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I am very happy to share my 27th Piano Sonata, written in binary form. The work is written in an Allegro character and explores contrasts between lively, restless passages and more expressive and introspective moments, with changing harmonic colours and a gradual movement towards a quiet and gentle conclusion. I have dedicated this Sonata to my dear friend Henry, as a small expression of my appreciation and admiration for him, both as a composer and, above all, as a friend. It is a great pleasure for me to dedicate one of my works to someone whose music I appreciate and whose friendship I value deeply. The performance is my own, using the J. Weimes Fortepiano (1808) from Pianoteq 9. I hope you enjoy listening to it, and I would be very happy to hear your thoughts and impressions.

Hi! Just assessing Henry here, I guess. @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu note that accordionists overall, specially those who are amateur, or just interested in performing, will know as much as any non-player (but musician) of the ways this instrument may be properly engraved. More often than not, as it happens with many other instruments, we "convert" the information to our format on the go. I fear something similar would happen to the piece you've brought to my attention. Now, in regards of the accordion scoring of this PDF I'd say that : RH specified at the beginning of the piece do not match with the provided sounds (LH could, but I'm not certain, it sounds like a Soft Bass and it definitely has no soprano voice sounding in those very first bars that I'm discussing right after this bullet) MMM or MM for the RH are the ones you're looking for, at least judging by the soundfont which appears to be a french musette, so it's either that or open violin register. Note that no registers work for providing thirds neither accordionist spawn them on the go. I'm seeing the working score and I just don't get why there are so many notes that are just not present. Note that not all accordions have these, some 3-voice Piginis and other famous italian concerto accordion brands prefer the dry sound of the harmonium register, LMH. or 4' + 8' + 16'. Your sound is 8'+8' or 8'+8'+8', assuming it's the one you are seeking for. Chord movements by semitones are to be avoided if possible. Otherwise, you'll be inflicting tremendous pain to the accordionist, assuming Stradella system since it's the one you're using. So, without extending myself much, let's just review some examples. These are M15 to M18 if I'm not mistaken. RH register, according to the audio, should be MMM or MM as I mentioned. Bass voice doesn't sound like Soft Tenor but that's minor. What's not minor is that F#dim and Bdim are so far away from each other and from the G7 and C buttons, demanding unneeded agility. Here there's no other option than to briefly discuss voicing. The voicing on standard 6-row stradella accordions with 2 rows of basses and 4 rows of chords is root+m3+7dim (and depending on the register, that can be doubled or tripled in octaves above and below). There's no fifth sound, neither in the 7 button chord, allowing the accordionist to essentially do a Xm6 or a Xº by using the dim button and the proper bass, and some other interesting combinations. And thus, all these red notes are... Not quite accurate, to say the least. According to the register you are using in the score (soft tenor), chords should be an octave higher with the proper voicings. No chord button alone produces more than 3 notes. M/m -> 1-M/m3-5, and for the other two (7, d), you take the 5th. You can find more information about Stradella voicings here in case you be interested in making it right. I have briefly talked about this for a reason, since you're not doing the complete Xº tetrad, the symmetry of chords marked "d" is in principle broken. But since I don't think it's gonna be a problem because the F# is already being played by another instrument, in that excerpt I would change F#º by Cº, which is very close to the G an C chords you're gonna play afterwards, and also, on a similar fashion and by using a similar argument, I would change Bº → Fº. Note that similar occurences happen throghout the whole piece. Finally, there are many register changes that are not reflected in the audio at all. In fact, since the very beginning it's clear that there's no "Clarinet M" sounding, but a French musette. While I can understand the limitations because most usual accordion soundfonts come with musette or in two voices already, there are plenty of incorrect examples. Here I tried to point out some. M26-28. The "Master" register uses 5 voices in the bass buttons, 5 because the contralto doubles the alto voice in half of the octave and the tenor voice in the other half, adding to the previous Soprano (2') + Alto (4') + Tenor (8') + Basso (16'). The website I shared notes C to F in alto and F# to B in tenor, but truth be told, this depends 100% on the manufacturer. On the right hand we got a fair deal of strange stuff too. You write "Musette Imitation", which consists on 2 middle voices (8'+8', one lightly detuned forward, usually) and a voice that's an octave higher. And that's for all notes, not jut for the ones you'd like to double, sorry. What's usually the benefit of changing registers that much in a piece? Little, unless you are Gianfelice Fugazza and you know exactly, and I mean exactly what you're doing, in the context of a pedagogic piece, an étude, an example, or a concerto piece. So I can assure you that with no loss of sound quality or musicality, had you removed all RH register changes and replaced them by an open violin (8'+8') and/or a musette (8'+8'+8') register, the sound would be closer to what the audio depicts and probably to what you were seeking for, since: Accordion, yes! Any accordion? Nein! A French musette accordion, a Cavagnolo, a Mengascini. Not a dry Pigini and if you wanna be just right about the french sound, not even a Hohner would do the trick. Ah, and these are often traditionally button accordions, not keyboard accordions, but you'll find a handful of them too. By doing what I suggested, you'll get rid of difficult/uncomfortable sections. Apart from the chord issues, we'd clean up things like these: Not impossible at all. But if you don't have one of these expensive accordions (that won't sound like French musette) that come with chin switches, you'd better pray these three registers are close enough. And just in case, the other hand is busy handling the bellows. And again, your working score (which I assume you used for the audio) doesn't correctly notate the passage according to the registers of choice. That said, the piece was nice to listen to. Not my turn to evaluate it, and I don't really want to bore you further, but the "Engraving" and "Playability" parts (which are definitely related in my opinion... Something may be possible to perform but its actual playability could be demeaned by its poor engraving) would not get a pass from me, sorry Wieland. I mean: your score frontpage looks very nice, it's original, and imo shows great care for it (though, why does it say 15 of 24 if this is the XXI? Or I'm in the wrong?). So, what happened here? Why none of that permeated into the score itself? Lack of time? Perhaps indolence? Lack of inertia or eagerness cause many may not make use of it for judging? I'm sorry if I'm being hard, but I'm not ill intentioned at all here, I just do not understand. I may not agree with every engraving choice you made in your XXI Praeludium for piano solo but that shows how you could have got a way cleaner score out of this. Or maybe not? If you don't mind, Wieland: what software are you using? Musescore 4? I think this reply is long enough already. I wish you the best for this competition. May you find any of this of help. Best regards, Daniel–Ø.

