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Hello @MJFOBOE! Yes „playful and sentimental“ interaction is a good description of the mood of the piece. It immediately reminded me at Prokofiev’s „Peter and the wolf“ where the different characters have also been represented by different instrument - prominently including Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon, too. Although this comparison may not be entirely accurate, as the title refers to two people and we have three instruments in the trio, I agree with @Fruit hunter that the piece has some educational qualities, either as an introduction to the woodwind instruments - for example for children as an audience -, or as a piece that can be performed by students.

Hello @Samuel_vangogh, I very enjoyed listening to both songs (or „Lieder“ 😄). They both have a calming, somewhat melancholic mood. Yes they are „romantic“ but not in a sense of being to „sweet“, but are charming with the harmonic colors you achieved by introducing cromaticism and dissonances in a well balanced amount. I like, that you’ve spend the efforts required to have a realistic sound impression by applying changes in the tempo and dynamics. As I’m not looking with a teacher’s eye seeking for „errors“, the only thing I noticed that there were at the end of „Ophelia“ some intervals I would feel very uncomfortable to play on the piano.

Hello @Thatguy v2.0! Thank you for your review and the honor to get recognized with the „Counterpoint Wizard“ badge! Yes, I must admit that I had the goal to earn that particular badge once with one of my fugues 😃, but I did not expect that this would happen so soon! I would like to express my particular gratitude that this fugue in particular has been honored—not only in recognition of my work, but especially because of the message it is intended to convey—“Dona nobis pacem”—the quest for peace in this war-torn world, which has become even more vulnerable in the last two weeks. Yes, it is indeed very chromatic and dissonant, as I did not use Palestrina's usual consonant style, as I had originally intended, especially after the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the resulting decision to include the Ukrainian national anthem. Thank you again. It is very motivating for me to hear that my efforts to annotate and analyze the internal structures of the fugue in the score and in my explanations were useful and not too confusing, and that you may also have enjoyed my “work of art", for example, in the video.

Hello, and thank you for your response! I always point out in advance that some compositions are more demanding than others, because everyone has a slightly different threshold of "tolerance," so that no one is surprised. I really appreciate the time you have devoted to my composition; it means a lot to me!

Hello, I really liked it. I don't find it “difficult” to listen to at all. You just have to open your ears and let yourself be carried away. I'm not usually very fond of such high-pitched instruments as soloists, but here I think everything sounds fantastic. Movement III is very lyrical. So is V. That gives a lot of balance to the more frenetic rhythm of other parts.

The first composition is very beautiful, both the melody and the accompaniment, which I find very romantic in style. What I am not quite sure about (as I am no expert in this field) are the bowing indications in some bars (such as bar 12).

Apologies, I thought that this type of thing, where there is no intervention, would be better suited to other subforums...

Apologies, it's just that I'm very “meticulous” and I like to leave the scores as “clean” as I can. One thing I learned about orchestration is that the bass, apart from being essential for setting the harmony and rhythm at times, is what the human ear perceives the least, since our ears are tuned to mid-range frequencies and also reacts immediately to high frequencies. Therefore, especially when the orchestra becomes denser, it is advisable to reinforce the bass. The usual practice is to double the double basses with cellos, in unison or an octave. The double bass can play only the strong notes in pizzicato and the cellos can play sustained notes. You can also add the bassoon to your ensemble, whose low range is more comfortable. The timpani can also reinforce the bass at times. And then there are other instruments that are not in this style: the tuba, par excellence. And others such as the contrabassoon, bass trombone, etc.

Thank you very much, my dear friends, for your kind words and appreciation. I have completed the sonata, so when you have time, please visit my channel and listen to it in full. Once again, thank you.

Enjoyed this charming piano work, which is bright and lively. I like the sudden changes like borrowed chords and a quick major to minor, then back. Has a touch of humor, as scherzo's can often have.

I enjoyed it and just listened and followed the score. I also wrote a stream impression piece called The Brook. It uses arpeggios which I think works nice for something like flowing water.

thought I was going for a dark song; guess I was wrong.

Tango to the death - Casino de Monte Carlo | Rendition From the Film : Never Say Never Again | James Bond 007 https://jamesbondlocations.blogspot.com/2011/11/tango-to-death-monaco-part-3.html Tango to the death - Casino de Monte Carlo .mp3

Thank you for your review and valuable feedback. It is great to receive feedback from a performer's perspective. Regarding the metronome marking, I have had that criticism by another pianist concerning another piano piece. I will make sure to be more careful in the future. I will also keep all your other feedback in mind in future pieces.

