Leaderboard

Can't wait to hear all the entries!

Hello all. I had a really hard time figuring out what to do. I had a piece I wrote a while ago about Princess Tuvstarr and Skutt the Elk, where a geological formation called a tarn has an important role, but I decided I need to practice writing things for a deadline, so I needed some new idea. For those that don't know, I am ethnically largely Romanian (though I live in the US), so I settled on some Romanian landscape, and what better than the Carpathian Mountains! In fact, I had a drawing I made a while ago of a Romanian Shepherd (obviously as a furry, if you know me at all) in the mountains playing a Taragot - which sounds like a mix between an English Horn and a Soprano Saxophone. There's an old Romanian tale of a shepherd who lost his sheep, so I wrote this piece following that theme: a shepherd lamenting the loss of his sheep. Please enjoy :) Audio.mp3 Score.pdf

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 10 8 9.5 9.5 9 9 8 Average Score: 8.8 Review: This piece features a rich variety of motifs that also capture the pastoral mood. The textures are excellent, in my view, with sections where certain instruments fall silent (which I find an interesting way to thicken and thin out the textures and create contrasts), and there are many contrapuntal passages. At the same time, the lines are crafted with relative simplicity, without resorting to technically demanding or uncertain passages. I think it is an excellent approach to stick to what one knows is possible and make the most of it. The sections are distinct, but I also feel the overall impression is quite free. The score is very well presented. Although it is implied, given that the English horn is a transposing instrument, it might be worth mentioning that it is in concert pitch. There is one section which, I think, could be handled differently. Between bars 49 and 56, an attempt is made to create a climax leading into a new section and the entry of the English horn. However, I do not find this entirely effective as it relies on a ‘crescendo’ increase in volume; it would It is also worth mentioning that the English horn is pushed to its limits in the high register (I seem to recall a C5). However, the lower register does not appear to be explored, which is precisely where a standard oboe cannot reach.

Hi @Luis Hernández - It is a refreshing and ethereal excerpts - can't wait to listen more from you! I use Dorico too but I haven't tried Cantai - it seems good to me. It comes quite handy as I can make use of the articulation settings of the Noteperformer, and balance the dynamics of the voices with other instrument in the same software with instant replay. It is also more user frinedly to write on the notation software than using DAW especially when you want to write more sophisticated rhythms for the voices.

If you intend to write romantic-styled piece, You may want a good melody to start the piece, like a singable theme which the listener can easily recognize throughout the piece. By good melody, in my humble opinion, should have "up's and down's" and good contrast other parts of the music. There are some horizontal motion but it is rather oblique and it does not stand out much from the accompliment. You may think it as a opera singer singing passionate tunes and interact with the orchestra. I would also expect more chromaticism in both the baseline and the melody. Candences. I would expect a stronger sense of cadences for the phrases in a romantic piece. It is like journey - you need some rest between the beautiful scenaries so you can stay energetic and focused. Your improvisation seems more modern to me as it reminds me of the never-ending minimalistic music with non-diatonic (non-triadic) lines. For the variety part, you may want to try with Change of tempos Change of baseline rhythms Change of scales/ modality ("colour") Change of timbre (high vs low register of the piano) Change of texture (Density of chords)

I’m very flattered that you gave it such a high score! I’m not very proud of it myself, so I’m pleasantly surprised 😅

Hello there! The Sherphad's Lament Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10. 10 10 10 9.5 10 9 10 Average Score:9.8 Review: The general score presentation and layout was clean and readable. There were a few collisions errs that were noticeable. With the given forces at play, this can be easily playable. There were no imbalances between strings and the E. Horn. Yes! this piece is creative and original in nature. The given forces create an interesting. There is interesting dovetailing with the strings. The strings provide a rich background and middle ground material while the EH carries the foreground material. This, indeed, creates a rich harmonic palate. What I am not sure about is the form of the piece. It seems to free form. Free form pieces (fantasia, preludes, and etc) tend to flow like a river. They have sections where previous comes back. But that depends, on the style and the composer. Here, I think the intent was to create fluid piece that logically flows from start to finish. The high use of motives was well done. The 6 minute mark is one minute above sweet mark. But that is fine. Overall, this is piece I enjoyed. Yes, it is hard to write something. That is where I am at. I am stuck too.