Thanks to all 9 participants who submitted music to the competition - the recipients of the "Alchemist Award"! Summer's Day by @Kvothe On Pastel Skies by @Fruit hunter Plus belle encor votre chère beauté by @MK_Piano Your dear beauty lovelier still by @Musicman_3254 Summer – A Song of Beauty and Melancholy by @Wieland Handke Saxophone Quartet no. 2 - Un clair jour d'été by @Ninja Nolan So on a bright Summer Day by @Matthew M Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été by @latebeethoven_addict Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été by @JDevorMusic The members have voted!!! And the winners are ... --==<< Decisive Fanfare >>==-- For winning the "Spirit of Verlaine" Award for the best depiction of Verlaine's poem and the most imaginative transformation of the text into music: with 5 votes, Saxophone Quartet no. 2 - Un clair jour d'été by @Ninja Nolan !!! Congratulations!For winning the "Poème d'Amour" Award for the piece that best captured the sensation of love: with 6 votes, Plus belle encor votre chère beauté by @MK_Piano !!! Congratulations! For winning the "Évocation" Award for the piece that best captured the sensation of summer: with 3 votes, Your dear beauty lovelier still by @Musicman_3254 !!! Congratulations! For winning 3rd place overall with 9 points - We have a tie!!! On Pastel Skies by @Fruit hunter and Summer – A Song of Beauty and Melancholy by @Wieland Handke will both receive the following trophy: For winning 2nd place overall with 16 points - Plus belle encor votre chère beauté by @MK_Piano will receive the following trophy: For winning 1st place overall with 17 points - Saxophone Quartet no. 2 - Un clair jour d'été by @Ninja Nolan will receive the following trophy: Congratulations to all the winners!!! We will now move your pieces to the "Competition Hall of Fame" sub-forum! And thanks to all the following participants who also reviewed all the entries! The contest would not have been as much fun and as instructional as it was without you! The following members will receive the "Heavyweight Reviewer" badge for reviewing 100% of the entries (9) submitted to the competition!@Kvothe @Fruit hunter @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu @chopin @Wieland Handke @Thatguy v2.0 @PeterthePapercomPoser @JDevorMusic And the following members will receive the "Welterweight Reviewer" badge for reviewing 66% of the entries (6) submitted to the competition!@MK_Piano And the following members will receive the "Featherweight Reviewer" badge for reviewing 33% of the entries (3) submitted to the competition!@Luis Hernández @TristanTheTristan @MJFOBOE Thank you to all 12 Ardent Reviewers who reviewed the contest entries! Once again - great reviewing turnout! We had more reviewers than composers in the competition! And thanks for me @PeterthePapercomPoser for organizing and managing all the competition polls, announcements, submission thread, badges, results, satisfaction survey and advertising outreach! I will receive the "Community Organizer" badge! To take the "From Nothing, to Something" Satisfaction Survey go here: To listen to all the entries go to the submission thread: To see the Popular Voting Polls go here: To go to the competition announcement go here:

2. If you didn't submit music to the competition, why not?I just wanted to review this time

Writing for a quartet of all the same instrument (not only the same type or from the same family) can be quite challenging but you managed to bring the most important parts out in high relief in your recording which gave the music focus despite the identical tone colors and close harmonic spacing. This listener was hardly ever in doubt about what to listen for. I think each movement of the piece improves upon the previous. Hence, my favorite is III. The Evening. The melancholic hue of this one is just so full of longing and heartache. It’s also obviously a great depiction of the end of a good day/sunset. The music tells me that we don’t want the day to end yet, that it’s too soon. Overall, this entry is full of ideas and contrasts them and sustains musical interest throughout the entirety of its duration. The live recording is another bonus added on top of an entry with an already excellent execution. As of the writing of this review, I’ve been tasked with recording a 4 movement sonata for solo horn. Your live recording is giving me lots of ideas and inspiration to perhaps record my own horn quartet or horn sonata after I finish this gig. Thanks for your participation and good luck in the polls! Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 9.5 9.5 10 9.5 9 9.5 9.5 Average Score: 9.44

Please please please be nitpicky, it helps. Not only for the composer, but those reading as well. @Ninja Nolan Kudos for the recording! And also, very cool ensemble. It must have been a challenge for a quartet with instruments of the same range...and same name :D I think this is very cool, and the range and monophonic restrictions breed creativity. AND ALSO, I love the idea of different movements for the stanzas. I feel like this could have been something you wrote before the competition but fit the criteria. Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, very cool and creative piece. I agree with those who said variation in texture could have been beneficial. This to me was conservative in nature, but executed very well. There weren't moments that really "wowed" me, but it's so solid in craft that it hardly matters. You were able to showcase the instrument from your performance, and that means something. Hopefully people interested in soprano sax writing can benefit from your piece in knowledge of the instrument. This really fit the theme of the competition to me, and I enjoyed this thoroughly. Good luck in the voting!

Hi @Ninja Nolan , Lovely writing, you can tell you're also quite the saxophonist in addition to being a composer! Writing a quartet for all of the same instrument is a bold choice. I find this limited sense of timbre/range leads to difficulties when listening to a new piece. However, I didn't feel this way with your writing at all. It showcased the soprano sax well, everything blended quite nicely, and I found the piece to be very successful. Breaking it up into three movements was a smart idea. You did a great job isolating and contemplating the mood of each of Verlaine's stanzas. Also, the French titles for each movement are a nice touch. Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 9 10 good use of multiple movements 10 10 very fussy with dynamics, but I love it 10 10 9 Average Score: 9.625

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.5 5.5 9 6 9.5 10 8.75 7.5 Avg: 7.96 Very upbeat piece easily reminds me of a summer afternoon. The intro is a beautiful opening in the classical style, very well done. Clear structure and elegantly formed themes make this a very easy piece to follow. The dynamics or audio balancing need a little work because a lot of your melodies (anything in the treble clef) sound muddled due to the lack of proper balancing. My favorite part aside from the opening, is your key changing at around 2:40. This was a very much needed change because most of your harmony was quite tame. Although the key changing was a fun deviation of your piece, modulations within key can sometimes break the monotony, so don't be afraid to temporarily venture out of key every so often.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 9.5 9.5 8.5 10 8.5 8.75 8.75 Avg: 9.06 All movements are done well. You have excellent themes, appropriate and interesting harmony and very clear form. Your audio and dynamics are also excellent. And I normally don't compliment engraving of music, but in this case as far as the score goes, it looks really professional. Did you use Dorico for your scoring? Let me comment on harmony so you understand why I marked so high. Even though your harmony may not be as crazy as let's say, experimental or modern music, I feel you used appropriate harmony which complements your themes beautifully. It also helps that your movements are contrasting each other with style and mood according to the poem's stanzas. And one more point about your harmony, in my view, you are using it to portray mood correctly, while not sacrificing the integrity of your music's theme and structure. And as mentioned before, your themes are very fun and catchy. Honestly I couldn't find a dull moment, you knew just the right length before concluding each section.

