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Hello Peter, I’ve been meaning to comment on your topics for a while(procrastination is really a personal crime:(). Thank you for this, It really is quite festive and brings about the holiday spirit well. I can clearly picture the snowflakes and glimpse the Christmas decorations, which feels wonderful because Christmas is my favorite season. The orchestration is, of course, very nutcracker inspired. My only real nitpick would be the Waltz theme introduced by the solo piano; I really wished you brought in the full melody more often. For more emotional contrast, you could try adding in a sad minor variation. well done on this and I also liked your harvest moon variations. There were some great textures in that piece

Yes, I did use Musescore. I see. Would it be better to remove the contrabass then? The breathing is something I was concerned about. I will take a look and change it so that it is playable. That is intended! But perhaps I should make it a little more audible. I imagine a lot of my music to be following stories so the usage of instruments or something else has certain... symbolism, in a sense? Thank you very much for your insights!

Hey Peter, Finally have time to enjoy your epic variation piece here! I love your opening treatment of the theme as you make it light and bouncy with the pizz. and ignoring the piano left hand which is like falling snow! Var I is funny with piccolo plus glockenspiel and piano LH chromatic notes. Those loud strings are funny too! Var. II continues with the charm. And Yuck Var. III! You are definitely using the Beethovaian treatment here when you extract motives from the theme to develop it. Very nice treatment here with the modultation to Gb too. And that freaking Trascendental one is real transcendental when the quick notes of the piano reminds me of the Emperor Concerto. And the Stately one isn't stately at all by sneaking to F major! That's naughty! The "RANDOM" pauses of var. VI is very funny too!! I don't have good taste though LoL. The sneaky one is so wonderful with those surprising and care-free modulations. The chooping of the theme in Var. IX is great. I love The N chord in X. The treatment of prolonging the chpord for a romantic one is very creative! Make sure you can play the Liszt-like piano part yourself in the Romance Decima one though haha! I love the imitations in var. XVI. The Siciliana one doesn't seem too sicilianian to me but it's wonderful as always. The subsequent varisation are all great in different dance forms. The Jingle Bell one is great counterpoint when you sneak the melody under the main theme! That Cadenze again really reminds me of Beethoven's Emperor. So grand here. I think the Rondo one fits more as the Scherzo one instead of the previous Scherzo variation. I like here you include those magical modultations again and put the emphasis back to harmonic development instead of rhythmic development in the previous varitations! The ending is so good with Straviskian changing of meters and pushing one last climax! I thouroughly enjoy this wonderful varitaion Peter, thx so much for sharing! Btw, After listening I am sure you will lose haha. Prepare that ugly Christmas sweater and dance for us. i can't wait for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Henry

Hi @uri_lipp, I like the opening when you successfully build up the tension. But after it I start feeling the score difficult to follow. Would you analyze the form of your movement to us? You can definitely add more details to the score, most importantly the dynamic markings. To create climax I think you can have moments where all the instruments are orchestrated together, since this only happen at the end! Now the loud sections are always provided by the brass and I think you can mix it up more! Also the music is in Db major for almost its entirety and you may modulate to different keys for contrast! Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello @Gabriel Carlisle, The track does have some epic feeling! I love the development after 0:50 when you use octatonically related keys which are common in film music. The parallel fifths for sure add the thickness of the track which enhances the epic feeling. Thx for sharing! Henry