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Hello everyone! This is a recent classical piece I finished in July. I'm looking for general feedback on the overall structure, the melody, and the harmonic progression and of course the notation. Thank you in advance for listening and looking over the score! Here is the link to the music & score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJfmJDZKKDY Laurent.

Hello Lithl! Yes! I do like this sort of beautiful post-classical vibe sort of thing. I like to refer to it as a more neo-impressionistic style personally since I tend to see a lot of crossover between both the very modern contemporary style music as well as some ideals of the impressionistic era. I've never heard of Nils, but I think I have at least heard of John Adams. My inspirations come from the composers Max Vinetz, Caroline Shaw, Ravel, and Christopher Cerrone. Highly recommend listening to the following for each: Max Vinetz: Stars On the Ground and Wax Catalog Caroline Shaw: Plans & Elevations Ravel: All of his works, but particularly his string quartet for this specific piece Christopher Cerrone: High Windows I did set out to make the composition more and more strong as time progressed since I didn't like how some classical songs made a hook and then did something random and not memorable right after lol. I'm just not really a fan of that, I want the listener to have to reach the end to get to the cool parts. This was recorded by a professional quartet which was hired! Thanks for the kind words, Lucky

Hello Everyone! Today, I am sharing an old work of mine that I have been reorchestrating and revising: The Golden Lakes. PROGRAM NOTE: The Golden Lakes is a short and evocative work for concert band telling a story of night and day upon a lake. Inspired by the geography surrounding the home of the composer, The Golden Lakes evokes the glimmer and sparkle of light from the sun as it crests over the horizon into darkness. During the night, the lake is left vulnerable to the winds, darkness and more, ever waiting for the sun to come back and bring warmth. Originally composed in 2024, this work was commissioned by Kistler’s former band directors. In 2026, this work went under revisions by the composer in the early fall following a period of chamber works he created. This version presented to you is the piece he revised in 2026. Join the concert band as they take us into the landscape and paint us the scenes from The Golden Lakes. This work is set to be a Grade 3-4 for wind band. If you wish to know more about the work, check out the "About" section on page 4! Lastly, if you enjoyed this work, leave a reaction and a comment detailing your thoughts! AUDIO_Golden Lakes.mp3 SCORE_GoldenLakes.pdf

My dear friend, indeed, this collaboration was a dream come true. It was an enormous honour and joy for me. And, as always, I want to thank you for your support and your wonderful words. May you always be well, my dear friend!

You are so lovely Vasilis! Thx to you I met new ppl in your channel! To me I wrote it and conceive the piece really as a “Musical Moment”, which means I never thought deeply in how to develop the piece or so, but only get directly from my heart to write what I want. Maybe those emotions are long stored in me and I just took them out in this piece. My writing motto is simple: Be honest. By listening your playing I know we are connected. If we aren’t you won’t play this great. Maybe the beauty is hidden in the piece, but it’s you who excavate them out! You for sure love the piece more than I did!! Nah you have to admit that your playing is better! 🤩 But thx for enjoying playing the piece, it makes me feel happy and honoured! ❤️ Henry

My pleasure to play it! I thoroughly enjoy it! As you’ve said in my Musical Moment, sometimes performers can look into a piece in a different perspective or approach that even the composer doesn’t think of, but all the notes and inspiration come from the composer himself! Plus, I’m also a composer myself so I love creating things from any score, whether it’s written, not written or even against it haha. Thx for dedicating one of your favourite works to me! That makes it more special! Henry

My dear Henry, First of all, I want to tell you what an enormous honour it was for me to have you perform my sonata and dedicate so much of your time to it. I cannot thank you enough. You cannot imagine how happy you have made me. Regarding the sonata and its sections, what you said about the B section is exactly what I had mentioned in a comment somewhere, although I cannot remember where. The B section is much more dramatic, restless and profound compared to the playful character of the A section. And you conveyed this contrast through your playing even better than I ever could. Your interpretation of the B section was truly exceptional. Thank you for everything, my dear friend. Apart from being written with great affection for you, this sonata is also one of my favourite works among everything I have composed.

To tell you the truth, I don’t love this piece that much until Vasilis played it. To me I only wrote it in 2 days and hence not much emotion with it (not like my Sextet or Quintet when I wrote them for years hence have a lot of emotions towards them), but Vasilis excavated the essence of my piece out, plus his own interpretation of the piece. Big thx to him! And a thx to you for loving the piece! Henry

Hi @Grant Weep ! You should, I agree that Vasilis’s version is much better than mine!😄 I think it’s just our different stylistic choice. For this whole piece I didn’t think much and just let the music grow itself. I could have changed the 1st and 2nd crotchet with different thickness though I didn’t haha! Haha that’s a REAL BIG compliment from you! Please keep giving me constructive criticism haha! Thank you! Henry

I can see a lovely collaboration here! I enjoyed it. I didn't check this piece of yours, Henry, but it sounds awesome. I love your performance too, by the way. And... Vasilis — your interpretation is right in the middle. Your touch and Pianoteq make a wonderful, gentle atmosphere. I don't know why, but when I listen to your playing, I feel warm vibes like autumn colors or something like that. Hey Henry, this piece is now under Mr. Vasilis Michael's magic, huh!? Beautiful, both of you guys! Please feed me such stuff if you guys have an opportunity in the future 😊 Best, Lithl.