If you are interested, this is what Rimsky-Korsakov says about melody in octaves using woodwinds: The use of two instruments of the same colour in octaves, e.g. 2 flutes, 2 clarinets or 2 bassoons etc., if not exactly to be avoided is certainly not to be recommended, as the instruments, playing in different registers will not correspond one with the other. Suggested combinations: Fl + Ob, Fl+Cl, Fl+Bs, Ob+Cl, Ob+Bs, Cl+Bs In his book, he also discusses doubling the melody in the very high register (with the piccolo) or in the low register (with the bassoon, contrabassoon or bass clarinet). He also mentions some combinations involving two instruments from the same family that do work (because they are actually distinct, such as the flute and alto flute). As well as doubling the melody in three- and four-part arrangements, etc. And with examples of everything. A classic but essential treatise. Alan Belkin also explain this issue: Professor Belkin Notes: There is in fact a good argument to be made that the WW are not one group at all, but rather, three (oboes and bassoons counting as one – double reed – family, with the English horn as intermediary). Unlike the strings, woodwinds do NOT behave similarly to one another in various registers. For example, flutes get softer as they get lower, whereas oboes/bassoons get louder. This diversity of color and of register is the main cause of the difficulty in writing well for winds. The beginner is advised to think of each woodwind instrument as really three in one: a high instrument, a medium one, and a low one. Although the transitions between registers are of course not really so drastic, combinations of woodwinds with each other and with from other families work differently depending on register. For example, a low flute melody requires a different accompaniment from a high flute melody. This is also the reason that it is actually easier to score for a larger woodwind section than a smaller one: When the auxiliaries are available, the range available IN ANY GIVEN HOMOGENOUS TIMBRE is much increased. A chord scored for alto flute, regular flutes and piccolo will present less problems of blend and balance than one scored for 2 flutes and 2 oboes. Of all the woodwinds, the oboe is one most likely to cause problems for the beginner. It is a natural “prima donna” and, while its melodic character can be wonderful in the right melody, it does not blend easily with most other timbres in the orchestra (exception: oboes blend quite well with SOFT, muted trumpets).

Score PDF and Audio Download About the Piece: This piece is written for 4 soprano saxophones. It has three movements: “La soie,” “Le ciel,” and “Le soir.” Each movement is based on a stanza from the original poem by Paul Verlaine, “Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été.” ______________________________________________________________________________ I - La soie (The silk) ______________________________________________________________________________ II - Le ciel (The sky) ______________________________________________________________________________ III - Le soir (The evening) ______________________________________________________________________________

Ah, I wish I were Henry... You are a lucky man, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, to have such a nice friend who composed music dedicated to you and your musical talent! As for the music itself, I don't even need to say anything because your music always sounds so high-level and lovely. I want to see you play your pieces in the future. Great, thank you for sharing, Vasilis! Best, Lithl.

My dear @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu , you truly moved me beyond words. The fugue subjects are absolutely beautiful, and the Laments, especially the third one, touched me incredibly deeply. What I admire most is the classical writing — that strict classical style, its clarity and its structure. For me, music written at this level hardly needs any commentary at all, at least in my case. A huge bravo, my dear friend!

[UPDATED - OCT. 2026] The following post was a formal submission for the 2026 Summer Competition: From Nothing, to Something. Below includes a detailed and extensive explanation of the work, both in inspiration and construction. If you wish to skip, the score PDF and Audio will be found at the end. Thanks for viewing this work! [TAKEN FROM SCORE] Plus belle encor votre chère beauté  - Your dear beauty lovelier still Duration: c. 6:08 Written in 2026, Plus belle encor votre chère beauté is a work for piano quartet that evokes summer and the experience of love. It was composed for the “2026 Summer Competition” hosted by The Young Composers Music Forum and is inspired by Paul Verlaine’s poem “Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d’été,” whose opening line may be translated as: “So, on a bright summer day it shall be.” The poem is number nineteen in Verlaine’s collection La Bonne Chanson (The Good Song) Find the French text and translation to the poem here The title of this work is drawn directly from the French text and has similar inspiration as the Gabriel Fauré song from his op. 61 bearing the same name as the Verlaine poem. However, this work takes the title from the fourth line of text, and unlike Fauré, this work is late-romantic in style. The musical inspiration came from two places: Tchaikovsky and his Nutcracker ballet, and a spell of improvisation at the piano. This work was created in late July and early August 2026, and during that time, I was experimenting with modal improvisation, and felt drawn to G-lydian. Specifically, the iv 7 chord you can build and find in Tchaikovsky’s music. However, I did not set the piece into the lydian mode, only hinting at C# to use for predominant and secondary function. It was also around this time I was listening to parts of the Nutcracker, where I felt drawn to the idea of harp-writing, and thus, during a period of improvisation, the foundation of this work came to be. With structure, Plus belle encor votre chère beauté is in ternary (A-B-A’) form and includes an intro and coda. The B-section acts as our development while the outer A-sections are comprised of a smaller AABA form. The principal theme stated in the A-section occurs throughout the work, where it can be heard in the introduction, coda and within the development where the piano states the principal theme in inversion. Lastly, I composed this work following the end of a relationship. In short, this work evokes those unspoken emotions I harbored and the romance I long to have one day. A day where I too can say “Your dear beauty.” (The art on the cover page is Claude Monet's "Woman with a Parasol." A wonderful piece of art!) Comments are welcome, both constructive or positive! If you enjoyed this work, leave a react, and follow my page so you don't miss any new works in the future. It's free and you can always remove it later. Thanks and see you all soon! AUDIO_YourDearBeauty.mp3 SCORE_YourDearBeauty.pdf

Hi again! Since the last post I submitted here about a piece of mine was roughly a year ago, I thought it was perhaps not the worst idea to publish another now. Bad timing, I know, since there are still days to close the voting process of our "From Nothing, to Something" Summer competition, a competition I sadly did not take part in (sorry :'/), neither as a contestant nor as a reviewer. My activity in this forum has dwindled too much, and I do hope to fix it little by little in the future. Today I bring you my 7th waltz for solo piano for you to have a listen, review, comment, destroy, whatever! I will be leaving the PDF here, as well as the mp3. For those interested, I would like you to see the video format too, which has been done with a tool that Victor Reny at free-scores.com has been developing: the OPUS reader. I believe it uses verovio for rendering, and this library and Musescore 3.7 don't get on well with each other too much but still, I think when the software matures it will be neat. @chopin this may be interesting to you, since it's coded in web and your enormous work in MJ perhaps could interact with webtools like this better than Musescore, in order to create these visual effects. If it's not of your interest, sorry for the ping man! That said, here is the work. Hope you find it decent! Uploaded it with 2 pianos, just in case you prefer one timbre over the other 🙂. All should be in the attached files at the bottom of the post. 98 - Vals del Tentetieso [v1.1].pdf And the video: Vals del Tentetieso | Valses para piano | Om. 98 | #piano #vals #waltz Again, many thanks for reading & listening! Best regards and see you in the forums, Daniel–Ø. Vals del Tentetieso [v1.1].mp3Vals del Tentetieso (Érard).mp3

I've been working on a piano sonata, and I'd like for this music to be the second movement. This music is based on a poem by Robert Frost: "The west was getting out of gold, the breath of air had died of cold, when shoeing home across the white, I thought I saw a bird alight. In summer when I passed the place I had to stop and lift my face; a bird with an angelic gift was singing in it sweet and swift. No bird was singing in it now. A single leaf was on a bough, and that was all there was to see in going twice around the tree. From my advantage on a hill I judged that such a crystal chill was only adding frost to snow as gilt to gold that wouldn’t show. A brush had left a crooked stroke of what was either cloud or smoke from north to south across the blue; a piercing little star was through." This poem really spoke to me during a time in my life when I was healing from something. It was a time when I had to be patient, not give up, continue to strive for optimism even when prospects remained dreary. It was a time when I was searching for something that used to be there but wasn't there now. Perhaps it would come again. But in that moment all I could do was keep searching for it, keep working. It was as if I was standing on a hill top on a cold, crisp day, looking out over endless miles of fields, trying to make out a little puff of smoke in the distance. This is music about healing. Healing is not pleasant when it’s actually happening. Sure it feels great once it’s done, but the process itself is slow. It requires intense patience, and often comes with pain. So this music isn’t about being healed, but about healing. I know that sometimes my music comes off as slightly strange, as if it can't decide if it is classical or modern. This piece, with all its searching and reaching, really leans into that. I'd really love to hear your feedback. I greatly value any thoughts you'd like to share. ❤️ (This was performed by Edward Cohen) Thank you! Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter.mp3 Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter.pdf

