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I've written many love songs over the years for specific individuals. This is...really just another love the song. The opening notes are supposed to represent how my heart stopped and fluttered when I saw her and hopefully my feelings for her will now be immortalized on the internet. I noticed that people don't seem to post too many love songs on this forum...but which one of us have not written a love song at some point in our lives? I wrote this one earlier this year and got around to recording it last weekend. Trying some new formats. I notice that a lot of people here don't tend to post live pieces. Do people like having the sheet music, vs watching someone play? Let me know....Recorded on a Bechstein Grand. I might try to add the sheets in so you can see my hands playing and the sheet music, if people feel this is a nicer format

Hi @MinGry , thanks for clarifying the intention. Of course, with that in mind, many of my comments become irrelevant :-), but it was a fun and interesting exercise anyway. And yes, I agree that if it gets played, that's finally an excellent achievement, I agree! Take care, Julien

@mazeth Thanks a lot for taking the time to play through the pieces and write such an extensive review! Did want to clarify something regarding the simplicity of the accompaniment. That was quite intentional across the collection. After working on more formally structured sonatinas, I enjoy writing something more simple in between. It's especially fun to think pieces like this might actually get played by someone which is exciting! To address measure 6 of the first piece I am actually curious about what people think about this. From the perspective of harmony you are absolutely right it should be an F# instead of Gb. What made me write Gb is just creating visual stepwise motion between the lines. I am not sure if my logic is justified in that haha! To address the measure 10 G natural. I tried to play around with minor melodic scale which is why I decided to go with G natural. While using a Major V to have a stronger pull back to i. I am not sure how classical this is of course, just trying to explain the thought process! Thanks again for the comment!

Thanks, Mark! I’m glad the piece came across as friendly and charming. Thank you for listening. =)

Thank you very much! =)

A "witty" "charming" work with a nice friendly "glow"! Mark

A lovely song. A very passionate composition that suits this style of romantic song perfectly.

My dear friend, thank you so much for your kind words and, above all, for your wonderful support. I truly enjoyed it immensely. There is nothing more beautiful than hearing your compositions performed by such fine musicians and seeing them appreciated so much. Once again, thank you both from the bottom of our hearts.🙏🙏🙏

Since today is the deadline and I've already submitted, I'll share it here for y'all's thoughts on its final version. The competition is blurred for privacy. If you can, give me realistic criticisms on both audio and PDF, and things that a judge could mark me off for. Also write some positives, things that a judge would consider and like. Here are the final files: Homage to a Longing Memory.mp3 Homage to a Longing Memory (edited).pdf

Hi @MinGry I put myself behind the piano and tried jamming a bit on it. Here are my first impressions: Piece 1: - mm. 1-23: - The melody material is interesting. - I found the accompaniment too simplistic: the chords are too obvious and they lack some "colours". What I did while jamming was to create a pedal, by keeping the A at the bass (along with the chords you use, E, Dm, Am), and adding some colours on the way, e.g.: Dm6... I would also make it more "lively" by replacing the half-notes at the bass by continuing the eigth progression. I always found that creating a good accompaniment - one which is interesting and that "promotes" the melody - was the hardest part, so don't dispair, you're not alone. - mm. 24-28, I liked the transition: simple and short, with an interesting third voice. - mm. 29+, good to fall back on the melody, but I felt it was a bit too early to repeat the exact same pattern: I would recommend to add a bit of variation (either in the rhythm, the accompaniment or the melody itself) - m6: I believe F sharp would be more correct than G flat (as you're temporarily in the A scale) - m10: last note of the treble, I felt G sharp would be more appropriate than G? Piece 2: - overall, pleasant simple piece, with an agreeable melody --> I feel it had less potential than in the first piece, it didn't inspire me as much. - the accompaniment is also very simplistic, which makes it an excellent piece for beginners. - the end of the score doesn't correspond to the music Piece 3: - again an interesting melody. - the bass is more elaborate, but would deserve some more colours. Typically, when you play a chord e.g.: m. 11, try not to start with the same note as in the melody, and try as well to not always start by the fundamental of the chord (F is this case, which you could have replaced by an A - also part of the F chord. In m. 12, the bass could start with a B flat, making your chord a C7, ideal to then reach your chord F in m.13 - also an interesting chromatic progression at the bass) - in m8, you introduce some dissonances (C and C sharp), that may well suit a jazz piece, but I felt it didn't fit very well with the overall athmosphere of the piece. I tried a C9 - starting with a D and descending, I felt it fit better. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed discovering your work, and playing around melodies of pieces 1 and 3! Take care, Julien

Thank you very much for your positive feedback. Yes, you’re right—a celesta would have worked well at the beginning. In fact, I was, to some extent, imitating one by using the piano in its highest register.

