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Sir Pickles of Mercury hereby declares his entrance into the Grand Competition. (also: happy five years on the forum to me!!!!)

Written for the 2026 spring Young composer competition this work for percussion quintet features a wide range of natural and man-made percussion instruments to represent the integration of man and nature. Few years back me, and a few of my friends decided that it would be a good idea to cure our boredom by bringing a already busted up child size guitar meant for learning and to "" sacrifice it into the woods.'' the reservoir is a large body of water near where I live so it was a short distance, which then led to an easy walk into a bunch of colonial ruins where we laid the guitar and watch it rot away. Far deep in the reservoir lays a broken destroyed child size guitar that my sister got for her birthday as a child or something like that it’s been ever since sitting around around in the house and had transfer locations from her room to the living room room to the my room to the wilderness it’s final resting place. My sister never had been fond of performing music in her life. In fact she is quite horrible at it so my parents smartly in intelligently got her a low quality guitar anyways fast-forward a few years later, and I am now experimenting with multi instrumelity. However, though I got fond of extended techniques, playing it like a hammered dulcimer and even bowing the thing after me becoming friends with the lead guitarist to my modern day chamber band sort of situation, he starts to play it and at that point it only had two remaining strings. We all anonymously decided that we should bring it to the reservoir maybe hide a secret note in it after all the band was just a bunch of board teens, wanting something interesting to do with our lives, so what ended up happening was we snuck into the Reservoir found a foundation of an old colonial house and threw the guitar in it other than impact damage ever since the guitar has been rotting away however, though quite often me and my friends still visit it’s resting place only to see it in more final pieces I’m pretty sure I got rid of the note since it had some secrets that I do not want people finding and still to this day. It’s been resting there ever since. Percussion five has a lot of handmade instrument specifically for this work . The alcoholics shekere; is just a bucket with crushed up beer, cans, or soda cans is meant to be played in a similar style to a traditional shekere . the facidrum; faci- Latin for bundle, a bundle of resident sticks attached and tied up to a frame . Chopping block; a semi resonant piece of wood meant to be played like a table and a practice pad All of the other instruments should be self-explanatory Keep note that since because this was written in musescore bunch of playback loopholes has been exploited, although that there are more than five staves these are to represent each instrument in the set up rather than the actual part parts of represented by the groups that are bracketed. This is to create custom percussion set ups, and to satisfy an easier workflow with sound fonts. ' Sacrificed to the wilderness.mp3 Sacrificed to the wilderness.pdf

I’m excited to share my new piece: Sonata No. 23 in F-sharp major, written in binary form. It’s a charming and playful work, full of unexpected harmonic twists that give it a unique and stylish character—perhaps the most distinctive sonata I’ve written so far. I composed this piece in just a few hours spread over two days, making the creative process as spontaneous as the music itself. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it—let me know what you think in the comments!

No, they are not allowed since you need a trio Quartet, or a quintet .chamber Orchestra’s or in this case what you may be referring to as a string orchestra at minimum could contain at least up to nine players. Two per part other than double bass since they rarely get Div.

Hallo @interlect , that is a good question. Honestly, I also never heard about „Counter-Melody“ or „Twin Melody“. However, since I’ve always use counterpoint when composing, possibly I can explain something about. First of all, the “reviewers” who have concluded that this piece is not counterpoint may be somewhat surprised, since the piece has a “jazz” or “big band” feel that one doesn’t necessarily expect when looking forward to a piece performed on an organ, a piano, or perhaps by a chamber orchestra. But that kind of „style“ is not the issue. Counterpoint is not a style of music or related only with a certain era, namely the Baroque time. There is, for example, a Russian composer, Nikolai Kapustin, who wrote always in Jazz „style“, including 24 preludes and fugues in Jazz style, which – of cause – apply counterpoint. So, counterpoint is a composing technique, rather than a style: Counterpoint, or polyphonic music is all about voices that form rhythmically and melodically independent (horizontal) musical lines. When two or more such voices occur in a piece of music, they interact with each other, following certain contrapuntal rules and thus creating harmony. Since all voices are equally carriers of the melodic and rhythmic material, there is no specific melody voice and no subordinate accompaniment, for example through (vertical) chords. While singing independently, the voices do not have to be completely unrelated. Often, one voice repeats or imitates what another voice has sung before, as is the case in a canon, for example. Counterpuntal compositional technique fascinates with its efficiency in the use of thematic material. Once started with the (fugue) subject and the „accompaniment“ in the other voices (which is, in fact, no accompaniment but material being developed in interaction with the subject), there is enough material with which to compose without having to stop and reflect. To come back to your example: To me, it’s inherently a typical jazz piece based on a chord progression over which the band begins to improvise. In a chord progression, the vertical approach—that is, the chords themselves with their harmonies—is the fundamental compositional or improvisational technique. The melodic material follows these harmonies and generates the horizontal lines as a result of them, rather than as their original idea. And even though your two brass sections interact with each other in a kind of melodic dialogue, I get the impression that they are engaged in a “playful competition” to see who can deliver the better improvisation over the underlying jazz harmonies, rather than developing a “subject” or thematic material. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I really liked the piece, but it is also for me no counterpoint, and the other classifications like “Twin melody” or “Counter-Melody” (which, as far as I know, aren’t clearly defined terms) seem to be an attempt to express in a single word what I’ve tried to explain in more detail.