A very vivid, lucid and dramatic piece! I thoroughly enjoyed its textures and unique musical gestures. I found the diverse elements of each of the individual instruments in the piece to be somewhat at odds with the desired topic/theme of the competition though. It is definitely a good idea to have the soprano and tenor sing separately first and then together in the last stanza. But the instrumental parts seem to create an atmosphere of tension and the harmony reminds of music for a horror movie or game such as Metroid. The tremolo Viola part especially reminded me of Super Metroid. And the harmonies between the Soprano and Tenor are often not palatable to a sensation of love or summer. The piece is composed quite well however and with quite a bit of craft! It is very intriguing to listen to and definitely holds my attention from beginning to end. Thank you for your participation and good luck in the polls! Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 8 9 10 10 10 3 7 Average Score: 8.13

It’s a beautiful trio consisting of Horn, Violin and Piano. I’m sure it’s already been mentioned that for a chamber work like this the proper score order would be Violin, Horn and then Piano at the bottom. Another thing I’m sure has been mentioned is that you should place double bars at key changes and get rid of redundant key changes. The music has a variety of different textures and not all the instruments are playing all the time with plenty of much needed breaks. The horn’s full range is well utilized. As of the writing of this review I am currently playing horn everyday in preparation of recording a solo horn sonata and I can attest to the playability of your horn part. The solo piano Cantabile section at mm. 25 shows off your ability to write a beautiful melody and dress it up through variations in the Violin. The I 6/4 chord at mm. 85 makes one expect a cadenza. Then you have the solo horn come in on the lowest of notes in the whole piece. I wonder if there’s some extra-musical meaning behind this. Thanks for your participation and good luck in the polls! Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 7.75 9 9 7 9 9 8.25 Average Score: 8.50

A quaint pastorale-like entry with the peace of the summer day channeled through the oboe/soprano voice. The contour of the melody is also very pleasant and made me think of nature. The beginning of the piece functions well as an introduction before the oboe/soprano voice comes in. And the modulation and change of meter are a welcome contrast that develop the piece and bring musical interest! I also like the phrase extensions where you suddenly treat parts of the phrase in half-time (mm. 35). Something I miss that I think could have made the piece more complete is a return to G major at the end to round out the form of the piece into a ternary ABA. As it is, the piece doesn’t really sound finished to me. Granted, it does sound like the end of that particular 6/8, E major section. But it feels like a return to G major and a coda would be in order for the piece to really sound concluded. Minus all the score engraving flaws, the problems with many syllables being sung on a single note, the ensemble patches for the strings instead of individual strings, and the ensemble misnomer since this is a piano quartet with voice rather than a piano trio, this is a very bright and sweet piece of music that quite adequately channels the topic/theme of the competition! Thanks for your participation and good luck in the polls! Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9.5 9 7.5 8 7 8 9 8 Average Score: 8.25

Dear fellow composers, I’m pleased to present you today my submission to the YCF 2026 Summer Competition! I must admit, that the task of the competition was really challenging, starting from „Nothing“ and than get the right ideas for „Something“ that is reminiscent to the mood of the summer day as expressed by Paul Verlaine’s poem. The challenge. When a composer has trouble coming up with a brilliant idea for a new piece, it sometimes takes several attempts, each of which yields different individual ideas. And there are some pieces that consist of several ideas that have been “glued” together, ultimately resulting in something like a “collage song.” I’m thinking, for example, of “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles or “Band on the Run” by Paul McCartney and Wings. However, there also exists such a kind of piece in Bach’s Welltempered Clavier, the Prelude VII in E-flat major, BWV 852. That particular prelude starts with a short section with runs of 32th notes, followed by a „more serious“ part in slow motion, that reminds me at a „chorale“. The third and longest part is a fugato with two subjects that further develops the ideas from the first two sections. So with this particular Bach prelude in mind, I had thus found the model for my own prelude, which serves as the „sketch“ for the quintet finally presented here as my submission. I always start to compose the pieces for piano in order to – on the one hand, have another piece for my preludes and fugues project, and on the other hand, because I find it to hard to mix the two phases of „composing“ and „orchestrating“ together. So I have posted the piano version as a standalone piece "Prelude XXI in B flat major" on the „Piano Music, Solo Keyboard“ thread. The poem. When I came around to the second part, the “Chorale” section, I faced the challenge of treating the upper voice of this four-part harmony as the melody for a musical setting of the poem. Since I don’t speak a word of French and have no idea how the syllables are rhythmicized, I looked at Gabriel Fauré’s setting of the poem in his Op. 61, No. 7 to find out which words are pronounced or sung briefly and which are longer. As an interesting fact, I discovered that Fauré had actually chosen the same key, B-flat major, that I had chosen before. The instrumentation. Now that the decision had been made to set the poem to music, I wondered how I could orchestrate it so that it would sound like a French “chanson.” My first thought was to choose the accordion as the main accompanying instrument. And since I wasn’t sure, I Googled: “What are the typical accompanying instruments for a French chanson?”—and sure enough, “accordion,” “guitar,” and “piano” came up. In addition to these, and to take advantage of the possibility of a quintet, I use a trumpet and a cello. Both of these instruments are capable of contributing different timbres (the cello either played with a bow or pizzicato, and the trumpet either muted or unmuted), and during the poem stanzas, I always use the muted trumpet as a substitute for the human voice. The title. Another challenge. A title in French would be appropriate, but I do not really trust translation programs in such delicate situations, since I don’t understand the nuances of the possible result. Thus, I’ve chosen the simple title „Summer – A Song of Beauty and Melancholy“. The latter since the piece features more passages in minor than in major and, therefore, does not only express the joy and beauty of the summer day, but is somewhat melancholic, too. Form and structure: 00:00 (mm. 1-14) The first section is an „improvisation“ which introduces the warm key of B-flat major. 00:34 (mm. 15-29) The second Adagio section could be a „chorale“ and is used to set the first stanza of the poem to music. 01:31 (mm. 30-90) The third and longest section is a fugato based on two subjects, interspersed by further stanzas of the poem (second stanza 02:18 at mm. 48-63 and third stanza 03:37 at mm. 75-90). The first subject quotes the first four-note motif of the „improvisation“ section and develops it further, paired with the second subject, thus creating a joyful and dance-like mood. 04:22 (mm. 91-114) The piece finishes with a coda – or better to say – with a recapitulation of the „improvisation“ from the first section. Now in a more melancholic way, meandering between minor and major. I hope, you’ll enjoy it. Wieland Finally, as a kind of „non-AI proof“ I also attached my „working score“ from which the MIDI is generated. It is nearly unreadable and of cause not intended for playing but shows in detail all dynamics, articulations, agogics etc. I applied to achieve the final recording. Praeludium-XXI-B-flat-major-accordion-mix.mp3 Praeludium-XXI-B-flat-major-accordion-with-coversheet.pdf WORKING-SCORE-P21.pdf

