. It was fun, just...ridiculous

So variation #3...that seems hard for the violin, but doable I think. I think the biggest problem would be moving to different strings?

Variation 4 is cool, not sure about those octaves though...or the double stops in 132

Same thing with 147-153. If the repeated note was on an open string, that might be easier. I don't know, I'm not a violinist, and I feel a bit nitpicky about the violin part. I think I definitely write more conservatively for strings that I have to, so this might all work, I don't know.

Thanks,
JWhitmarsh

Originally Posted by Jamie Whitmarsh

Okay, so it's fairly simple harmonically. I wouldn't mind seeing some chordal notes that aren't 1-3-5-7. But that might not be what you are into.Those fast harmonics might be a little hard to pull off, maybe? I'm not sure. Have you had a violinist look at this yet? Probably not, now that I think about it, since you just wrote it. EDIT: I see now that you are a violinist, and I a fool. Nonetheless I will keep my comments, so maybe you can better clarify the limits of string instruments for me.

Variation #2 reminds me of Dance of the Jesters, with that god-awful run that I had to play on xylo once. It was fun, just...ridiculous

So variation #3...that seems hard for the violin, but doable I think. I think the biggest problem would be moving to different strings?

Variation 4 is cool, not sure about those octaves though...or the double stops in 132

Same thing with 147-153. If the repeated note was on an open string, that might be easier. I don't know, I'm not a violinist, and I feel a bit nitpicky about the violin part. I think I definitely write more conservatively for strings that I have to, so this might all work, I don't know.

Thanks,
JWhitmarsh

Thanks for the comments.

I agree with most of what you said. All the bars you indicated as having particularly difficult passages are indeed the way you say they are. The point is it's a piece written in part for the sake of being difficult - which can, however, have a musical reason. I just wrote it that way to express what I heard. It's certainly very hard, I am completely conscious of it. You asked me if I've showed it to another violinist: YC's own member SirViolinist 1 said he'd try to perform it in some months, we'll see how that goes.

As to the simple harmony - it's variations. I follow the theme's harmonic progression, and variate more upon the progression than the theme's melody itself. I felt that orchestration and variety in the violin writing would keep the same repeating chord progression from getting too boring.

Oh, and you also asked about the limits of string writing and the such. I wouldn't advise anyone to write the way I did in this piece, it's terribly demanding, although it's possible. Overall I sense you had a bit of a "wtf reaction" at the violin writing in the piece completely understandable.

Variation 3's problem is, indeed, changing strings - which is why I already told SirViolinist 1 he doesn't have to play it as fast as it is in the .mus/.mid, and Variation 4 is again quite tough but possible. measures 147-153 are nothing too demanding.

sound beautiful, and sad like schindler's list. maybe you can arrange it for orchestra next time. nothing bad that I hear

oh and i loved the B flat chord to a minor chord

Thanks a lot! However, the only thing I find sad is the theme, and I didn't write it, I just arranged it

Wow, very accomplised work. Skillful variations. Would love to hear (and see how the violinist copes with... :shift a live performance of this... I loved variation 2, and the ending was brilliant, although I didn;t like the "James Bond" chords.

The only things I didn't like was the accompniaments. I think They could be a lot less monotonous.

But definately the best work I've heard from you so far...