Hallo @HarryWood ! First of all, a warm welcome here at the YoungComposers Forum! Here are you among numerous music enthusiasts of a huge variety concerning their styles, compositional approaches and skills, so that I think, you’ll get the desired feedback. I was curious about what to expect about the style of your music, since you’ve called you a „new neo classical“ piano composer. The term „classical“ reminds me first to Beethoven or Mozart and „neo“ means for me to integrate more contemporary harmony and tonality. After listening to your pieces, they remind me more of Beethoven’s „Für Elise“, Richard Clayderman’s „Ballade Pour Adeline“ or „Comptine d'un autre ete – l'apres-midi“ from the French movie „Amelie“. Although all that pieces are very popular, that kind of genre is – as mentioned already by @Luis Hernández – somewhat too soft and non-exciting for me, too. Please don’t misunderstand that as a criticism on your person or your achievements in piano playing for about one year. The pieces sound good and have a calm mood, but putting some more ingredients in them would make them more unique: Whenever I think about what a good piece requires, the following things come to my mind: • First, a piece needs an idea how it could sound like, what mood it should have or which other pieces could be used as an inspiration (I think, that „ingredient“ you have already achieved with your pieces). • What a piece makes unique or captivating is a clever idea, creating a „unique selling point“, bringing some surprise to the listener. That is the „spice“ of the unexpected, for example a distinct harmony progression, an unexpected tonality or dissonances or a rhythmic surprise such as an unconventional meter (so I could imagine for your pieces a kind of Jazz harmony or somewhat more dissonant harmonies). • Another important thing is to think about the form of the piece. While this is a more theoretical topic, one sometimes has a good melodic idea (or even a number of), but the question is, how to put them together. So now the reflection comes, what the piece could be structurally, a simple A-B-A form, a rondo, in sonata form, a number of variations about the main theme? • A final question could be: In which context should the piece appear? I could imagine, that it is more satisfying to have an idea or „project“ of multiple pieces to be put together, for example, in a cycle such as „Six preludes“ or something like that. With such a framework in mind, you don’t run the risk of trying to create numerous unrelated pieces and perhaps putting them „unfinished“ away. The incentive „Now have I finished number four of six“ helps yourself to focus and you’ll see, nearly every piece is worth it to be retained. Looking around here at the forum would be a perfect place to get inspiration and don’t hesitate to „review“ other compositions too, even if they are from „more experienced“ composers. Every reply is welcome and receiving the „incentives“ (such as points, badges and finally ranks) does not primarily depend on the quality and quantity of the compositions you shared, but even more from the amount of feedback you’ve given. And, by the way, if you share your scores, too, the reviewers would be able to give more in-depth reply, for example also concerning the „art“ of score engraving. Friendly regards. Wieland

This is my submission for the Landscapes competition. For my landscape I have chosen this photo I took a few years ago while on vacation on Whidbey Island, which sits on the Puget Sound near Seattle. It's written for Oboe, Bassoon, and Harp. I wanted to capture the quiet, stillness of the moment with music that is very simple and delicate. Morning On Whidbey Island.mp3 Morning On Whidbey Island - Score.pdf

A beautiful piece that strikes me as being in the neoclassical style. It’s always lovely to see handwritten sheet music. I’m not sure if it’s a live performance or a virtual instrument; these days, anything is possible. The sound is a bit ‘muddled’ for my taste in a style like this.

