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Hello everyone! I'm new to this platform. I'm a musician who likes to compose music in my free time, although I've never studied composition. Furthermore, I've already made some pieces, but I consider this to be my first "big" work. It's a work based on Bach's "Little Fugue in G Minor" (my favorite composer and piece). It's an incomplete work, it's missing (at least) one last part, which I thought would be a fast "movement" to finish the piece. I'd like to receive comments, criticisms, suggestions... to improve. I'm looking for comments of all kinds: musical, orchestration, stylistic... In this folder, there are the audio, the score and de video with audio+score: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CZZP89RZ6g5gznB45ezyddqK6kdbKroV?usp=drive_link Thank you very much! Fantasia sobre un tema de Bach.mp3 Fantasia sobre la fuga.pdf

Hello @JordiHortal and welcome to the forum! For someone who has never studied musical composition this is quite good! And this is coming from someone who loves writing variations and basing my music on themes written by other composers or popular themes from various sources. I think writing music based on someone else's theme can be one of the most difficult, time consuming and work-ethic challenging endeavors. I am also a big proponent of using variation technique in all manner of composition, even ones that aren't a strict theme and variations form. I really enjoyed the musicality and pomp in some places of the piece that preserve some of Bach's characteristic style. Other spots innovated on Bach and really took the piece in new directions. Having said that, I will critique your piece by saying that I feel like you might have over-emphasized and over-used the initiating hook of the subject (). I felt like you could have included some variations which didn't begin with this hook. Also, you kept the basic harmonic structure of the subject mostly intact. There were however some sequences where you touched on different harmonies which were welcome. You also made sure to visit the major mode as well. Along the same train of thought, I felt like you could have really fragmented the subject more and mixed up the different parts of the subject in a different order creating new melody constructions. That's probably one of my favorite techniques, because it creates new melodies that still have a clear relation to the original material. Because, I know that sometimes, inversion, retrograde, diminution and augmentation can leave the listener unable to connect the varied material with the original material which is a shame. But that's not a mistake that your music make by any means. The connection with Bach's original subject is clear throughout the whole piece which lets the listener experience the same musical material in a new way and it is a celebration of the love of the theme, which I'm sure was a labor of love for you as well. Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece, and welcome once again!

@PeterthePapercomPoser, I always appreciate your detailed feedback! I'm glad you pointed it out to me because I thought something was off with the balancing, but for some reason, I was ear-blind to it. However, I noticed the balancing problem right after the bridge when I went back and listened to the playback while reading along again. I notated the triplets in the piano right-hand staff but couldn't hear them ring out as I had expected. I'm pleased that you were able to enjoy it nonetheless. I know that my pieces tend to evoke sadder emotions. I have noticed that most male composers I've met tend to express similar emotions, likely due to societal standards that typically prohibit other forms of emotional expression. I believe my way of expressing it follows the same reasons. It feels gratifying to know that someone else was able to understand all of my intended expressions within a work. Thank you again for your dedication to peer review, both here and in the forum, and for your ability to provide excellent reviews while acknowledging the composer's intentions throughout their work. You are a true gentleman, sir 😉 Sidenote: I've also taken the time to create a separate piano score for this piece, engraved specifically for solo piano. One of my old music directors from high school, of whom I have kept consistent contact with over the years, had recently obtained his Master's degree in Music, and is a director for a local church organization. He's a beast at the bench with Ivory & Ebony. He's offered to practice, play, and record it for me, so whenever he finds that time to do it for me, I will be certain to share it here to showcase the Piece in action, with some realistic human emotional touches added! I'm excited for it. 😅

I was going to say the same thing here, @Symphonic! I can appreciate the artistic ideas that are included throughout this piece. However, not everyone out there is so imaginative as to stick around throughout, what would appear to them as, monotonous in nature, when in reality it's not that at all. It's just that the average Classical music listener won't really pick up on the facts of what work this piece has put into it, unfortunately. Maybe still use the ominous, detached and suspenseful opening section, but keep it brief. Then provide the audience of the score something to nibble on for a little while that, without providing too many clues, will give some anticipation as to what's to follow the introduction section of your music. That way, engagement continues, and you're happy, audience is happy, and everyone has an all around good time, feeling the emotions that you're attempting to portray here! Otherwise, the writing itself is good, the voicings within the chords are used very creatively, and despite what the rest of the world would see, I can see what you're doing here, being your peer in composition. 🙂 Just keep in mind that people have the attention span of a dead leaf, nowadays... Gotta hook em' in to catch em'.

Hi @Symphonic! I feel like I would understand the piece better if there were a real choir singing the words for me to hear. Without that critical element, I am very often at a loss for what to listen for in your music. There is so much seemingly empty space in it that it requires a lot of patience from the listener. You know how they say you can tell if a movie is going to be a hit from the first 15 minutes of its runtime? I feel like your piece takes a long time to get started. It would be great to get a summary of what the piece is supposed to be about, the meaning of the title and/or the written out lyrics for the listeners to be able to read along with the music. There is also an extremely big difference between the sections of music. The moods range from calm and serene to menacingly intense. I don't know if this is because of the meaning of the words and you're trying to do some word painting or something. But musically I feel like the differences are so extreme as to cause a kind of whiplash between the moods and emotions of the sections. But maybe that was your intent? The orchestration does have quite a bit of use of unique techniques and tone colors including sul tasto and harmonics from what I can hear. It would also be nice if you included the score PDF which would also solve many of the problems I mentioned above about the listener not knowing the lyrics and the meaning behind the piece. I really like the section around the 25 minute mark - it might be my favorite part of the piece. I wish I knew better how to interpret the mood. I don't know if the piece is meant to be like a lament or mournful - it certainly sounds like it sometimes. Thanks for sharing!

Hey @UncleRed99! I think I've heard the old version of this but not sure if I've reviewed it yet. I really like this piece! It's got a lot going for it. I think it creates a perfect melancholic soundscape that could really work well as a background to some kind of mystery game. It kinda reminds me of music I might hear in a level of a hidden object game I used to play on my cellphone. It has a really nice harmonic structure, with use of the bVII and modulation to G minor. Not all of it is melancholic, but when it is, it is nicely flavored by the natural 7th degree, giving that really nice minor major 7 harmony that is so mysterious. Great use of string orchestra as well as solo instruments. Dynamics are also great - there's a natural ebb and flow as the music rises and falls in volume. The only thing I would say could improve the rendition is to make the top melodic notes of the piano to "pop" more by editing the velocities to bring them out above the rest of the notes. Right now it sounds like all your notes are of equal importance in the piano. But this is homophonic, so there should be a clear hierarchy of importance with the melody being brought out in high relief and accompanimental notes brought down. That's my only gripe. Thanks for sharing this very affecting, heartwarming but in many places, mourning piece. Great job.

Your harpsichord is awesome. You post videos of you which is awesome. Your artistic scores are awesome. out of

Hey @gaspard! I especially like the Melody Almand piece because I was able to follow along with the assigned melody that you were prescribed to use for the challenge: I think it's a great and fun idea to have challenges like this. Perhaps I'll someday write my own set of variations on these little phrases! Thanks for sharing!

Hi @gaspard, Another two very lovely piece in Renaissance style! Lovely performance too. I have nothing much to add. Thx for sharing. Henry