Here's the form of the piece:

A - Right Hand - C Mixolydian, Left Hand - C Aeolian
B - Right Hand - C Ionian, Left Hand - C Phrygian
A

Persichetti Exercise 8 - 8 Score.pdf

Sonata Re gama.pdf

Prelude for harpsichord.pdf

Edited (Oct., 05th 2026): Here is the link to the "orchestrated" version of this prelude (for a quintet consisting of piano, accordion, trumpet, guitar and cello) as I officially submitted to the YCF Summer Competition „From Nothing, to Something“: Summer – A Song of Beauty and Melancholy.

For those who are not familiar with that competition (yet), the task is „to take the text from Paul Verlaine’s summer poem “Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été,” (So, on a bright summer day it shall be) and turn it into a piece!“.

So the major challenge of this competition was not only to move from “nothing” to “something,” but I also tried to find a musical form that could capture this process of “searching”:

When a composer has trouble coming up with a brilliant idea for a new piece, it sometimes takes several attempts, each of which yields different individual ideas.

And there are some pieces that consist of several ideas that have been “glued” together, ultimately resulting in something like a “collage song.” I’m thinking, for example, of “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles or “Band on the Run” by Paul McCartney and Wings.

However, there also exists such a kind of piece in Bach’s Welltempered Clavier, the Prelude VII in E-flat major, BWV 852. That particular prelude starts with a short section with runs of 32th notes, followed by a „more serious“ part in slow motion, that reminds me at a „chorale“. The third and longest part is a fugato with two subjects that further develops the ideas from the first two sections.

With this particular Bach prelude in mind, I had thus found the model for the form and structure of my own prelude:

00:00 (mm. 1-14)

The first section is an „improvisation“ which introduces the warm key of B-flat major.

00:34 (mm. 15-29)

The second Adagio section could be a „chorale“ and is used to set the first stanza of the poem to music.

Since I don’t speak a word of French and have no idea how the syllables are rhythmicized, I looked at Gabriel Fauré’s setting of the poem in his Op. 61, No. 7 to find out which words are pronounced or sung briefly and which are longer. As an interesting fact, I discovered that Fauré had actually chosen the same key, B-flat major, that I had chosen before.

01:31 (mm. 30-90)

The third and longest section is a fugato based on two subjects, interspersed by further stanzas of the poem.

The first subject quotes the first four-note motif of the „improvisation“ section and develops it further, paired with the second subject, thus creating a joyful and dance-like mood.

04:22 (mm. 91-114)

The prelude finishes with a coda – or better to say – with a recapitulation of the „improvisation“ from the first section. Now in a more melancholic way, meandering between minor and major.

I hope, you’ll enjoy it. Wieland

Praeludium-XIII-F-sharp-major-with-coversheet.pdf

Praeludium-XXI-B-flat-major-with-coversheet.pdf

Quite a bit of work later, I am happy to finally share my third completed Sonatina!

I would love to hear your feedback and opinions on it. I know it is quite lengthy, so I really appreciate anyone who is willing to take the time to listen to my music, as always!

If you only have time for a single movement, I think you might enjoy the third one the most, as it is fun and quick. :)

I. Andantino – A sonata-form movement that explores motif economy and establishes the overall tone of the Sonatina.

II. Adagio – A lullaby-like ternary piece, providing a moment of relief and contrast before the finale.

III. Allegretto – A variation on rondo form that brings the Sonatina to a playful conclusion. This is my favorite movement of the piece, and I like to think of it as a “Drunken March.”

YouTube link

Score

Timestamps:
00:00 — I. Movement
04:15 — II. Movement
05:37 — III. Movement

Sonatina No.3.pdf

I have dedicated this Sonata to my dear friend Henry, as a small expression of my appreciation and admiration for him, both as a composer and, above all, as a friend. It is a great pleasure for me to dedicate one of my works to someone whose music I appreciate and whose friendship I value deeply.

The performance is my own, using the J. Weimes Fortepiano (1808) from Pianoteq 9.

I hope you enjoy listening to it, and I would be very happy to hear your thoughts and impressions.

