Le Lapin Fou (Prélude à L'après-midi d'un Lapin Fou)

Drôle titre. =P

The low parts sound much more like percussion than strings (esp. in the beginning). I like this sensation. Your lapin doesn't seem terribly mad until 6:29 ... the sound of it is good for forgetting something or dropping the ball ... he recovers very quickly too. I would rename this "Prelude to the afternoon of a [pick one: disheveled, quirky, or eccentric] rabbit". I was expecting more mixed meter, honestly. 10:49 was good too, but still a little too organized or self-absorbed for the personified "mad" rabbit's afternoon. Lots of nice gestures but not enough "fou" for me.

All of this aside, I enjoyed listening to the whole thing! (I am not a huge fan of the frequently repetitive nature of minimalism.)

I imagine hearing this behind a movie about wind-up clocks or in a slow-paced adventure game with underwater cut-scenes. (Sorry, I know that can't be very helpful at all!!)

Wow! Good job! I loved it! I could tell how much work and detail you put into this entire piece from how carefully organized the whole thing was. I understand minimalism is very very hard (if it wasn't I'd be doing much more of it) so, great job! Just a few play ability issues

1. there was at least one point where you didn't allow anytime for transition from arco to pizz., they need time to move
2. plucking that long...ouch! but they should be man enough to do it

I love what you did here, especially with the last movement, although that theme within the repeats in the finale seem a bit out of place to me, as if you changed the channel from an action film to a cartoon.

Great job! keep it up!

I liked it. As said above, you obviously spent some time and dedication in writing this. I'll just reiterate the comments above with my own opinion.

First, I must preface, like Joshua, I'm not a fan of minimalism in the sense that it is often utterly repetitive. That in mind, I enjoyed this regardless.

-First of all, you introduce with the allegro. Essentially here you set the entrance tone of your composition. I appreciate the dedicated building work done here, as there is a basic build and progression, I have to admit though, so much plucking is absolutely strenuous.

-The moderato was nice, probably my least favorite do to a couple of things. First of all, your changes between pizz. and arco seem slightly abrupt to me. In fact, they're almost uncomfortable in the actual measure of transition. It catches itself after another measure, and seems fine after that. The general tone seems the same, but the transition is a little weak in my personal opinion, in both ways (from pizza. to arco, and arco to pizz.). This section really just didn't seem to catch my attention that much. I must admit I wasn't a fan of some of your harmonic choices.

-Next is the andante, by far my favorite section. Bravo, I was impressed. It has this beautiful bob and swell that just carries a listener up and down and you can feel the sense of madness. The whole thing transitions and flows so wonderfully here. The pauses are wonderful, they halt and make me think, and are perfectly placed. Nice themes as well.

-Finale seems a bit anticlimactic. It just seems like I've been waiting for something, some breakdown or something mad. Something flat out impressive. It's good writing. The beginning of it just doesn't feel....err....finalish. At first it does, and then with the off-kilter rhythms, it feels like it looses power. This is total opinion, but yeah. I do like how you play with major and minor. I must admit I like the major transition, into the major section better than its precedent, it saves it for me, because its really good here (the violin runs). Great choice ending in minor.

Playability. Treehugger said it all. Although when he says one point on transitions, I saw more.
-You have to allow some time to transition between pizz and arco, and there are just a couple of spots where the transitions don't seem possible to continue at the same tempo without interruption and seamless. It just isn't very feasible.
-And the pizz., your going to need a dedicated group , hahahaha. That's a good deal of plucking.

Good job. I listened to it quite a few times. I enjoyed it. Excellent.

I can't help but mention the name of the piece. What I would say about the piece has already been said. You can be proud of the piece, there are some good things in it. I don't think you know how hard it is to play pizzicatos though. I'm not a string player myself, but I would recommend you to consult someone who is and have them look through the piece. And also give them time to change between pizz. and arco.

I was quite surprised to find a piece with a title so close to one of Debussy's most famous piece: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. And I'm just going to be frank with you. How can you write a piece, which has no connection to that of Debussy, and then choose a title which is almost the same? And especially with such a unique title as this. I'm thinking there's the possibility that you don't know Debussy's piece, but it seems very unlikely since your friend would come up with this exact title.

Quite frankly I think it's in bad taste, and I think it shows a lack of humility.

Good piece, tasteless title.

How can you write a piece, which has no connection to that of Debussy, and then choose a title which is almost the same?

In truth, I've been wanting to change the title to just "Le Lapin Fou" or something for reasons like that. The more I think about it, the more I realize I should.

after hearing it again, I think it might sound better for electric string quartet (electric violin, electric viola, and electric cello and bass) also, just to give you an idea of how great this piece is, it's currently my favorite in this site that I can think of right now.

In truth, I've been wanting to change the title to just "Le Lapin Fou" or something for reasons like that. The more I think about it, the more I realize I should.

I agree

treehugger: cool suggestion, I think you're right, the pizzicato would sound better for electring string quartet I think.