A curious and lovely piece. You’ve made good use of the piano’s range. At first, the very high register can be a bit tiring, but this is soon offset. It would probably sound good on a celesta, an instrument we associate with this sort of scene.

I listened to your composition and really liked it. The melody is expressive, the texture is interesting, and so is the orchestration. It turned out to be an excellent piece!

Wait, what? One of my favorite composers in this forum, Vasilis's piece is played by one of my highly regarded pianists, Henry? Great, this is a good day, I can say that, certainly. Hey, Henry, well done — this is well played and beautiful. This performance breathes life into the piece even more. As for the composition itself, Vasilis, as I said, amazing. So amazing. Thank you, thank you for sharing this!! Shout out to both of you guys! Best, Lithl.

Here I am delighted to share a recording of my sonata, beautifully performed by my dear friend @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu I feel truly honoured by this wonderful gesture, and I cannot thank him enough for the time, care and generosity he has devoted to bringing my music to life. Dear Henry, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are not only a remarkable composer but also an outstanding pianist, and knowing that you have chosen to perform a sonata that I dedicated to you makes this occasion even more special and meaningful to me. I feel deeply grateful and honoured. Thank you, my dear friend! Vasilis Sonata no.27 1st Nov 2026.mp3

Hello fellow composers! I wanted to share a short piece I wrote called Forest Path. With this piece, I was trying to evoke the feeling of walking along a quiet trail through a dense forest — something intimate, peaceful, and reflective, with a sense of gentle exploration. As with my previous pieces, I’ve been trying to focus on melody, orchestral color, and restraint. The goal was to create a warm, lyrical atmosphere using relatively transparent textures and gentle harmonic movement, rather than relying on large dramatic gestures or extensive development. I’m continuing to experiment with writing short, self-contained pieces that establish a distinct musical character without becoming overly complicated. One of my goals with this project is to improve my ability to write memorable melodies and use orchestration to support the atmosphere and expression of the music. I’m particularly interested in whether the musical ideas feel engaging throughout, despite the relatively simple structure and restrained writing. I’d also welcome any thoughts on areas where the piece could be developed or refined. Thanks in advance for listening!

“Vampiress” (a city song from the cycle of musical illustrations to Max Dalin’s novel “The Bonfire and the Salamander”) Music by Alexander Khomenko Lyrics by Konstantin Chiganov Lyrics: They told me: “You love a corpse, you fool.” Did you think decay would make me flee? The bite of her lips, so cold and cruel, And I will have the last laugh, you’ll see. The graveyard is a twilit garden’s gloom, The tomb, our bridal chamber, waits. Her hair’s sunset lights up the coffin’s room, And on that bed my strength abates... Her fangs gleam sinless in the night, Her crimson eyes make a vow: Undying love, and by their light Hell and heaven are nothing now! Our wondrous path, our frozen sleep, To catch the thread of fate and blood! Love Twilight’s princesses, love deep, And drink not wine, but life, a flood! (translation by Claude)

Good day. I’ve watched and listened to your waltz. It’s a pity that almost the entire string section was cut off in your score. I liked your idea. The character and the image are interesting. However, your orchestration raises questions. With a live orchestra, all of this will sound worse than in computer playback. You have a lot of unjustified voice crossings, a lot of imbalance, and instruments used in registers where they simply won’t be heard. And if a part can’t be heard, there’s no point in writing it. Take the very beginning. The theme is in the first violins, divisi. Meanwhile the second violins and, I assume, the violas provide harmonic filler, playing the accompaniment. What’s more, you reinforce this accompaniment with the woodwinds and even the brass! In real life, this will produce a very noticeable tilt toward the waltz accompaniment, while the melody will sound pale and inexpressive. On top of that, your first and second violins cross each other. That’s not good. The flute won’t be heard in measures 2-7. It’s too low for it there, and it will sound weak and pale. In this orchestration, the other instruments will completely drown it out. The brass chords raise questions too. Judging by your score, you aren’t taking into account that in real life the horn is about half as loud as the other brass instruments. This means that many of your chords will fall apart in practice. The trombones and trumpets will heavily outweigh the horns. And, as I understand it, you give the theme to three trumpets and flutes? I don’t think that’s the most successful solution. Your melody is fast and rhythmically quite complex. Even setting aside how technically difficult this part is for the trumpets, the very fact of three players performing it in unison will cause problems. They can easily drift out of sync. But, I repeat, I liked your idea, and the image is interesting. I wish you creative success. Alex

Many thanks for listening! I did think I might add a seed shaker or tambourine near the end, where the violins are playing tremolo. Maybe I could add some harp too.