Here is the Youtube video link:

Here is the pdf and audio of the score:

Final Draft Piano Sonata no.3 in C sharp Minor 2nd Mov.pdf

The movement is set in a rondo form ABACA. Here is the structre of the movement:

0:00 Introduction & 1st Refrain:

The Locrian scale is used capriciously at the beginning by a confused Henry right at thr start of composing the movement when he didn't know why he used it but still retained it to see what would happen. The main theme (00:23) begins in a quite beautiful pentatonic E major. I love the German Sixth used in 00:53 and I absolutely love the C-sharp minor contrasting theme, as it's beautiful but at the same time coherent by using the falling fourth motive from the beginning of the 1st movement! (Btw it is quoted in parody in my joking fugue) It then unoriginally modulates to dominant B major. 01:32 repeats the whole process apart from some embellishments.

2:34 1st Episode:

The beautiful (I think) 1st episode is actually composed the second last one, only before the last refrain. It's Chopinistic here, but I think it's quite beautiful! The theme is roughly the inversion of the 1st theme. I had the inspiration of this beautiful theme when waiting in a queue in my ex-company's canteen LoL! I love the counterpoint in 03:43 as well, again using the falling fourth motive. The C-sharp minor is never solved and merely forced back to E major with a quite beautiful G sharp major transition to the 2nd Refrain.

4:29 2nd Refrain:

The first theme is turned to a bell texture which I must have taken inspiration from Brahms's op.117 and Prokofiev's Sonata no.6. The serenity proves short-lived as the mood starts to become agitated and the falling fourth motive starts to attack.

5:12 2nd Episode:

The Locrian scale starts to disturb and the keys start to moving all around, again in 05:30 the agitation proves itself it is not going to be covered at all, and with octatonic modulation it ends on G minor which sounds like the beginning of Chopin's 1st Ballade in 05:41. The first theme enters in 05:53 but is only a false recap as the stirring continues once again in a semitone higher in a Schubertian fashion. The first theme re-enters in 07:07, this time in C-sharp major, the global tonic major but with undercurrent underneath. F minor disturbs once again as in earlier as well as the development of the 1st movement, and the Locrian mode is finally forcefully purified to a pentatonic. I think the retransition here is slightly abrupt and forceful.

8:16 Last Refrain:

First theme appears with the purified locrian scale turn to pentatonic crystal in the upper register of the piano. The contrasting theme is set in F-sharp minor this time for the E major confirmation. The C-sharp minor is not answered at all again in 09:17, and only forcefully shut up, and the piece ends in E pentatonic. At least a momentary serenity can be achieved before facing the disasterous 3rd movement.

This movement starts in 2023 June right after the completion of the 1st movement, but was abandoned since I had to focus on composing the 2nd movement of my Sring Sextet. Then after a personal crisis in 2024 I had no energy at all to compose, and I hoped to use this movement to pick up my creative energy. It succeeded and the movement is quite beautiful in my opinion. I expanded the movement from a ternary one to a rondo with the addition of the 1st episode and completion of the last refrain. The movement may sound too Chopinistic and less original, but I definitely pour my heart here. I just maintain the “write-what-I-want approach” in the whole Sonata without much thinking, planning, or trying to be original. I just don’t want my emotion disturbed by the chasing of originality when expressing my feeling is my ultimate concern in the whole Sonata.

The recording is played by myself. I buy a new microphone I hope the recording quality will be better and not to be roasted by @chopin anymore! Feel free to comment or critize this piece below! I will be more than happy to hear any opinion whether it's positive or negative!

Hope you enjoy it!

P.S. Here is the link for the YC post of the 1st movement from the same Sonata:

And here is the 3rd and ending movement of the Sonata!

Henry

Well, I have composed this sonatina recently (actually since December last year) which is my first attempt in romantic style. The first movement is a waltz in truncated sonata form inspired by a Chopin Waltz, the second movement is an intermezzo inspired by Brahms, and the 3rd movement is a ballad in hybrid sonata-rondo form which I'd also composed for a friend. Also inspired by Chopin, the 3rd movement main theme is perhaps familiar for those who had watched Gravity Falls, for I had actually adapted the theme for the piece. 

I hope you all will enjoy this piece, and any feedback is appreciated! 

Piece in G dur.pdf

Feminine Fragments.pdf

Again, many thanks for reading & listening!