I enter

Wieland, thank you for taking the time to comment on my work. Your interest is much appreciated. Mark

Well, whether or not you wrote specific bowings, you still wrote slur markings for the strings, which to them imply bowing information. Whether or not it's explicit, you can always justify your reasoning as the following; "With the given technicality of the work already demanding high accuracy from the performer, I wanted to take today to test if my orchestration would make the bowing information clear and implicit. For today, I decided to give their bowing instructions based on the slur markings in their parts, and following this session, I will amend and update the bowing instructions on the final copy of the score before its first performance." This essentially covers you in case they ask about it

Nobodies reviews are more "official" than anyone else's and you're free to review whichever entries you want and in any manner you see fit (you can use the official competition reviewing template or review them any way you want or use your own template). The winners will be decided by popular voting polls.

Hi! I'm Harry Wood. I'm new to this forum and all things music honestly. I'm 30 years old, discovered piano a year ago and fell in love. I have no musical background, I've never played an instrument prior to this and I'm still learning how to read sheet music. I'm going for my grade 1 in piano later this year I hope. Started writing my own music 3 months ago as a way to express myself and my emotions, I'm very into neo classical artists such as Ludovico. I am struggling to know what to actually do with the pieces I have written. I think it sounds okay but I struggle to find people to show to see what others think of it. Below you can find 2 audio clips of my latest piano compositions, neither are finished and I will continue to work on them but I would love some feedback and opinions no matter how harsh it may be. I have fallen in love with writing music and I want to get better and that will only happen through honest feedback so please feel free to express your opinions and I will take it all on board. Kind Regards Harry. Far From Everything Far From Everything.mp3 As I am As I am.mp3

I really enjoyed this! I think you capture the "voice" of Schoenberg that he has in most of his orchestral works. I said this in a previous review, but orchestration is really subjective....so here are my suggestions: First piece I think the oboe is suppose to be piano as well (it's not marked in the score). I also think the pickup Trumpet run can be transferred to the clarinet I don't think the 1st trombone needs to double the cello/horn in the 4th bar. In measure 7, unless the orchestra has 5 timpani drums (or an EXTREMELY good player who can quickly adjust tuning) that is going to be difficult In measure 8, that trumpet part looks questionable...that 32nd note might be messy In bars 13-14, probably could combine the cello/bass part to be played by divided cello....helps with thinning out the sound since it's marked p Generally, it's really hard for brass players to play pp or ppp when there is a moving/active part with leaps. I would give the trombone/tuba part to a bass clarinet and/or bassoon near the end. Second piece I would've used bassoons instead of horn in the 2nd measure. They sound more "dry" staccato and will blend with the pizzicato I'm assuming "ord" means Arco? make that clear in the string parts Trombones don't usually read in treble clef. I would change that to a tenor clef in the last measure. Third piece I would just have the tuba play without doubling from trombone. The passage is already pp and tuba has a more rounder sound for that I think the pppp markings are a bit much Fourth piece Measure 10: that bassoon/trumpet figure is going to be very tricky to play in unison. I would just have trumpet play it (even though it would be a challenge) Fifth piece From how it's written in the score, it looks you only want half of the 2nd violin section play measures 8-11? Sixth piece There is a lot of pp and ppp in here...but a lot of instrument doubling - for example bars 5-6 cello/bass doubling bass trombone/tuba AND all bass instruments the last measure. I would do mutes for all strings and brass in this piece. Maybe even solo strings to reduce the sound. The last two eight notes could easily be just a single bass player doing pizzicato