I am officially going to change your name to “Wieland The Tinkerer” because of this piece! LoL I think the piece is made up of many interlocking contrapuntal parts and took quite a bit of skillful manipulation of motives to put together! My complaint is that usually, in a fugue, the subject gets stated solo before countersubjects or counterpoint is juxtaposed against it. But here, the listener isn’t given a chance to absorb the melodies/motifs/subject before counterpoint comes in to diffuse the identity of the melodic content. That’s why I think the music is hard to grasp at first but grows in quality upon repeated listening. From one perspective the fact that the instruments are constantly coming in and out of the foreground gives the piece more interesting textures and necessary contrast in the thickness of the counterpoint. On the other hand it also seems a little aimless and meandering since the instruments walk all over each other. The beginning especially sounds like a haphazard collection of instruments slowly starting to play together without rhyme or reason. It just seems like you really had to tinker a lot with the material to make it fit your preconceived notions of the kind of piece that it should be instead of letting the music grow organically and instinctively. Perhaps a fugue was not the best choice for depicting the theme of this competition? Perhaps a different genre of music would have been more appropriate? But of course, it’s your choice as the composer and you’ve chosen this form. Thanks for your participation and good luck in the polls! Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7 8 7 8 8 9 7.5 7.75 Average Score: 7.78

Your melodies have a very lyrical and song-like quality to them (perhaps because they’re .. sung? LoL) They’re quite beautiful and perhaps they’re the strength of this music. The textures you create are also very delicate (most of the time). There are spots where you’re very indelicate however, such as at rehearsal D. Although this didn’t bother me as much once I turned down the volume a bit upon repeated listening. The melodies channeled the spirit of Verlaine’s poem quite effectively I thought! Your score has some collisions between rests and 16th notes in the harp part. And it’s already been mentioned that some of your huge harp chords are unplayable. I do like the middle section of the piece where the harp solo creates a very tranquil and serene atmosphere. Thanks for your participation and good luck in the polls! Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8.6 8.5 8 7.9 6 5 8.5 8 Average Score: 7.56

A very vivacious entry full of life and longing! It depicts the summer love with its brightness and energy. It’s very sweet and vigorous - almost more like spring than summer! I think I’ve just about exhausted my complement of adjectives in describing this piece LoL. There are spots where I feel like there is a missing melody or in hindsight, it seems like the full ensemble should have been playing when only piano was present. I’m talking specifically about mm. 1 - 2 (perhaps I can understand this privation here since it’s the introduction), mm. 18 - 19, mm. 42, 123 & 136 (I feel like here the melody is missing for 3 beats even though the piano has it - it wasn’t brought out enough in the rendition for me to perceive it as present). I really appreciate the interludes (like mm. 50) where the ensemble thins out and a calmer texture is honed for some much needed contrast. I think a more developed denouement could have been achieved with this piece - right now, it seems like the piece just stops in the middle of a main phrase that was heard before. I think for me to perceive a proper coda, it would have to be made up of material that would be related to the main material but varied in a way suggesting the encroaching completion of the piece. Thanks for your idea for this competition and your participation in the creation of the awards as well as for submitting this entry for this contest! Thanks for your participation and good luck in the polls! Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8.25 8.4 8.5 8 10 9 8.9 8.5 Average Score: 8.69

It sounds like you just indiscriminately put down diatonic notes in the key of C major. Where you do stray from C major, the chromatic alterations clash with natural notes in some of the other instruments (ex: mm.13 Harp has F# while Viola has F natural) Also, I don’t think the harp can change pedal to F# that quickly while arpeggiating 16th notes at your tempo (in one beat). From your comments, it seems like you deliberately chose not to pay attention to harmony because you were trying to blend “minimalism and 20th century writing”. This doesn’t sound like either of those styles. And you don’t get to just stop paying attention to harmony when composing in any given style. The result is that it sounds like you just randomly and aimlessly started clicking in notes. And the pentatonic/Chinese-like nature of the piece doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the theme of the contest. I’ll repeat what others have said as well: Besides a single F below the staff in treble clef, there’s no justification for using the Viola instead of a Violin. And the clef change to alto clef towards the end is pointless since the range of the part doesn’t change but stays the same. The piece seems to be composed to satisfy just about the bare minimum requirements of the competition - 3 minutes if rounding up and 3 instruments. Nonetheless - thanks for your participation and good luck in the polls. Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 3 3 7 3 7 6 3 3 Average Score: 4.38

Your piece is the last I've heard (but not least, just the order I used), and yet you still brought something different from the others. I really appreciate the creativity used with form with this competition. It seems like everyone had such a different take, and splitting the stanzas into an ABA form was a great idea to me. I feel like if I had participated in this competition I would have organized the music in a similar fashion. I enjoyed the tossing around of the LH piano motif to different instruments, and the jovial sense you gave in the composition. A change to the minor mode would have served well as a contrast to me, but the beauty of composing is we all have a different take and direction we feel like the music should go. You give variation in other ways, and I especially love the piano flourishes near the end. Cool ensemble too, the horn was a pleasant change in instrumentation from the other pieces. On a side note, I've listened to basically nothing but Beethoven's late string quartets for the past 4 or 5 months (he's my favorite composer by far). It sounds insane probably, some may even call me a lateBeethovenaddict ( :P ), but I've been obsessed with what I consider to be the greatest music ever composed, always picking up on little details upon every hearing. A profound sadness lingers throughout no.12-16, but also in my opinion a novel and unrepeatable expression we're all lucky Beethoven had the strength to compose in his weakest moments. Good luck with the voting, and thanks for sharing! It was fun to listen to all the different interpretations of the competition, and yours was no exception. Well done :)

Wonderful piece! Aside from articulations and key changes as mentioned by others, this was a nice piece to hear and definitely was reminiscent of summer and love. Great advice here :) I hope you learned a lot from our little competition, that is the hopeful achievement after all. No matter the results, you should be proud of a fine piece. I'm not the most versed (pun :D ) with vocal and ensemble music, but it seemed quaint and prudent to the goal of the competition. Good luck with the voting, friend. Hope you stick around

