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What is Neoclassicism? I get the impression that many of us have the wrong idea about what Neoclassicism is. I often come across comments in posts such as: ‘Ah, this is in a Neoclassical style’, or even the composer themselves might say that their work is Neoclassical. But writing a piece that is reminiscent of Mozart, to take him as an example, is not the same as creating something Neoclassical. It is simply imitating, with varying degrees of success, the Classical style. Neoclassicism has a specific origin, a particular period (roughly 1920–1950) with its own historical background. And most importantly: it has its own defining characteristics. Without that, we are not creating Neoclassicism, but merely imitating the style of the 18th century. There are a great many composers who, at some stage in their lives, composed neoclassical works. To name a few off the top of my head: Ravel, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Bartók, Hindemith, Falla, Copland, Milhaud, Honegger, Chávez. And there are marvellous works by all of them – symphonies, operas, piano pieces, and so on... If you’re interested, we can discuss these characteristics and works. Best regards.

Thanks for sharing @Alex Weidmann! I’m not qualified to comment on the orchestration, but I really love Koechlin’s colorful sense of harmony and sonority. It reminds me of Mompou in some ways, though less static. I’ll have to dig deeper into his work…

I declare my interest to join this competition

Becoz there ain't no fairy tales in modern world now lolol 😝 Also it reminds you drinking more milk lolol

Thanks Mark. Hopefully I've converted you to Koechlin! Many of his pieces can be found on You Tube, as well as an interesting documentary about his life and works.

Hi I listen to the original piano work; although your orchestration is full of color and is well thought out and quite enjoyable. The orchestra version from my mind when compared to the piano is not as ethereal/light or distinct as the original piano version in feel. I guess orchestrating from piano is not easy at all. Mark

Once again very nice sounding work ....

Alex, this is a lovely work. My only observation/suggestion is all the doubling in the woodwinds. When playing with multiple persons tuning the octaves among the players takes a bit finesse. Mark

Hello, Sometimes the problem with writing so much music is that it takes so long to listen to it all. I have been listening to the your pieces gradually in the last few weeks while at work to try to take it all in. I think others have made more specific comments, I'll just say a few things about overall impressions. Maybe there are more thoughts after...but I think when you've created something like this - it sort of takes on a life of it's own. I mean from the most fundamental level, I find your music interesting to listen to and I enjoyed listening to it multiple times. So in that regard, from a subjective perspective, I am a fan. I dig your style. The opening notes from your first prelude sort of says: This is Classical music, but the chords are gonna be a little spicy at times. Which is great. Listening to your music feels familiar enough for me, but also exciting enough through the nice harmonies and ideas you got going on. It's clear that you have put a lot of thought into it all. The pacing works great. I'm thinking that the 10 pieces need to be played in this order. So the second thought is...can you actually play these compositions yourself? It gets very virtuosic at points. I would absolutely love to hear a recorded version of yourself playing it. I think there is only so much that comes through in these simulated recordings. The third thought is that you clear have a style that shows through. Prelude 5 goes a bit off on a tangent stylistically from my ears, but I mean I think I hear a distinct "SergeOfArniVillage" style if that makes sense. My favorite is probably Prelude 7. The right hand accompaniment that you do throughout is so nice. Really tickles the right places in my brain, if that makes sense. While you have the "loud" songs and the "soft" songs. I think I prefer the more quite and contemplative ones. I also enjoyed Prelude 9 very much. Probably my second favorite. I'm a big fan of adding descriptive titles to your pieces. I totally get if that's not your thing, but it would be so amazing to hear your own thoughts on what inspired you and what you were sort of going for when writing these pieces.