Hello @Luis Hernández ! I’m not able to write a „review“ today since therefore I would like to explore the six little piano pieces in more depth in its original version to compare them with your orchestration. So for now, all I can say is that I really enjoyed them and consider them good examples of orchestration—especially for someone like me who has no experience yet. The great thing about them is that the pieces are so short yet still expressive—so there should be no excuse not to go even deeper into the details (if the time allows me). Now, somewhat off-topic: Two days ago, I attended a performance of Dvořák’s “Stabat Mater” with a full orchestra and a massive choir (430 singers). This was a real fun, not only because of the bombastic sound, but also because I was able to follow Dvořák’s orchestration live. It is the total contrast to the „six little piano pieces“, since he stays very long on the harmonies and even single tones – letting them „rotate“ through the entire orchestra. At one point, you hear and see the cellos playing a chord while the double basses accompany them with pizzicato. A moment later, you can still hear the chord, but you see that the cellos have stopped playing, and after a moment of surprise, you realize that the horns have taken over and the pizzicato has been reinforced by the timpani. Yet the transition was so seamless that you didn’t even notice the change in instruments, only a slight shift in timbre. And by the way, the first movement of the “Stabat Mater” begins with exactly one note being played for nine measures, passing through all the instruments before the main theme begins. That reminded me of one of your recent posts: “What can I do with two notes?” 🙂

Very Good Well Done You've Set a Standard that's Hard to compete with.... By using only 3 Instruments, you've been able to create an inspiring, "MOOD".

Sometimes I just sit down at the keyboard and just let my fingers go wherever they want to. Most of the time I fail to capture any of that and immediately forget what I did. Today however, I just happened to be recording and captured what I played. I thought this wasn’t that bad and decided to share it. Hope you enjoy my playing around on the keys. Stream of consciousness.mp3

Dear friend, thank you very much for your kind words—I’m glad you liked it. The piano is the Pianoteq 9 plugin. Sometimes the compression or the microphones might not be properly adjusted, so it can sound a bit muddled, but Pianoteq is the best there is when it comes to software. Also, I’m the one playing. I record it using the GarageBand program.

I really enjoyed it. And it reminded me of Ives’s sonatas, although he didn’t improvise. Certainly, given its length and the fact that it’s improvised, it’s phenomenal. It never loses its direction or its appeal.

So are chamber orchestras allowed?

It sounds fantastic, very cinematic. The backing vocals are a bit odd, but that’s always the case with virtual ones. The score—I imagine it was created in a DAW because it’s a bit… in that style.

Hi all, Here's a short work for string trio. All comments welcome. Mark New String Trio.mp3 New String Trio.pdf

Hello @MJFOBOE , even if this lovely string trio is only the second of your compositions that I’m going to comment, I think that I can already recognize your personal style: Playful pieces which seem to be „easy“ on the first glance, but are well crafted and have a feeling of people talking and interacting together (the other piece I reviewed was „Mother and son“). I like the independence of the voices – each one being its own personality. And even it isn’t „strict counterpoint“, I can see how the piece is developed from a few recurring motifs making it memorable and varied.

This is a simple expression of hope. Spring - Spring.mp3 Spring.pdf

Hello @Some Guy That writes Music , I enjoyed the piece, considering that a nine-voice string arrangement has the potential for an enormous richness in texture, like that of a motet. Thus, it would be great to listen it played by a large string orchestra or by a small ensemble consisting of only one instrument per voice. I like the dissonances and somewhat unexpected harmony progressions, giving the piece its unique, modern character. But I would agree with @danishali903 's comments that there are some aspects which could be improved: I think, there is potential to further enrich the texture. Even if you’ve already developed the voices independently, there are often pairs or groups of instruments with the same rhythmic pattern and the same direction in voice leading. Contrary motion in voice leading makes the dialogue between the melodic lines more interesting and, on the other hand, helps to avoid parallels (which I have not checked and I do not expect that you to have produced ones). I would also appreciate to have more suspensions. This would give you more variation in the rhythmic pattern and allows you to create smoother harmonic transitions, which would soften the dissonances somewhat (and you could then introduce even more of them…) At some points, I also preferred more rhythmic variety in the bass. Why not contrast the long, tied notes with pizzicato sections?

I've heard those before; even after writing music for 38 years, it sounds impossible to a non-pianist! Easy trick to it, I suppose.

Measure 36.

It would be really cool to hear a large string orchestra play this piece. A couple of comments: It's a bit static and on the short side. I think more development of the melodic material, or even an another theme (that's a little more "active") can help with that. There is a lot of unconvincing, but slightly interesting voice leading and harmonic clashes going on. Some of the transitional chords really random and don't set up the next phrase like they should (most prominent example is bars 39-40 going into 41). It would it make more interesting to have the lower strings have a more active part than just holding on to half notes. The violins don't always have to play the melody, share it with the others! Try to be more creative in writing for parts that are accompanying the melody.