Hi @Lucky ! Thx a lot for your engraving suggestion! I know it’s one of my major weakness and I look to improve it! I even got a copy of the book myself! Thank you! This complement is more than enough for me! Henry

Hey my Vasilis! I feel bad not to reply earlier since this piece is dedicated to me! For me at first I find the piece humorous to listen to, but only by playing it I realise all the details and contrast of different passages. This piece is again primarily Scarlattian and Schubertian, the energy and phrasing is Scarlattian while the harmony, like the modal texture and Augmented sixths, neopolitan sixths are Schubertian. I really enjoy playing it! It’s much more difficult than the score appears since there are lots of details. Also I occasionally ignore your markings because I feel the piece in a different way haha. For example in section B I feel like the piece can be more dramatic, so I ignore the decrescendos. Thx a lot for dedicating this piece to me! Henry

Hello and welcome to YC, Mr. @Lucky! Let me tell you my impressions. I enjoyed this piece! This piece has some sort of post-classical vibe with a beautiful space. Do you like some of that stuff? You know, like John Adams or Nils. It's also wonderful how it grows stronger toward the second half. By the way, how did you record this? Did you record with friends, or did you hire musicians? I'm just curious. Anyway, a lovely and beautiful piece! Wonderful, well done :) Best, Lithl.

Thank you so much for your wonderful words, my dear friend! I truly appreciate your kindness and the time you took to listen so carefully and share your thoughts. I would also like to make clear that my intention was never to create any kind of comparison between Henry and myself. Quite the opposite! My only wish was to serve this beautiful piece as best I could and bring out as much of its beauty and musical expression as possible. It was a genuine pleasure and privilege to perform it. Thank you once again for your lovely words and your friendship. It means a lot to me!

Thank you so much, my dear friend! I’m really happy that you felt something different in this piece. Interestingly, the whole thing began as a two-hour improvisation, which gradually took shape and eventually became this Allegretto. I had Schubert very much in my mind during the process, and in a way, that’s how this little piece was born. His musical world has always been such a great inspiration to me, and I suppose some of that influence naturally found its way into the music. Thank you again for listening so attentively and for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate it!

Seeing as how a lot of the pieces posted here are more classically based...I will share something that I wrote during my own "romantic" era. For many years I did not listen to these pieces...aside from the music, there are events/stories that happened in my own personal life related to the music that made thinking about pieces too painful. But I think that it has been therapeutic to discuss and share music with you all in the past few months. So here it is. I wrote this when I was much more younger, much more angsty and had more hair. I am most proud of movement 3...if you only had time for one of these, please listen to no3. It's my baby. It's one of those pieces where I can die happy knowing that I did at least one nice thing in my life. Sadly I don't even know if I have the actual sheet music anymore, might have been lost to time. But the bare bones notation remains. I was a bit obsessed with the Chopin ballades when I wrote these, I ended up learning Ballade no 1, no 3 and no 4. So I've always felt like movement 1/2/3 sort of corresponded with the 3 ballades I learned. Anyways, hope that you guys enjoy...my technique has not been great these days, probably can't really play these pieces anymore in my old(er) age.

Nice, I listened to both. I think I prefer your version Vasilis. I don't know why, but measure 15/55 sound off to me. Measure 55, more than measure 15. I was wondering why and thus looked a bit closer at the sheet music. Perhaps it's because you usually change the chords around for the 1-2-3 (quarter/quarter/half), set up...but on measure 15 and 55...you skip that pattern and simply go for a pure repeat of the chords with no variation. It's like my brain is expecting it to have a slight Schubertian change in the chord, but it doesn't happen. I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing, but something that stood out...a little bit when I listened. Since you are obviously a talented composer, I thought that I'd be a bit more nitpicky than usual with my feedback. Hope it helps in some way. Loved it overall. Classical music lives on!

Thanks for the kind words, friend. Once again...very humbled to have conjured up images/feelings of Bill Evans for you. I have not heard of Living Time. I had a listen on youtube...it sounds a bit more avant garde, perhaps more up your alley! For some reason, it reminded me of parts of the SimCity2000 sound track. I love the track titles... Event I/Event II, brilliant! I am going to have to take some to digest it all. Once again, thanks again for giving me something to chew on. For now, really liking Event VI. Very funk/rock and roll jazz feel! You bring up a great point about sheet music. This is something so obvious that I did not even consider. I really appreciate you sharing that point, it helps me much more than you might know. If you ever write a love song one day, please do share it! This forum needs more love songs (in my opinion).