Quite a charming work ... echo's of "Schumann's Scenes from Childhood". Mark

https://flat.io/score/69ac2e0ec3fb848b0b1ba22e-rainbow-motif?sharingKey=c41a8a0ae1afde60e4d714077a6c63bf9c03d1373a7f7d3f7897743a5aa00cb69e393452925b590a859c557105db3d587e5a8dd6ced3488277ad205afa53e256 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Ux3ULOuAU Writing a triumphant 8-bar intro in the style of Rainbow Road themes. Tried to vary up the melody and bass rhythms so it doesn't come off as Legally Distinct Rainbow Road. I really like how the descending notes in measure 4 shift to a bit of minor, underlining the return to tonic in measure 5. And the left hand jumps worked out better than I expected. Dunno how much I am a fan of that last flourish on the trumpet, but... on we go!

Hi @Luis Hernández, Thanks a lot for your review 🙂 I know I don't review a lot in those pages, but I'd think I'd go strangle myself if this one wouln't get any, with the amount of efforts I put in 😄 Late classical/early romantic is exactly the period I point out - if needed - to situate the style of my music. About the timpani, it's a limitation of the virtual instruments I use, they propose distinct sonorities at various tessituras, so I was forced to raise the notation. "Qleg" is just a markpoint for playback rendering (it triggers a VST articulation), it's got nothing to do with the presence or not of legato around 🙂 So for this two points I didn't make the effort of preparing the exact "real life" score for orchestra, I apologize for this. I'm interested, which instrument would you choose as possible substitute for the horn when playing bass notes ? I must agree I'm most familiar with strings orchestration than with other instruments'. Thanks again, have a good day. Marc

The Magnificent Seven | Rendition Elma Bernstein, Quite a Magnificent Composer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcgtshkzb8c&list=RDG-MVReDrRwo The Magnificent Seven Theme. Redition.mp3

This is an orchestration exercise, and my solution.

How did this go unnoticed? It's a really good piece, in a style that, to my mind, is like neoclassical. The writing is very refined. The recurring motifs give it a lot of coherence.

Thanks, Mark! It's just a round with the W. E. B. Du Bois as a separate layer on top when you get right down to it, but that's certainly more organized than I usually am. Something I'm trying to be better about.

That's not true Luis! We can post renditions, mock-ups and covers of other composers works here too, as long as we specify whose work we're covering!

Hi luderart, I am approaching your music as a performer. If I were sitting at the piano and you handed me this, these are the questions and suggestions I would have: 1) The first thing that stands out to me is the metronome marking. You indicate the quarter note receives the beat at 140 beats per minute. Yet, your starting time signature is 6/8. You need to indicate what the dotted quarter note receives. 2) The writing is pianistic; I can play this and it fits in my hands well. However, adding fingerings, articulations, and music shapes would prove your technical intentions. Example A demonstrates a finger alternation technique. Chopin's Grand Waltz Brillante, Op. 18, is a good example of this technique. Example B tells me to use the same finger on the repeated notes. 3) Measure 14 is slightly confusing because of the way it's presented to me. The time signature is now 9/8 and I have a dotted quarter note on beat 6, not 7. You also have a staccato marking on the dotted quarter note. Did you want it to be short? Example A depicts the music as you've written it, but with a display in accordance with the meter of 9/8. Example B depicts the note on beat 6 as short. I hope my approach finds some consideration with you, Patrick

Nice song. But this subforum is intended for music composed by us...

Hello, I think it's a huge undertaking. In particular, it's very well structured and the themes develop and evolve smoothly and beautifully. To me, it sounds like late classical or early romantic music. The solo violin part isn't particularly complicated (virtuoso). There are some things that strike me as rather strange. For example, the tessitura where the timpani appears is excessively high, although it seems to sound where it should (so I gather it is a question of notation). Sometimes the horn acts as a “bass” in a very (too much, I think) deep tessitura... when you have other instruments available. The indication Qleg (quasi legato?) appears in many places where it makes no sense (with separate notes and staccato). There is a tendency (logical at certain stages of one's training in orchestration) to use strings predominantly. In moments with orchestral weight, I think the bass (double bass) needs to be doubled, as it is what the ear hears least. On the other hand, when parts are played where sections are separated (wind or strings), the counterpoints can be heard very well. Good work.