Hi @Matthew M , Such a lush and lovely setting of the poem as an art song! I also choose to go this route and set the text. I really enjoyed your version of it. I think the piece would work even better as a solo for voice and string orchestra. One big thing, if you're planning on this being sung in English - the Richard Stokes translation is in copyright, so you may have to reconsider some things. Some quick engraving notes: in general the score is quite cluttered; make the rastral size bigger and give more space between staves and systems watch when you copy & paste that extra things don't get attached; the lyrics accidently show up in the piano part at times the syllable division don't match the slurs in the voice part at times, so I'm not sure where the words would fall check that the breath mark in m27 would not be followed; it's almost always better to not give singers breath marks add lyric extenders to syllables under a melisma Some string writing notes: I would be careful using the wedge markings for string players - this means a different sound than I think you would like in this piece the ranges of the players are all very middle of the road; explore the upper ranges of the strings In general, there's a lot of everyone playing all at once. Find places to explore the colors of only using sections of the ensemble Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 lovely melody 8 good job filling out the harmony in the string parts, but the chords used are often obvious choices with little development 7 not clear divisions of musical sections - begins to all blur together 6 6 see above comments 8 see above comments 7 nice job setting the poem 7 Average Score: 7.125

Hi @Wieland Handke , Very different than many other pieces so far. I really appreciate the ingenuity in your composition. I also enjoy the amount of detail you put into your score. All the instruments are well thought out and notated with precision. I know the playback doesn't match, but others above me have done a much better job dissecting the accordion part. I do love the combination of accordion notes and L.H. chord buttons. The guitar part is all very easy. The double stops you have are simple fingerings with little issue. I would actually love if you added more to it. The classical guitar is quite a soft instrument compared to the rest of the quintet (I would probably amplify myself if playing this piece). As is, it comes across as more of a mandolin part than guitar part. I think it would be great to add some full chords, especially starting at Reh. B. All the final notes in the phrase could be turned into playing multiple strings. I also don't think you often need a dynamic marking for each note. If you'd like it to be louder, you can always double strings or add octaves for the player. Some engraving thoughts: I would reconsider score order: maybe tpt, gtr, vlc, acc, pno maybe? I would always have the piano at the bottom of a chamber score like this. Overall the score does look quite cluttered, but you have given us a lot of information. Even with the dense texture, find a way to bring the staves of the acc. and pno. parts closer together. In 2/4 I would still beam with the beat even at this tempo. All the unbeamed 8th notes make it difficult to count. I would mark what type of mute you prefer for the trumpet. Also, only mark this the first time and then use 'open' to cancel the marking. The mute marking should also be placed above the staff, not below. Very interesting to see your compositional process behind the piece, but for a final score I would remove the fugal analysis and lyrics. Make sure the acc and pno parts are not barred together. The pedal markings for the piano become cumbersome. I think it is natural for a pianist to play it this way. You could also simply write 'with Ped.' or use the line pedal markings instead of all the asterisks. Several bar rests are misplaced (pno m20 for example) So much of the music is playful and lovely. The notation style and having a separate dynamic for almost every single note becomes distracting from this fact. Double barlines at tempo changes; put 'a tempo', 'piu mosso', etc. markings in bold non-italic above the top staff Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 8 8 clearly organized form, but not sure if transitions always worked; did not develop well 10 very creative 6 see comments above 8 see comments above 9 very French 8 memorable Average Score: 8.125

Hi @Musicman_3254 Really beautiful entry to this competition. I loved the music to this piece, a lot of my thoughts are on cleaning up the score and parts so that they are more legible and effective. Some engraving thoughts: make sure the first full system of the score includes all instruments and their full names (even if resting) hide bar rests in the harp part if you are writing cross-staff for the opening, use hairpins instead of the cres. and dim. lines solo marking for instruments is extraneous octaves in the harp (mm15-17) would be better read on two staves as one hand would play each note clefs: none of these instruments should use alto clef cello should only ever be in bass, tenor, and treble clefs baritone should always be in bass clef never use octave clefs for a non octave transposing instrument harp m51 - use an ottava line instead key signature Gb is a lot of flats, it works great for the harp though I might be tempted to leave the harp in Gb and notate the flute/cello/voice in F# major, but unsure if it would be any better put slurs on the grace notes and connect them to their primary note not sure what purpose the marking in the cello part in m59 serves don't let dynamics or other text cut into barlines unless you really need them to (m86 flute) make sure trill lines extend to their last note (mm102-104 oboe) large harp chords - use one arpeggio line across both staves; don't need the up arrow arpeggio line unless you're going in both directions Some playability thoughts: I saw lots of comments above about the playability of the harp part, but I didn't read all of them. None of the harp part is currently technically impossible, but here are my thoughts to make it easier on the player. the Dnat to flat ped change (m20 and m101) is totally fine and doable. There's plenty of time for the player to flip the pedal to natural and back to flat - you might hear a little bit of noise, but it's unlikely. This is also the only pedal change in the piece, so I'm sure they'll manage. the cross staff arpeggios at the beginning are wonderful, adding in doubled notes in mm5-14 is difficult and likely not worth the additional amount of sound that will be created. I would suggest either start up the octave and bring it down an octave for more resonance in m12. on a similar note, any passage which immediately repeats the same note is challenging on the harp, as it required the player to mute the string and then pluck it again my thoughts on the large chords - again technically possible, it's just asking a lot and is quite fast. The player would alternate hands to play across the entire harp, so get rid of two arpeggio lines and put one big one across both staves. The tempo is likely too fast to play all the notes, it will also be too loud at the dynamics you have marked. Save the big arpeggiated chords for one per bar at most and make sure you really want to volume of so many strings sounding at once. A trill on the harp (m86) doesn't always work well. I would switch the pedal so that it's a bisbigl. between G# and Ab. The flute part is very low. I would not have it written to sound lower than the oboe damore. Even the very beginning I would switch the pitches or bring the flute part up the octave. Curious as to why you chose the oboe damore. It's an uncommon instrument and very, very few players have it. The range doesn't call for it either, as it all fits nicely in the range of the traditional oboe. The oboe does not dim. to nothing effectively. m72 and similar places will be difficult The cello range is too demanding of the player. High Gbs and Bbs at the dynamic level you have asked for is impossible. Bring it down one or two octaves. mm53-59 is confusing as well, it's very high and the ppp dim marking makes it seem like you don't want it to be heard Not all of the cello doublestops in mm59-71 are possible. The Gb and Ab dyad is a real stretch. ( I wonder if the entire piece could be transposed up a half step and you could use open strings?) Some text-setting thoughts: Lovely, lovely use of the voice. I also set the poem as an art song and I really love your rendition of it here. I know there are different house styles, but I would only use slurs to show syllable melismata or very long phrases. I love the stress of the first phrase, but make sure that important words are highlighted on the beat Make sure word divider lines (-) are not causing collisions with the text Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 beautiful and memorable melodies 9 effective harmonies and instruments harmonize more often than play in octaves 9 good form which supports the text of the poem 9 loved the musical content 6 see comments above 6 see comments above 9 love the setting of the text 8 great piece! Average Score: 8.125