Hello, This is great. I usually try to listen to your pieces when you drop a new one. This one feels a bit different, in a good way. Love the out of tune piano to start. Really digging the rapidly shifting colors that you are putting out there. I almost feel like I am listening to impressionistic music with through the lens of a solid classical music foundation. I could be wrong, but it feels like you are perhaps experimenting a bit? P.S. I personally adore Schubert D960.

Stunning stuff from what I hear! Some people seem to complain a little bit about it not going anywhere, but I think I can see the very slow development of it from my perspective at least, and I don't got any comment on the actual composition. Generally, the composition is great I just have some small nitpicks on the engraving that I think would go a long way in making the score look more professional/ be more readable to others. All of this is easily fixable, like changing how the instruments are displayed on each system. From movements 2-3 there's a small line connection thing that joins like instruments, but that aspect isn't consistent in the first movement where like instruments aren't connected to each other. Consistency in that, in my opinion, would help in making sure the score looks like one full composition. I would also note some collisions. There are places throughout the score where the slur comes fully in contact with the notehead or articulation, and this leads to less clarity in the engraving. Dynamics are also not aligned consistently. There was a spot (forgot the timestamp) where the middle dynamic was positioned far down from the hairpins which might result in less clarity for musicians reading this piece. Dynamics are also on occasion closer to the part below it or so close to its part that. In fact, there's a lot of compactness in the score and not a lot of room for conductors or performers to write down notes or see things quickly with clarity. I think a potential fix here is to increase vertical space between parts and decrease vertical space between some systems where there is a large blank space (nothing crazy though to make sure each system is still separate. If possible, I would also add a system divider.) You could also scale staff space down by some small amount to make for more space, but don't go crazy otherwise it might be so minimized it's not legible at a distance. If you would like, I have a full engraving book pdf called "Behind The Bars" that I could send you just to look through. I think doing this would help in getting your, quite frankly, amazing work get played live or be published professionally. Again, amazing composition, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from you!

My dear Henry, I am truly touched by your beautiful words and by this lovely gesture! ❤️ It is such a joy and an honour to have the opportunity to share your music with others. There is something profoundly moving about this particular piece, something that touches both of us so deeply. Perhaps it is because it carries within it a glimpse of Schubert’s world — that delicate mixture of tenderness, longing, nostalgia and quiet melancholy that speaks directly to the heart. It feels as though a little fragment of that beautiful Schubertian universe has found its way into your music. And I think this is something we both feel and cherish so deeply. The more I explored your composition, the more little details and emotions I discovered within it. I believe that when we truly connect with a piece of music, we can sometimes reveal things that perhaps even surprise its own creator. But all this beauty comes from you and your wonderful musical imagination! Thank you, dear friend, not only for your beautiful music but also for your kindness, generosity and friendship. I feel very fortunate to have met you through music. Sending you my warmest wishes and a big hug! ❤️

Hi all, I'm overjoyed to share a recording of this plece played by my dear friend @Vasilis Michael ! He completely captures the calmness and serenity of the piece with many details, and he plays the piece better than I do, and he understands the piece more than I do, and he excavated something from the piece I don't. What an honor to have such a great friend playing this great recording of my piece!! Thank you Vasilis! Henry

Hello, This is pretty good for a second ever composition. Keep writing and experimenting with what sounds good to you. We live in an incredible age where music is so accessible and we can listen to the greatest (and probably some of the not so greats, to be fair) in the comfort of our own home within seconds and an arm's reach. Near the end, (around 4:39) what you played reminded me of this. Admittedly, it's on the violin, but perhaps it will give you some degree of inspiration? I have learned a lot from the composer of the Zelda sound tracks...You can see how a skilled composer takes these ideas that I think you are having fun with and it just really shines and becomes something incredible. Let me know, if this piece speaks to you or perhaps you have heard it already ;)

“Moreshka” is one of the musical illustrations to Max Dalin’s novel “The Bonfire and the Salamander”. It is a folk dance of the Coastland, one of the countries in the novel’s fantasy world. Imagine a southern port city at the beginning of the 20th century: its people, its life, and of course its music. What you will hear here is the music of the city’s lower classes, the kind that was played in the streets, in taverns, and on town squares. A dance of fishermen and sailors. In terms of melodic character, I deliberately tried to create something that sounds both familiar and national, yet at the same time neutral. Of course, you will hear echoes of Russian, Moldavian, Jewish, and Romanian melos. However, I avoided any overly obvious stylization. Imagine some folk festival where ordinary people are celebrating. And tell me, did it work? =)

Hi to all, Just wanted to post a recent performance of my work "Echoes Of Seikilos" for piano and soprano. The musicians did a great job with it I think; though it's a shame about the police siren in the background! The score pdf contains a description of my intent for this piece. Hope you enjoy listening. Any criticisms welcome. Seikilos Epitaph variations (for piano and soprano) #68.pdf