Best regards and see you in the forums,
Daniel–Ø.

This music is based on a poem by Robert Frost:

"The west was getting out of gold, the breath of air had died of cold, when shoeing home across the white, I thought I saw a bird alight. In summer when I passed the place I had to stop and lift my face; a bird with an angelic gift was singing in it sweet and swift. No bird was singing in it now. A single leaf was on a bough, and that was all there was to see in going twice around the tree. From my advantage on a hill I judged that such a crystal chill was only adding frost to snow as gilt to gold that wouldn’t show. A brush had left a crooked stroke of what was either cloud or smoke from north to south across the blue; a piercing little star was through."

This poem really spoke to me during a time in my life when I was healing from something. It was a time when I had to be patient, not give up, continue to strive for optimism even when prospects remained dreary. It was a time when I was searching for something that used to be there but wasn't there now. Perhaps it would come again. But in that moment all I could do was keep searching for it, keep working. It was as if I was standing on a hill top on a cold, crisp day, looking out over endless miles of fields, trying to make out a little puff of smoke in the distance.

This is music about healing. Healing is not pleasant when it’s actually happening. Sure it feels great once it’s done, but the process itself is slow. It requires intense patience, and often comes with pain. So this music isn’t about being healed, but about healing.

I know that sometimes my music comes off as slightly strange, as if it can't decide if it is classical or modern. This piece, with all its searching and reaching, really leans into that. I'd really love to hear your feedback. I greatly value any thoughts you'd like to share. ❤️

(This was performed by Edward Cohen)

Thank you!

Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter.pdf

It's been a while, mostly because of internet issues. Hopefully everyone around here has been well :)

I never share much about these, I figure I'll start trying to be better about that. Because of said internet issues, I started focusing on writing by hand, and it's been great. As I translated back and forth from paper to Sibelius, I felt my voice was more intimate and clear, without the possibilities of what a computer can do. Especially for dynamics, just reading the score without playback has been instrumental in getting better at envisioning dynamics. Maybe that sounds dumb, but it's been a plus in my new writing habits.

I've actually more or less finished all of these (there are 24 in total), I've just been touching up scores. I'll probably give a few weeks in between each post, but the goal is regular posting.

These preludes aren't preludes to fugues or any other planned pieces, but rather preludes to a future voice I'm always amending and crafting. I also think a prelude should be somewhat experimental, and with each one I've strived to have some interesting nugget to explore compositionally that I haven't before. With this one, No. 17, I wanted an abstract rhythm to be dominant, for the tonal center to be constantly moving, and a palindrome-like form as a structure.

This is one of the strangest of the bunch, and as always, and advice or comments are welcome! I hope you enjoy 😁

EDIT: Henry = 🔥

Prelude 17 - Full Score.pdf

Full links below, I'll give a brief intro for each piece here:

4) Kids Learning: I had some fun with some cool key changes. A pretty straightforward piece of music.

5) Kids Talking: My boy had this really sweet, musical way of talking. So I tried to capture his voice into the music directly. Sort of a jazzier type of sound, but not really jazz.

6) Kids Jumping: I was reading up on the 12 tone method when I was writing this one. The song probably is still a very tonal piece of music, but I tried to experiment with the idea of having all 12 notes represented in the musical ideas. I also play the piano in a way that I consider somewhat unique to my style. I don't think I've heard of any other major musician play the piano in this style...so if someone else has done it before me, please let me know!

7) Kids Fighting: A fun piece where I am writing the song from the perspective of a very tired parent dealing with two kids fighting. The four note theme you might notice in the beginning is literally me calling "Ar-thur, Mar-lon!"

8) Kids Scared: I wrote this on Halloween. I sort of channeled my inner Ligeti for parts of it maybe. I also sample one of the greatest composers who has ever lived, hopefully in a way that is unique and somewhat memorable. The ending gets a bit loud. The whole song is delightfully weird and fun to play from my perspective.

9) Kids Hurting: This one is a bit more dark. It is based on a real experience I had with my children...being hurt and going to the hospital (He is 100% okay now, this happened 2 years ago).

10) Kids Crying: This one is heavily influenced by Schumann carnival!