orchestral waltz no. 2.pdf orchestral waltz no. 2.mp3 started from a piano piece, I am aware the counterbass has about 12 notes bellow e, which would require an additional c string to play, and that the score does not have proper player markings anything else, concerns, suggestions, and so on, I would love to hear also pretty sure that the tuba part is impossible to play softly like I notated :3

Hi @Bjarke, A piece which sounds very much like belonging to a medieval epic! (Probably due to the regular use of the pentatonic scale and the chosen rhythm), m 20, is a typical example, along many other. Overall, I found it well built. Interesting areas with a gradual increase in tension, along with the contrast between the climbing voices and the descending ones (e.g.: m. 24). The "third voice" (not really written this way, but this is how it felt to me) in mm. 23-27, and mm. 31-32 (left hand) brought an interesting new contrast. mm. 26 & 27, I liked the E chord (which comes back in m. 32), really interesting new colour. Second part starting from m. 39, I found overall too repetitive: the melody lacks passion and the bass is missing contrast, until we reach m. 48, which comes as a nice change! Measure 51, we are clearly back in the epic theme, I liked the strong accents, felt like the battle field of the epic ;-) mm. 68-71, I found a good idea to get gradually out of the intense move. The intrigue you bring in mm. 81-82 are an excellent transition (really in the theme) to reach the closure. Thanks for sharing and please let me know if I completely missed the target with the medieval theme idea. Take care, Julien

Nice work, I’m doing this on my phone on the way back from a performance so I can’t really do much in depth at the moment, But there are some nice moments in the music with the winds and the ambient pacing. I would put more things to add texture if I were you though

Hi @Filippo Noti , Long work you've done there! The sheer length must have put off some listeners ;-). It's extremely diverse, moving from one style to another. Some movements I liked (e.g.: parts 4 and 5), others less. In general, I found too many repetitions. Here is some detailed feedback (don't know if you were looking for some, but I think that's the idea of the forum in general, so here goes): Part 1: In general, very chill music, very relaxing. I felt as though I was in an art museum. Some more precise feedback you might find useful (based on my personal impressions of course): * I felt the introductory material, that leads to the more interesting mm. 11-13, was a tad too long (I typically found mm. 3, 7, 9 superfluous) * In m. 17, my brain was expecting for a change in the first notes of the melody, sth different from the usual G, C, E * in mm. 21-47 * this too, I felt, was a little too repetitive * funny writing though, I guess the eighth notes must be played with the left hand? * mm. 49-56, the idea to reuse the main theme is a good one, with richer chords. Some of them could probably be improved, e.g.: in m. 49, I liked the first 2 chords, but not so much the 3rd one - maybe a G7? Same for the next measures where you repeat the 2nd chord. * the very last chord, I found out of character, not in the "mood" of your composition (probably a bit too "brutal") Part 2: * mm. 60-68: soft, mellow part (a little too mellow to my taste), with some interesting rythmic textures * m. 69-71: quite a surprising change, I liked that part, especially the arrival of the 3rd voice, well done! I would encourage you to build on that! Part 3: not a great fan overall, I felt it lacked of some passion: it felt a bit like an exercise Part 4: really a funny part! * I liked the little variations in the accompaniement (e.g.: m. 102, 105, * m. 125: I liked the transition * interesting chords in the treble in mm. 131-142 * mm. 143-150, I found quite repetitive and aggressive * brilliant end in mm. 167-169 Part 5: a nice fugue, very baroque, I liked it! Part 6: * what a contrast, we're moving from baroque to Satie-like music! * Although I liked the atmosphere, I found most chords too dissonent (maybe this was the intention). Some were very nice though, e.g.: 202, 204, 207 * I liked the use of the 3rd voice Part 7: the idea is good, sounds like a very good basis for a song, I would have developped the idea a little more (didn't really see the point of m. 249) Thanks for sharing, and looking forward to hearing more of your compositions! Take care, Julien

“The Last Request” (from the cycle of musical illustrations to Max Dalin’s novel “The Bonfire and the Salamander”). This is a decadent romance. The video is simply a story and is not directly connected to the plot of the novel. Music by A. Khomenko Lyrics by V. Osadchenko Sung by A. Yachmenev Lyrics: Why should I fear the grave, or death’s embrace? A shimmering moonlit path calls me away. But, friends, as you escort me from this place, Upon my breast the sacred Eye don’t lay. White roses, silks, chrysanthemums so fair Will wrap my body gently in their fold. Though mournful, mute, you’ll hear me singing there: A dead heart through the roses, calm and cold. And when the moon is full, unbar the door. How weightless is the moon-winged flight! Whoever stays faithful, though life is o’er, Will enter eternity with me tonight. Twilight will take our weary souls to rest. No more of candles, no more of prayer. The grief of old grows quieter in the breast, And old remembrance hardly hurts us there... (translation by Claude)