Just a simple piano romance for my girlfriend Julia (for her birthday). Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think! A Romance.mp3 A Romance.pdf

Hey Peter, this is great! The reverb reminds me of Wonderful Christmastime :D Very interesting harmonies, especially the ending. The sections like bars 9-12 threw me off at first with the rhythms, I really like that syncopation. Did you play this for her? Does she like it? Well done buddy! :)

I apologize, I meant to respond to this part of your reply as well. You hit the nail on the head. "Warmth" isn't meant to portray the temperature of the surrounding landscape, rather, the warm feeling of entering the "home" space, or, as others would call it, your "sanctuary", a place of rest, safety, closeness to family... a place where you can be "you" unapologetically, without the judgement of the outside world. That kind of "warmth" :) -Unc

It’s a bit weird you are reviewing @ferrum.wav ’s work but mentioned him as a he rather than a you 🤪

I didn't know the ship sank

This should be treated as a sister piece to event Horizon. If not, A continuation of the story . As much as I don't wanna expose myself, I feel like the story behind This is very integral to what you're gonna be hearing, especially with a bunch of source material from event horizon. Five lacrosse balls is a story built on many experiences where I felt like I have been living in a fever dream from foreseeing certain relationships into people and having a whole entire room build up with a ripple effect of the US anthem. I find pure solace on the fixation of a random tangible object something that will keep you grounded through all of life's troubles. Yes, in many ways like most of my other works to some degree is a personal narrative Five Lacrosse Balls.mp3 Five Lacrosse Balls.pdf

Hi! Long time for not posting anything! I'm revising my old Clarinet Quintet and learning orchestration in the process. Here's something I'm working on. Clarinet Quintet in C minor is a work I finished 4 years ago in 2022 which I accidentally began my revision of it in April 2026. It's a work in four movements and in it I want to share my feeling towards despair, dream and hope. The piece is dedicated to my friend Ms. Merina Fung. Speical Thanks to @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio for me. Here is the youtube video of the movement: Here is the structure of the 1st movement: 00:00 1st subject, Exposition. Introduce the "despair" motive (0134), in some sort of sad waltz in C minor. The passage in 01:26 is directly copied from an old piece of mine named "Boredom" 01:48 Transition. Follow the tonal plan of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and modulate to tritone major Gb major (which is the tonic key of my next major work, String Sextet in G flat major). 04:09 2nd subject, Exposition. Introduce the "dream motive" (0247) and subsidary chromatic motive of (0123). Conflicts of the despair and dream motives continue, the dream seems to win at 06:53 with its own climax but easily defeated with a bold C minor half cadence right before the close of the exposition with a forceful perfect cadence in Gb. 08:42 Development, part 1. The dream breaks expectedly I really like the counterpoint in 08:59. Modulates to E minor for the transition theme, then build to a really beautiful climax in E major in 11:10 which I really love. Makes this movement sounds a bit less tragic. 11:36 Development, part 2. Another false serenity after the beautiful climax by a disappointed passage in G# minor in 12:38. The serene texture returns in B major in 13:17 but falls short to a dominant preparation of C minor in 13:50. I really love the retransition as it sounds really passionate to me (Actually I love all parts of the remianing parts in this movement after this point). A review of the keys visited in 14:27 with an octatonic falling scale, ending with two sorrowful monologue of clarinet and cello, just like the beginning. 14:53 Transition. I skip the 1st subject reappearence in the recap as it's completely meaningless to do so, given how the motive is developed in the entire movement. I really love the tragedy here, as I even have this passage reappears in the coda of 4th movement, after 40 minutes or so lol. Another false serenity in tonic major in 15:24, and I really love the nostalgic sounding passage in Ab major in 16:01, still base on the dream motive. The German sixth chord in 16:36 must be stolen from Schubert"s Quartettsatz. A fugato in 16:42 trying to fight despair and reclaim dream once more and "sucessfully" modulates to Gb major once again. 17:31 2nd subject, Recap. But when you want more you hurt more, as despair harms you more when you have hope. This time a hard C minor half cadence comes. The dream theme now becomes a nightmare in 18:07 and continues to sigh. 19:20 Coda. Previous themes keep reappearing as I myself used to ruminate my sadness all the time. Finally it ends with what begins the piece, the realization of despair in its original form. Structurally I am not really satisfied with how I expand the themes in the 2nd subject of exposition (Dream part) and how I treat the materials in development, as I am afraid I overextend too much. However I just retain most of the things originally as I wanna keep true to my old self. It's an absolute low when I composed this piece, as I really questioned myself whether I could really compose something good back then. Luckily I did finish the entire work and gave me some confidence, plus meeting some really good friends here. The whole 4 movement piece is composed with three motives mentioned above, as I wanted to keep the piece coherent. The inspiration of the work comes from Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet as I wanted to write a more tragic piece than his (of course this goal fails), but I am happy with what I’ve done. Strangely only now do I find how Brahmsian this piece is. One interesting thing is that despite the movement is in C minor, in the first 14 minutes (two-thirds) of the movement, only 2 minutes are in the tonic. In this revision I mainly modify spots I find unreasonble, some voicings and slurs, and breathing spots for Clarinet. Hope you listen through the music and read through the description, and my wish that enjoy the work! Feel free criticize the work as I know it's far from perfect. P.S. the old version of this same Quintet is posted before: It's my biggest mistake to post an hour long piece here as my first post. So I will chop up the 4 movements and post it one by one now! Henry Clarinet Quintet in C minor 1st mov V3.mp3 (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 1st mov final 20260501.pdf