Dipping my toes back in music composition after a hiatus. Last year, I wrote this piece in honor of the Detroit Medical Orchestra. This orchestra comprises volunteer musicians from the medical profession in the metro Detroit area, including doctors, nurses, dentists, medical students, and more. Their mission is to bring healing through music, and they perform free concerts throughout the region to achieve this goal. I’ve been a part of this wonderful orchestra for many years, and I wrote this piece to celebrate its 15th anniversary. This piece is somewhat an unofficial sequel to the very first piece I posted here on this website, as it continues to explore Greek mythology. (https://www.youngcomposers.com/t34170/nocturne-for-orchestra-an-ode-to-nyx-goddess-of-night/#comment-1186668533) More information of the piece can be found in the short program notes in the PDF score. The Detroit Medical Orchestra had the opportunity to perform this at a local hospital. I'm linking the performance here, as well as providing the audio MIDI mockup. Any comments/feedback is highly appreciated :) Asclepius.mp3 An Ode to Ascelpius, God of Medicine and Healing - Full score.pdf

The six short piano pieces date from 1911 and belong to the free atonal period, preceding a more “radical” systematization.

You sure you're not an English major too? 😂 I like how you spun that 😆

Thx bro - you were a HUGE help!! I learned so much.

Thanks for the comments, Alex! The piccolo will sound an octave higher than written, so technically it is still pitched above the flutes. I agree! I tried figuring out how to do this in Dorico but couldn't figure it out without it looking weird (hence my note). The "vertical" accents denote Marcato. My interpretation is that they are played stronger than your regular accent and are slightly shorter in duration (a half note maybe played as a dotted quarter perhaps)...each note with the Marcato marking needs to be hammered and short-ish. Err...I guess that is subjective and depends on the context of what else is going on in the score. sffz definitely is more "hammered" than sfz

Hi Danish, Really like your orchestration here. Interesting choice in Bar 85, where your piccolo is pitched below the flutes. I think in Bar 9, where you have two harp harmonics played together, you technically should have two harmonic circle symbols on top of each other above the staff. I wonder how you define the difference between vertical and horizontal accents? (The conductor I work with, advised me not to use the vertical ones, as he thought their meaning was ambiguous.) Also, how do sfz and sffz differ from an accent?

Those are very different things. If I buy a hydraulic press and use it to flatten a stainless steel pipe, obviously I'm morally responsible for flattening the pipe. If that pipe belonged to someone else, I can hardly evade responsibility by saying, "Hey, it wasn't me! It was the hydraulic press!" On the other hand, it's equally obvious that I can't lay claim to flattening the pipe as a feat of strength. If I cry, "Behold my strength!" as I hold the flattened piece of steel aloft, I am quite rightly met with, "Uh... you didn't do that. The hydraulic press did."

We studied this piece in Orchestration, it was wonderful. Our textbook had different voicings/arrangements of chords w/ audio recordings so it was really helpful. I love this description...it's really a combination of instrument capability & range knowledge, compositional/arranging chops, and creativity. Imagining what you want the final to sound like and using your tool kit to make it happen.

Hiihiiii!!! This is my submission for the Spring 2026 Landscapes Competition :) For my landscape, I've chosen the mountains of Zhangjiajie, China. The first time that I saw these mountains, I was awestruck by just the sheer scale of them. Massive peaks and towers, overgrown with centuries-old moss, reaching beyond the clouds. Really just gorgeous. I wanted to try to write about them. The piece starts off zoomed outwards, depicting the sparseness of the clouds, until eventually, a melody begins to creep towards the first real theme--which I call the garden theme. The focus is on the garden now, zoomed in, it's a sort of natural oasis along the side of one of the tall mountainous pillar. It's beautiful, lush, full, until the garden begins to die as winter comes. The harmony because sparse and vague again, with large spontaneous gusts of wind... just very dry sounding overall. That is, until months later, the clouds darken, promising a heavy storm. Anticipation builds, until eventually, rain comes pouring down, so densely that it's almost like a wall. It's the first rain of spring!!! After the rain settles down, the garden comes to life again with the re-entry of the garden theme!! The piece ends as the focus zooms back out onto the clouds, and the tension finally resolves again. My goal with the piece was to try to represent the life cycle of the plant life out in the setting of Zhangjiajie. I hope you all like it !!!! AmidstTheCloudsAndFlowers.mp3 AmidstTheCloudsAndFlowers.pdf