11) Kids Sorry: This one is the sequel to Kids Crying, a bit more contemporary, but also influenced heavily by Schumann Carnival.

12) Kids Splashing: I am messing around with harmonic ideas. It is a pain in the butt to notate. If anyone is a pro at notating and wouldn't mind taking a look...that would be greatly appreciated.

13) Kids Sleeping: I try my hand at writing impressionistic music. It is dedicated to my composition teacher of the last year, Marcel Bergmann.

14) Kids Growing: This is the finale. While my boys are still young, this is me saying goodbye to the little infants/toddlers and saying hello to the slightly more sophisticated young boys who eat a lot more food and who I look forward to growing with together.

Hope you enjoy. Any feedback...positive or negative is appreciated. Once again, if anyone can help with the notation for kids splashing, that would be greatly appreciated!

4) Kids Learning

5) Kids Talking

6) Kids Jumping

7) Kids Fighting

8) Kids Scared

9) Kids Hurting

10) Kids Crying

11) Kids Sorry

12) Kids Splashing

13) Kids Sleeping

14) Kids Growing

This is the 2nd and 3rd installment of my Kids Songs series, which follow "Kids Perfect".

These songs were written with more conventional harmonic ideas, though I tried to add some variation and spice here and there to make things interesting. Once again, these are recorded on a nice grand piano at home. Feel free to crank the volume and enjoy :)

Kids Born (Arthur) was written prior to the birth of my first born child. I had no idea what he was going to be like. I wrote the piece in anticipation while my wife was still pregnant. I am particularly satisfied with that chord transition at 1:16 to Bb major. If someone knows more about music theory, perhaps they can show me why it works? Or perhaps other pieces of music that might have a similar idea? In all honestly, I probably might have made a mistake while playing/composing and it just sounded good, there was not necessarily much conscious thought that went into that particular chord. Maybe it's not even that special!

Kids Born Encore (Marlon) was written some 3 years after my youngest was born...at this point I had a sense of my second child's personality. So the writing process was very different. Anyone who has ever raised 2 young kids will tell you that the kids want to have the same of everything - same toys, same food, same everything. So, naturally it was important to me to try to keep some sense of sameness but also retaining some individuality. So I chose F major, a key that feels same enough to G major and with a goal of overall similar compositional style to the first one. But alas, I was not the same person. 5 years have passed in between writing Kids Born and Kids Born Encore. One cool fact about this song is the irregular key signature, which I had no idea even existed until I transcribed it onto sheet music! Anyways, here it is. Hope you all enjoy it and let me know any feedback/critiques/suggestions.

I recently posted a Rondo, which was actually the third movement of this piano sonata. Here is the full sonata.

I know that posting a whole sonata is asking a lot from listeners. Please feel free to listen to only one movement if you like, or the entire thing if you're in the mood to hear the entire arc of it. Whatever works best for you! I appreciate any and all feedback, even if you only listen to a portion.

Here is a breakdown of the entire sonata:

MOVEMENT 1: The 1st movement is in Sonata Form. Following along with the form may help you wrap your head around the various parts of the movement. The form your road map through the jungle.

Section 1 - Exposition (measures 1-128): the piece starts with a main theme in the home key (C# minor), followed by a second main theme (measure 59) in the key of the relative major (E). Though you may hear many ideas that roll out one after another, the form of this first section is grounded by those two main themes.

Section 2 - Development (measures 129-243): in this section the two main themes are deconstructed, developed, played around with, and intertwined with other ideas, all flowing together into a mixture, a river that carries the listener along. This section is doesn't stand on solid ground, but instead is ever-shifting. It's goal is motion, development, and play.

Section 3 - Recapitulation (measures 244-end): the first main theme returns (244) but is changed now, followed by the second theme (370) which now appears in the home key (it is now minor).

MOVEMENT 2: This music is a projection of my mind during the time when my first son was born, a reflection of my complicated emotions, my questions, my fear and love. The music fades in and out of coherency, at times directionless, until it finally lands on solid ground. It’s asking a question, and just as the answer comes within reach, it slips away again. This movement is tough to pin down, difficult to categorize. The music is searching, searching… It emerges slowly, pops in and out of view, like a distant ship in the mist. Sometimes it’s a love song, sometimes a lament, sometimes a hopeful look toward the future, and sometimes a lonely figure grasping for something in the dark.