Hi @MK_Piano , Lovely writing and it was great to listen to your music! I immediately felt the connection between the music and the poem. I thought it brought out the summer love side of Verlaine's poem quite nicely. As a whole, it does come across very piano heavy, especially in terms of rhythmic pulse. Some engraving thoughts (very picky): I would make the string part staves just a hair larger for legibility be consistent with your Ped marking, sometimes it's the lines sometimes it's the asterisks once and a while a random staccato was missing in one part and not the others (vln m122 for example) I'm never sure if it's actually worth breaking secondary beams for 32nd notes in the violin runs wondering if articulations should be consistent between parts (accents in mm128-end for example) some repeat dynamics, make sure cresc/dim are always arriving at a marking not engraving but something to think about, the Richard Stokes translation of the poem is still under copyright, so the score would not be publishable with the text included in the front matter Some thoughts on the string writing (first of all, this is all very possible and doable, just some suggestions as a string player): first, thank you for switching clefs and using tenor clef in an appropriate context and style for the cello violin octaves - this gets quite exhausting on the player's wrist and in my opinion exhausting on the ears, I would use it more sparingly I would save the octaves for slow moving lines, not faster 8th notes (mm81-87 is probably not worth the effort) I would save the octaves for important places in the phrase/piece, it currently feels like a default setting if you're set on the octaves, I wonder if this would work better as a piece for piano quintet with the vlns 1 and 2 in octaves throughout similar thought - the chords in mm136-137 will need more time for the player, not a great idea to put them in such a rhythmically tight spot bowings - none of the marked bowings you have are necessary, these would all be obvious to the player vla part in mm18-21 and its analogous spots is quite tricky for a string player to be accurate off the downbeats like that, I wonder if it would be worth doubling the first note so it would be [D, DBD] separate than three slurred, that's a common string rhythm octave doubling is a string player's worst nightmare in this sort of late Romantic sounding tonal chamber music see if there are places to incorporate harmony rather than just octaves or octaves with the piano would love to see more rhythm included in the string part, not just the piano part Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9.5 lush, memorable melodies 7.5 textures rarely develop; lovely harmony in the piano, would love to have that translate to the full ensemble 8.5 clear sense of form, with very little play or freedom to it 8.5 lovely writing 9.5 only very minor errors 9.5 notes on string writing above 10 very well with the theme, loved it 9 quite traditional at times Average Score: 9

Entry:Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été 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 10 10 10 10 Average Score: 10 Review: You know, I was not expecting piece inspired by the composers of the 2nd Vienna School as part of this competition. I must agree with @MK_Piano with the engraving! It is done with such care! Great job on that front. I must say that instrumentation and orchestration of that is on par. And yes you can play it. It is very creative and it has it unique form. Form when it comes to 20th century, well...let us not bring up. Form in the classical sense was toss out of the window and modern composers were more focused emotion and new ideas. Yes, this went above what expected of the expected and exceeded. Overall, I think this is best one!

Hey there, Wieland Your music has a lot of qualities I'm envious of, like your knowledge and inspiration from baroque music, engraving technique, clever counterpoint, FUGUE writing, etc. You're very different from me, and I love that I can explore your music to help prop up my weaknesses. I'm a guitarist, and I've probably listened to this about 10 times by now (literally :D). I won't go into detail like @Omicronrg9 did about the accordion with your guitar part, mainly because you didn't really give me much to go off of. You have three polyphonic instruments, yet you took special care to notate fingering and button markings or whatever for piano and accordion, but the guitarist is left trying to figure out hand positions and fingerings. Why? Is it because you're unfamiliar with the instrument? If so, so be it, that's okay, that can be learned. But not one slur?? Only a few chords? Our chords RING, you should use them more. I felt like you treated the guitar like a violin. Sorry, I just found it offensive when going through your piece. Again, it's okay if you're unfamiliar, but I think the piece would have been better off with another instrument substituting the guitar (especially with the care given to the accordion, which I assume you haven't written a lot for as well?) Don't get me wrong, the guitar part is all playable, but the excessive dynamics and lack of articulation when compared to the other instruments just had me hyper fixated with that. Sure, the dynamic markings are probably for the playback, but I would have made a lot of those marks invisible for the score (if your program allows it, ofc). All in all, this music is good, you have talent as a composer, but the guitar part in particular just rubbed me the wrong way playing through the piece. Sorry if I come off harsh 😰, but I'd rather let you know faults in part writing then just showering you with praise, because I like you. I like what you have to offer the world with music, and I like what you do for our community here at YC. You're a gem, my friend. Keep composing!!

Whether you win or lose the competition, saying this means you actually won something much better. You know, I've read through everyone's comments, and a lot of what others have said about wind breathing, harp writing, orchestration, etc. all holds true. Take note of it; it's free advice that if applied will help you improve. BUT Your style, your voice, your raw talent that you're hopefully always going to keep working on was really fun and a treat to listen to. Your music is emotional and definitely applicable to the poem. I really really love how you treated the vocals (cool to incorporate vocals btw!). There were large gaps between the phrases, and I think that lead to a balanced feel of it all. You gave solos to the different instruments, letting them all sing on their own and together when necessary. Even though I think the winds could have been fleshed out more and the harp used more effectively, the point is you TRIED and branched out from your comfort zone to compose this piece. You hopefully learned a lot, and with the feedback you've gotten you're more equipped with technique for future pieces. This was definitely one of my favorites so far for the reasons stated. Well done sir, you should be very proud of this piece :)

Hey Wieland, no rush at all! I didn't rush the post either, in fact it took me longer than I planned 😀. Again, good luck!

Hello @Omicronrg9 ! Thank you very much for this urgent and detailed response! I’m still a little overwhelmed, so that I will need some days to study that all thoroughly – I’m sure, I will learn a lot from it! I’ll get back and reply as soon as possible. Wieland

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.75 10 7 10 10 8.5 7.5 8 Avg: 8.59 Very clear motif throughout, and the whole tone harmony makes this sound more like a fantasy. What's interesting is that I think you mix the harmony with bits of pentatonic. Thus, we have lots of tension and release throughout which helps keep you on your toes. At times I felt like this piece turns into a thriller, and this has a lot to do with your chosen harmony. The piece therefore gives us a mixed bag of emotions. Sometimes I feel like we are in a fantasy world perhaps in a forest. Then there are peaceful sections which could be the summer afternoon setting. The pentatonic sections remind me of beautiful vast fields or feelings of zen. Then we have the viola sections which could be a chase scene. Finally, your harp runs sometimes creates a mood of terror. Nevertheless, this is a very fun and interesting piece, and a good lesson on how harmony can really transform moods from one to another!