Haha, I was just curious whether you would notice that and even ask about! Yes, in fact the composer Thomas Handke is my brother. One could perhaps put the bars 11 and 12 together changing its time signature to 7/4 with a starting quarter rest. But I understand, that you would not like it, since the rhythmic recapitulation of the first bar would be changed with this leading rest. The “overly correct” version might be to write measure 10 twice using “volta brackets,” with version 1 remaining unchanged and version 2 changed to 5/4 with a closing quarter rest, so that the rest would appear at the end of the phrase as intended. However, there is no problem with the single bar in ¼ meter. The only thing which „bothered“ me was that the „whole bar rest“ – while being correctly - looks at the first glance like a „whole note rest“ which obviously does not fit in a bar of ¼. Thus, the simplest solution could be to change that rest to a quarter rest in mm. 11.

E.A.S. | Electronic Ambient Space ELECTRONIC AMBIENT SPACE.mp3

Not a specific note for your piece, but when it comes to orchestrating piano pieces, the gold standard is Ravel. I would highly recommend studying his orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Picture At An Exhibition, along with his orchestration of his pieces like Ma Mere l’Oyle and Le Tombeau de Couperin. I would also give a listen to Brahams Haydn Variations, in both the double piano and orchestral versions. One thing you’ll note about these works, is how they weren’t limited by the notes on the page. As an orchestrator you are not just transferring notes from one instrument to another. You are interpreting the music through your own sound.

Thanks Wieland Handke for your review of my piece and your impressions about each sententia often amounting to a detailed review of it. Indeed I also consider the sixth one to be the best realization of the “sententia” form as well as perhaps the best of this set. Regarding the link of the composer Thomas Handke that you mention, I wonder whether he is related to you as he has the same surname. I listened to his “Partita für Fagott solo, op. 33” and enjoyed it. It is also performed well by the performer. Thanks for the link! I have only composed one solo piece for fagott which is the bassoon in English, and consider it an instrument with a voice full of feeling. Regarding the 11th measure of Sententia No. 5 in ¼ and with only a rest, it was done for practicality since otherwise the repeat sign would have to be made in the middle of the bar (in case I changed it to 5/4), a practice which I have the impression is not desirable if not incorrect. Or I would have had to write out a new bar as a separate continuation of the repeat.

Hallo @luderart as you frequently present compositions in this style—short, aphoristic pieces for solo instruments—your compositional approach differs from that of most other members of the forum, who often attempt to write full-scale symphonic works for a large orchestra. Yet in an orchestra, an instrument is merely a gear in a large clockwork mechanism and is subject to the conductor’s interpretive intent. On the other hand, dedicated solo pieces for monodic instruments seem to be rare, so that I could imagine that they are appreciated by players of the clarinet, bassoon etc. However, when I listen to them and look at the score, I sense a kind of loneliness (which is not a criticism, but merely a statement of fact): The solo instrument „utters“ its sentence, yet no conversation emerges, as there is no accompanying or contrasting voice. And even the score pages look a bit „lonely“, since there is remaining whitespace due to the need of only one staff for notation ... Here is another, similar approach to a piece for a solo instrument, the bassoon. The composer, in that case, decided to put the „sentences“ in a more programmatic context, depicting „a garden“ over the course of a year. https://youtu.be/ok_R4cstdGs Now, some short thoughts to the individual sententiae: No. 1 It serves as an overture, trying to gain the attention of the listener. The meter change from 6/4 to 5/4 in bar two is somewhat surprising, and, together with the two trills, reminds me of the bells ringing in the lobby of a concert hall, urging the audience to take their seats before the playful quintuplet melody begins. No. 2 A short, playful piece - reminding me at children playing around. No. 3 To me, the third sentence has a melancholic and contemplative character, which is only seemingly lightened by the eighth-note runs. The final question remains unanswered. No.4 The fourth one has a quality that even exceeds the character of a „sentence only“. Because it consists of three clearly perceptible motifs, which are used in sequences, it has enough thematic material, so that it could be developed further or used as a sketch for a much larger piece, too. No. 5 Again, a sententia which is a short piece of its own, now in A-B-A form, yielding a small exposition, a development and a recapitulation. (Fun fact for me is bar 11. in 1/4 meter with the sole purpose to place a rest ...) No. 6 Number six for me expresses the idea behind the „sententiae“ as its best: Although it has a simple texture with only staccato semiquavers, the rests at the end of the phrases serve as the period at the end of a sentence, thus structuring the short utterance. No. 7 With number seven – which also bears thematic material which could be developed further -, we come back to a more melancholic mood, somewhat a recapitulation of sententia number 3.

