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In this sonata, the right hand is usually Jackie, and the left hand is usually me...I think it is a good piano sonata. It is not profound, but heartfelt.

Hello, friends. About three years ago, I penned this song cycle for a friend from El Salvador, based on poems by the beloved Salvadoran poet, Alfredo Espino. These hold a special place in my heart because they're the last music I've ever written, though they were sadly never performed. The songs and directions are completely in Spanish. Here they've been rendered by Cantamus (unfortunately sung in a Castilian accent and not the Latin American accent spoken in El Salvador) and the piano accompaniment has been [poorly] played by me. They're not the best recordings and some of the lyrics didn't render properly, but hopefully they deliver the music effectively. The cycle is chiasmic in structure (i.e., the first and last movements and the second and fourth movements mirror each other) and it tells the story of a day in El Salvador. I. Madrugada: This means early morning. The lyrics and music represent the waking of the Salvadoran countryside: farmers starting their day, roosters crowing, birds chirping. It begins mysteriously but soon "warms up," preparing us for the rest of the song cycle. II. Plombagina: The title is about a tiny flower found along the riverbanks in El Salvador; here it represents the playfulness of the river and the hopefulness of midmorning. This one is unmistakably waltzlike and lyrical. III. Tardecitas: "Little afternoons" is a piece about watching the rainfall in the heat of the day. It's lazy and less ambitious than the others in the cycle, representing the languor of a dreary, rainy day. IV. Estrella in el río: We return once more to a song about the river, this time in a more contemplative frame of mind. "Star in the river" is shimmering and reflective, capturing the tranquility of twilight as the stars begin to pinprick the sky and cast their reflections into the river below. V. Nocturno: While "Madrugada" expresses the joys of a new morning, "Nocturno" explores the angst found at the close of the day. It's by far the most restless of the cycle, employing a sort of perverted tango rhythm in mockery of the soothing sway of a nocturne. In it, you'll find themes of grief and fear and anxiety, embedded in harmonies very reminiscent of Spain/Latin America. Even if you don't understand Spanish, I hope these songs move you and perhaps inspire you. As ever, I'm happy to receive any feedback you may have. Best, Jordan Canciones de El Salvador.pdf I. Madrugada.mp3 II. Plombagina.mp3 III. Tardecitas.mp3 IV. Estrella en el río.mp3 V. Nocturno.mp3

@Churchcantor I have received messages from members with the concern that you're not registering any boundaries. The Young Composer's Forum is a public forum but you're using it as a place to over-share details of your own personal life in a way that's not only off-topic but concerning to others. Another concern is that you're using it as a place not for interacting with others but only to talk about yourself and alienate others in the process without any insight or knowledge that you're doing so. Members feel sorry for you and are concerned about your mental state. Also, the following post has almost no bearing on the @SergeOfArniVillage 's original post and music and is very off-topic and inappropriate: How would you handle this if you were a staff member?

Hey, these seem very nice! I will check them out. Already "liked" them, I can just tell from glancing at a few of them...Yes, I'm worried about my best friend Jackie, wheezing/breathing problems, but she is probably ok; needs her Albuterol/Ventolin inhaler. I'll probably get some beer to help calm my nerves and listen; after all, my own music sounds better to me after a couple beers!😆(I sure don't want to hear my sonata again unless I know she's OK, it's about her! I had to listen so many times to edit, anyway, seeing that I can't even play piano.)

Endless recitative? Like in Mozart's last opera "The Clemency of Titus?" 🤣Very naughty to pick on Mozart's more hurried and inferior, for him, works...

Complaint of the poor young man; I really like your manuscript calligraphy! I know I listened to this, I could always listen again.

Keats? I would NEVER set his little epitaph "This Living Hand;" very creepy, seeing as he died very young from Tuberculosis...or Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Terrible Sonnets:" they are quite terrible indeed, even though he is my favorite poet. (Hopkins suffered from awful digestive symptoms, very much like Beethoven. I think I shall refrain from discussing THAT right now.)