MOVEMENT 3: The 3rd movement is a Rondo, which resembles a club sandwich, where theme 1 is the bread:

Theme 1 (measure 5)

Theme 2 (41)

Theme 1 again (69)

Theme 3 (98)

Theme 1 once more (195)

Each time theme 1 returns, it comes with very slight variations. Since the first movement contains so much development and so any ideas, the third movement keeps the main theme mostly intact throughout. The third movement may be a bit too tightly wound, but I made it that way because the first movement feels a bit like an over-stuffed burrito.

Thanks so much for listening!

01 Allegro con brio.pdf 02 Jack's Song.pdf 03 Rondo.pdf

Today is the right moment to post the corresponding prelude: The prelude againPraeludium-XIII-F-sharp-major-with-coversheet.pdf has the Ukrainian national anthem as its central thematic background (as it also appears in the fugue as additional „subject“, and – as a reference to the date - today is the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence).

Here in the prelude, however, the anthem appears in the lightest key of F sharp major with an optimistic character, light and playful in 3/8 time.

Some words about the structure or form of the piece:

00:00 (mm. 1-22)

Exposition of the „summer“ theme: A joyful, exuberant and perhaps dance-like theme, with accentuated rhythms and chords, although being composed as five-part voice leading.

01:01 (mm. 23-50)

The texture and rhythm of the „summer“ theme is continued, but somewhat more restrained in terms of dynamics. The second verse of the anthem is played in the upper voice.

01:43 (mm. 51-75)

The key signature changes to G-flat major, initially creating a peaceful atmosphere, much like that of a playground. However, this tranquility is suddenly disrupted by dissonances and tritone steps in the bass, symbolizing the horrors of war.

02:23 (mm. 76-94)

The fugue subject (“dona nobis pacem”) appears four times (tenor, mm. 76-79; bass, mm. 81-84; soprano, mm. 86-89 and alto, mm. 91-94), symbolizing hope and leading back to the key signature with sharps.

02:52 (mm. 95-114)

Recapitulation of the „summer“ theme, now in pianissimo and in the key of D sharp minor.

03:31 (mm. 115-140)

The repetition finally leads to the triumphant finale in the coda: The third verse of the anthem is sung, ending with a bright F sharp major chord after a minor plagal cadence, expressing confidence.

I hope, you'll enjoy it. Wieland

Prelude No. 1.pdf Prelude No. 2.pdf Prelude No. 3.pdf Prelude No. 4.pdf Prelude No. 5.pdf Prelude No. 6.pdf Prelude No. 7.pdf Prelude No. 8.pdf Prelude No. 9.pdf Prelude No. 10.pdf

After a couple years of much reading and sketching, but without a single completed work, I decided to revive one of my old ideas, with the encouragement of my best friend. It took me a little over a week to complete, during a vacation in Paris, and it’s very satisfying to be able to put a double bar on the end! I’m dedicating it to my friend, who plays the piano herself, and now lives on the other side of the world.

It’s in a very tonal and functional idiom, and I had no intention of making the piece stylistically distinctive, though I think a few elements of my personal style definitely found their way in, such as a certain motivic organicism, and penchant for harmonic variety.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

(Sorry for the bad recording—I figured it was still better than the MIDI output, especially since I don’t know how to configure dynamics playback in Dorico yet).

01 - Full score - Waltz in A major.pdf

This small collection of three pieces explores the concept of an elegy from three different perspectives:

• I. Lento (Remembrance) – An intimate thought that lingers about someone who used to be an essential part of your life.

• II. Larghetto (Grief) – An emotional exploration of losing someone and the realisation that you will never be able to fix what has been lost.

• III. Larghetto (Acceptance) – Finding a way to accept the new reality of life without someone.

Funny enough even though the order feels right for this compilation, my personal favourites are 3-2-1 in that order haha

I hope I managed to capture some of the vision I had in mind when writing these three elegies!

YouTube link

Score

I want to thank you like always for sacrificing your time for my improvement!

Timestamps: 00:00 Elegy I 02:14 Elegy II 03:54 Elegy III

Three Elegies.pdf