An emotional piece with a meticulously crafted score. The multi-divisional arrangement of the string section is particularly interesting.

Hi everyone! I'm currently working on a 4 movement Piano Sonata in E minor, and I've already written the first movement, at around a little over 10 minutes in length alone. Im 15 years old, and although I'm a classically trained pianist studying at the peabody preparatory, I'm a self taught composer, so I'd appreciate any feedback on notation, structure, and really anything else that could benefit the piece, which could help me refine further. The piece is in sonata form, with the A and B themes in the exposition both lasting from m.1-163 (A - m.1-82, B - m.83-163), a development section (with a brief 24 measure Fugato on the main theme from m.21-37) lasting from m.164-219, and then the recap from m.220-293. The piece goes through many modulations, occasional complex polyrhythms, chromaticism, complex late-romantic/impressionist harmonies, cross-staff textures, delayed resolutions, distant key relationships, using "deceptive" major keys, and it ends the exposition in B major, the dominant, rather than G major the relative major. The development begins with the fugato in D# minor, and then after going through A# minor, G# minor, Ab major, breaking the fugato, and E major, it begins the recap back in E minor, moving through a few more keys to finally reach E major in the end. For this sonata, I'm very inspired by liszt (both his more virtuosic showpieces and his more introspective late works), especially with how he uses thematic development and combines "mephisto" drama with lyrical spirituality. In the beginning of my piece, you have the main motive of the entire piece, what I call the "B octave motive", since it's just octaves in both hands repeating the note B, but this single motive (both rhythmically and melodically) can be found in almost every section of the piece, from the tempestuous A theme, to the spiritual, watery and flowing B theme. The polar opposite contrast between the A and B themes creates both immense technical and musical demands for the performer, while still being idiomatic. Additionally, many of the ideas in this sonata, come from my own improvisations over the years, which I think helps give me a little bit of a distinct voice, but I'd like to know the perspectives of others. As I already mentioned, all feedback is appreciated! Note: the first link is me playing a slightly cut version of the exposition, and links 2 and 3 show me playing the parts I cut out from the first link. Links: https://youtu.be/MyptBsYMNiw https://youtube.com/shorts/-kIa8oVrUg4 https://youtube.com/shorts/_eLFRSilBzs https://youtube.com/shorts/_lOHz4Nz5qE https://youtu.be/qlEPGqwAq64 Piano Sonata in E Minor - Full Score.pdf