THIS is still at the top of the page? I think it is a decent setting. Maybe I should write more English Poetry settings. I could certainly set German, do some Lieder...not fluent in the Sprache, just working on basic conversational German, so I would have to analyze a German poem first before I could set it.

Actually decided that I have a soft spot for this little joke piece; very funny!🤣It's like (well, I meant it) the rocket went up then crashed hard, and the low piano bass is saying "Sorry, no dice" or something! So-called AI says: The phrase "sorry, no dice" is an informal American idiom used to express a flat refusal, a negative outcome, or an unsuccessful attempt. It indicates that a request has been denied or that a desired outcome is simply not possible. Kind of like North Korean missile launches! 🤣

Yes, the house mice I can never get rid of like to chew up my manuscripts for bedding; at least they have good "taste" in music! That's from my Bb Major Requiem; it is already in the computer. 😉That is from probably the weakest movement in that piece, anyway. My two pet rats are too polite to munch on my scores. One of them likes to hunt, slaughter, and devour any mouse he can catch though, Baby, my friend Jackie's rat, really.

My friend Jackie, piano sonata dedicee, had some wheezing and shortness of breath, she mentioned needing a new Albuterol inhaler, and I think she was worried enough about it to call EMS, but she does not live with me now, just down the street. I am more worried about her right now than music, though I am looking at some music just to take my mind off the situation until I know she is ok. No intimate relationship between us; I am eighteen years older, and very ugly in my old age!

Anyway, I dashed off this muck in two hours!🤣I guess it's not horrible for two hours. I am a pretty fast composer, but I need more than two hours!

Yes, full harmonic analysis of the entire Heiliger Dankegesang, full accounting of all non-harmonic tones! I don't mess with that sort of thing any more...🙃You should see my old study score of the late Beethoven quartets; I have trouble even reading the tiny, faded pencil.

Piece isn't great, at the time I thought it was for the fellow's dead grandmother, not sure the dying grandmother story was true now, though...☹️However, Kyrylo WAS a very intelligent, nice young man of 22. He could even make out Middle English and thought it was really cool, General Prologue of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, helped me with the few, three dozen or so Russian words I know! He didn't even ask for that much money, but I can't, and wouldn't have, given it to him. I can't come up with $900 ready cash! I just have my retirement account, and I sure as hell don't want to cash that out early and pay all those taxes! Loved my guitar Symphony-Concerto, and was shocked when I told him how long it takes to write something like that, 4-6 months...🫢Malenkey Malchik was quite impressed...

🌞 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒛 - 𝒃𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒍© | Guess what's Just around the Corner ? Summer Sunset Waltz - by Mavell.mp3 Summer Sunset Waltz - by Mavell.pdf Summer Sunset Waltz - by Mavell.mid

Oh, you will reach the point where you don't even need to think of analysis anymore. Use the accidentals that are easiest; even if the music is complicated, make it as easy to read as possible.

Thank you! I am glad you found the notation and layout satisfying as well. I had some troubles to notate the atonal accidentals in the atonal section and in the went for what looked more beautiful and easier to read when playing. I only composed one piece in Amaj a couple of years ago. From then on, somehow I have only been able to compose mostly pieces in minor 😅 Thanks again, @Churchcantor !

Thak you so much @SergeOfArniVillage , I am really glad you liked it! I also considered mixing both sections but, to be honest, the main reason I started with the tonal section was because I lacked skills and ideas to keep the atonal section going. So before mixing atonal and tonal ideas I think I will need to learn much more about atonality (what makes it work and different techniques). Thanks for commenting!

Anyway, I really don't have anything else to post tonight, so you all are all safe.

Good Lord, Peter, the rules were because of me? I'M FAMOUS!🤩

I just do it without meaning to, been a while since I was in school, academic protocol...

By the way, we formulated these rules in response to your posts and activity on this forum. And that is because nobody else really has ever used (or rather abused LoL) the forum the way you are before and we felt the need to protect the forum from this kind of posting and "content".

Yes, just a haaainus aanalogy!🤣

nice a*alogy lol

Certainly nothing against you, Henry Ng, but it seems unnecessarily a*al sometimes, and I don't mean to offend your protocol.