Vote for the winners of the Landscapes - Soundscapes competition! Please note that the themed badges were created for the following pieces: Padovana et Gagliarda “Detta la Lombarda” by @L.S Barros - "Rustic Mood" Award Amidst the Clouds & Flowers by @InstrumentalistElle - "Nature's Garden" Award Morning On Whidbey Island by @BipolarComposer - "Peace of Nature" Award City Rail and Nightingale by @Wieland Handke - "Nature and Civilization" Award Alishan (for Flute Quintet) by @HoYin Cheung - "Forest Echoes" Award “Warmth” by @UncleRed99 - "Home and Hearth" Award Lamentare Ciobanului - “The Shepherd’s Lament” by @ComposaBoi - "Pastorale" Award We have decided not to create more badges because it was inevitable that there would be some overlap/competition in the theme-ing of the badges. For that reason we concede that although the above badges were created for those specific pieces, it is up to the voters at large to determine whether those pieces will actually win those badges. To listen to all the entries go to the submissions thread: And for the competition announcement go here:

Thank you. The thing is, I never intended for this to actually be performed. I only do it because I enjoy composing and it feels like a sort of ‘natural compulsion’ to express certain emotions and so on. But I always try to ensure that what I write is realistic, for any instrument or voice—in other words, playable—and, if I can manage it, idiomatic The vocals with the lyrics are almost effortless. Thanks to a piece of software called Cantai, with which you simply have to write the notes, add the lyrics and choose the type of singer. It was tricky to set up at first because it’s very new, but now it works really well. In other words, you work in the same notation programme (Dorico in my case) without having to switch to any other. That’s why I decided to give it a go. This is a project I want to be in several parts (not too long, as I get tired). And it’s a sort of Humanist Requiem, in which there are no religious references but rather references to human beings, nature, destiny, light, etc.... The texts are a mix of Latin classics and phrases drawn from T.S. Eliot, Wordsworth, Mary Shelley, Byron, Keats, Sylvia Plath and... Joni Mitchell!! (because I adore her). The orchestra is deliberately unusual and sombre (no violins, oboes or high-pitched instruments, but others with great colour such as the celesta, which is rather ethereal). I am using 20th-century contemporary musical languages. In fact, this mini-prelude (which I have expanded slightly) is composed entirely using serial atonal technique, specifically Stravinsky’s rotational arrays (who, in turn, composed a Requiem using this technique towards the end of his life).

how about, "better than th..." oh nevermind