Thanks for posting @Sebastian Guzman ! It's been a while since I've listened to the Liszt B minor Sonata, but I am definitely getting vibes of it here (most assuredly from your B-octave motif). Your musical language in this work does feel very Lisztian to me, which is inclusive of the harmony and the piano textures, and that I mostly do mean as a compliment. I'm curious to know what other influences/inspirations you may have had while writing this movement though, as some sections do seem to draw from other wells of musical ideas (e.g. the harmonic movements in b. 91-105 felt distinctly modern to me). I confess that I am not really in a position to offer super helpful advice but I hope you'll find this useful anyway. I also don't mean any suggestion as an attack on your writing, of course, but as an exchange of ideas that you could optionally disregard :) Exposition The B-octave motif is very reminiscent of one of the motifs in the B minor Sonata, haha. I see that the majority of the dotted rhythm in this motif is the backbone for the rhythm of the A theme, if I am correct... I noticed in your trimmed-down video you seemed to have cut out b. 54-62 from the A theme and b. 105-118 from the B theme? Admittedly, I prefer the abridged version as I thought the material in question to be a little redundant, given that you do cover well and to great length both themes in the exposition. My thematic economy side of my brain would like to think that one should only state a theme until the listener is familiar enough with it to recognise said theme when it pops up in the development. If you wanted to keep said material for symmetry/form-related reasons/other personal preferences, though, by all means do so. I do love the B theme in all of its mellow sweetness, especially its first half. The second half of the B theme feels a bit static with the repeated notes, but coupled with the rolling left hand accompaniment, it does give a sense of floating/gliding, if that is what you desired. As I said, I quite like the harmony you move through in b. 91-105. A charming change in texture from b. 154 onwards! Development The fugato start of the development seems a bit dry? I can see where you are going with the material but I'm not super convinced by b. 164-187, though I suppose some pedal would help, or varying the articulation and texture a tad more even if a fugato. I didn't quite exactly get fugato vibes from it either, given how long the statement of the theme is. This is completely a suggestion, of course, and it is up to you as to how you'd like your sonata to work, but perhaps using only the first phrase of the theme (b. 164-166) and then building up a series of entries in other voices could be rather effective. I somewhat find this example to also be a bit dry, but I like the energy build-up of this fugato moment in the development of the fourth movement of Scriabin's Third Sonata, if you wanted something similar. Interesting, from b. 178 onwards in the fugato, you introduce another voice that is the B theme, or at least an echo of it, if I'm correct? I am a big fan of juxtaposing thematic material in the development sections of sonatas, if so... The material in b. 196-215 seems a bit overly virtuosic? I'm uncertain whether there might be some significance in the chords/harmonies you use here, but I think it'd be great to insert more of the existing thematic material in here, fragmented or whatnot. Overall, the development feels short to me, not in the least because I feel like you could've pulled out your compositional chops a bit more. Given the length of the exposition, I think this deserves a heftier development with varied treatment and inclusion of all three of the A and B themes and the B-octave motif. Trying to set the tempestuous A theme or the B-octave motif into the suave atmosphere/mood of the B theme, for example, or more chopping and changing, there are a wide variety of things you could do. Liszt can of course be a great source of ideas here! Recap Nice to restate the B-octave theme. Maybe the transition from the end of the development could be made smoother? I'm not sure though. I like the recasting of the textures in the recap of the A theme, but it feels a little airy? I'm not sure if you were going for that feel, and if you were, then I am in no place to complain. I suppose you could add some deep bass notes on the offbeats to give it a bit more body and hold them with your regular pedal, or see if the sostenuto pedal could work (though it could make the right hand arpeggios rather dry). I also appreciate the A theme being a bit shorter here... With b. 236 onwards and B theme, the energy seems to drop somewhat, with almost the exact statement of the original B theme but transposed. It is once again up to you, but you could also recap the B theme in a different texture, as you did with the A theme. I felt like the energy levels ought to have ramped up a bit more moving further and further down to match the energy of b. 282 onwards to the coda, possibly? At the moment, the ending feels mildly content with itself, though I would think the large chords and dynamics would suggest otherwise. With notation and formatting, I also admit I'm not the best person to offer advice, but there does seem to be the occasional odd things, e.g. whatever is stretching out b. 122 (the rest in the upper staff can also be removed there), the clipping of text at the end of the system at b. 248-250, and the slightly overzealous floating slur in b. 288. I've been told that with hairpins, it's best practice to state exactly which dynamic the hairpin starts and ends at, including double hairpins like < so >, but I am open to corrections. Yeah, that's most of what I have to offer with thoughts. Excellent playing, by the way, I almost forgot to mention! This already looks like a difficult sonata so far with this first movement and you interpreted it very pleasingly, at least to my ears, and in a very convincing way (though I suppose it is up to the composer yourself to decide whether it was served justice, lol).

Right, so we can safely write off the idea that you "composed" this piece.

What I said is that there is no way AI generated "just a recording" of his piece. When I googled, even when I asked ChatGPT, there is no AI presently that can generate an accurate — "1:1" as OP says — mockup recording. If there was, Spitfire would be closing their doors right now. He also says he prompted it. Okay well, do you actually believe he sat there and typed out an entire note-for-note description and it rendered it? If you believe that, then prompt the AI (he doesn't say which he used) and if you don't get the exact same result, then you know he's lying. I can't get Suno to generate a solo drone, never mind a precise multi-voice harmony for choir that is 1:1 what I'd write. What has most likely happened here, is he is passing off an AI generated track as "his" work because it fit the "vision" he had or something and is providing you with a transcription. Until someone provides evidence and can replicate this piece with the same prompts or software, there is no reason to believe otherwise.

I just posted it up here: I enjoyed listening and I'm glad I did!