It's obvious this is really great! Although a tad piano heavy, it's really balanced otherwise. I agree with @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu that the string writing could have benefited from a little more counterpoint, or even variation in the rhythm. Several times I wanted the violin melody to at least have a dotted quarter- eighth rhythm during the quarter note passages, just to give the notes it's climbing to some added punch. That's subjective, and as it is it's wonderful. You're right about the string staves being a bit smaller, it is the more proper way to have the final score since it's a piano part. I think it's also beneficial to have a "composer's" score too, where all the parts are equal in size to better read. Not saying you should have 14 versions of your score to appease everyone, but I think that's where that little nitpick comes from. I love the lush nature of this piece, I think it's picture perfect for the subject material. The beauty of summer goes hand in hand with your audio interpretation of the poem. This is music that is just plain enjoyable to listen to, and although I've been busy with life lately, every time I see your name pop up here I have to check it out. Please continue to keep making a name for yourself, you're obviously very passionate and dedicated to your craft. Your engraving is marvelous, and it's music that I'll continue to reference for my own engraving. Thanks for sharing this, and good luck with the polls! I'm excited to hear what you'll have for us next :)

Hi @JDevorMusic ! Technically this should be the most complete piece of the competition! The harmony and mood are the most varied, the use of motives very notable and coherent, instruments, like @Fruit hunter noted, are extended to their utmost potential. I like your use of whole tone scale which definitely makes the music sound impressionistic and French. The piece keeps moving forward because of the varying textures when you allow some moments of quieter passages with fewer players. Like @MK_Piano I think the piece less related to the original poem and the competition theme. But this one is subjective as we all have our own interpretations on poems. But the piece stands alone well! Thx for sharing and joining the forum! Henry

Hi @Ninja Nolan ! I like the idea of using different movements to present contrast. The opening movement sounds like an introductory chorale to the piece while the last movement sounds like an ending chorale to the piece, much like the structure of a cantata. The centre movement is the main statement of the piece to me and I love the vivacity of the march, it sounds like opera buffa to me. I am expecting that after the Ab major trio the Eb major march will return as in a da capo piece. I think the texture of the piece can be more varied: mostly it is chordal except the march, and even in the march it works in pairs so rhythmically the whole piece sounds less varied. I think you can also add more contrast inside movement 1 and 3 as well, instead of only having the contrast between movements. Also it would be great if there are some coherence of materials between movements, but this point is subjective! Harmonically it's Baroque and more traditional. And for the text, I think the 3rd movement shouldn't be tragic as in your music with the corresponding stanza: And when the evening comes, the caressing breeze That plays in your veils shall be sweet, And the peaceful gazes of the stars Shall smile benevolently upon the lovers.I myself cannot link the tonic G minor with the happiness of the stanza. The 3rd movement sounds more like a contemplative reflection of something sadder than portraying peace and love in the poem. But this point is also personal and subjective! Thx for sharing! I know I am nitpicky in this comment, but I do like the music especially the 2nd movement, thx for joining the competition! Henry

Hi @Wieland Handke ! For the accordion, probably only @Omicronrg9 can talk about the accordion since he's an accordionist (I'm summoning you here Daniel). Btw, the instrumentation of this piece is almost exactly the same with Daniel's group. I think you are using an orchestral mind for this chamber work. There are lots of careful doublings of melodies and countering parts. I think the texture of this piece is the most varied in the entries I have listened to so far! What is your purpose to introduce fugato in this piece? Is it related to the narrative strcuture? Just one thing: I actually do not really like the ' pulse between the passages which I think it will hinder its flow. My favourite passage is section F when the texture and harmony are less complicated, it really gives good contrast with passages before it. I at first don't like too much of the harmony since I think the dissonance is not neccessary, but after my 2nd listening I suddenly find they are necessary to convey the melachony with the usage of accordion, good job on that! Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello @MK_Piano! The review of your piece is my last one, not because—far from it—it gives me a headache, but because I have great respect for it. This has nothing to do with the piece itself, but rather with you as a person, which I’ll try to explain briefly: First of all, the challenge of the competition - to take Paul Verlaine’s poem “Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été,” as the inspiration of the composition, and to try to evoke moods of summer, love and beauty – was your idea, which might perhaps have arisen in your mind for a longer time. So you have a certain advantage over the other participants—or let’s say, a kind of “tailwind.” On the other hand, I’ve already heard a lot about you—your compositions and, perhaps even more importantly, your insightful reviews—and that, combined with my knowledge of your professional background, carries the risk of being biased and expecting you to deliver an outstanding work (even before I’ve heard it at all). Taking all that into consideration, I will give my best not to take that considerations as a „bonus“ or a „malus“, but trying to be as objective as possible in that sense. Melodies Themes Motives and Harmony Chords Textures: The entire piece is based on a simple yet effective motif that could be described as an “arch”. It is introduced by the piano in the opening measures and then repeated by the violin. Furthermore, this motif, repeated twice, forms the melody or theme of the “song” that unfolds after the introduction. The harmonies are „romantic“ and pleasant, dissonances or other „coloring“ is used in a subtle way. We have a variety in texture between the different instruments, while preserving the overall melody, allowing the listener to follow the piece with ease. Form Development Structure Time: The piece starts with an introduction that already „spoilers“ the melody and uses a cadenza as the „curtain opener“ of the song which now unfolds: Its three parts could be recognized as corresponding to the three stanzas of Paul Verlaine’s poem. Each part consisting of „melodic passages“ where the main theme is „sung“ and passages either calming down or developing the harmonic or rhythmic material further. Originality Creativity: The piece does not owe its originality from „experiments“, let’s say a spectacular instrumentation or other effects. It is well crafted, somewhat hiding the compositional details and skills applied behind an overall „solid“ and pleasant impression, and therefore one can recognize it as an original „Mason Kistler“ style piece. Score Presentation: I’ve noticed that you often use hairpins for dynamics without placing dynamic marks at the beginning and end. In my opinion, that’s not a bad thing (though there are some situations where I’d prefer to see a dynamic indication, such as in measure 24 for the violin), but I’ve listened to many orchestration tutorials in which this was considered a “mistake”, and the instructor insisted on explicitly specifying “from where to where” the hairpin increases or decreases the dynamics. Is there a general rule for this? Beside that, I didn’t find things I would consider „engraving issues“ (and I admit that I did not explicitly search for nitpicks). So I would end up with a more general comments on the readability and „aesthetics“ of the score: In my opinion, the font size for the strings parts is too small and make that parts hard to read. I suppose, that you’ve chosen that somewhat aggressive decrease of the font size for the other instruments than the piano to achieve getting three systems on one page (yes, this is sometimes hard – and on the other hand, having only two systems on a page would look ugly). And there is another thing which makes the score somewhat „less enjoyable“ to read – and that has absolutely nothing to do with you and your engraving – since that is an inherent „problem“ of the scores produced by the most nowadays notation software: The result is „correct“ but seems to be „cold and mechanical“ when compared with older hand-engraved scores. There exists an interesting „Essay on automated music engraving“ from the developers of the „Lilypond“ notation software I use, where that issue is discussed in brevity. Instrumentation Orchestration Playability: Your choice of a “traditional” piano quartet is not exotic (as some of the other submissions), but rather solid, and it gives you the opportunity to create enough musical color to highlight the main melody in various variations, ensuring that the piece doesn’t become boring throughout its entire six minutes. I’m sure you’ve examined the playability of some of the more challenging passages (and you’ve already mentioned this), such as the multiple stops in the string parts (especially for the violin at the end). Execution of Given Challenge and Taste: You resisted the temptation to take the competition’s challenge “literally” and set the poem to music to create a kind of “chanson”. Instead, you’ve composed a pleasant piece with a memorable melody that recurs in the piano and violin, conveying the feel of a song with clearly defined verses and transitions. The mood remains cheerful throughout the piece, evoking the image of the sun on a summer day; it changes only slightly in a few passages, as if small, fluffy clouds were obscuring the sun for just a few brief moments. All in all, it’s a “solid” piece, if not the most solid of the entire competition. With this strength, your piece would certainly appeal to a majority of the “general audience”—in contrast to some other, more exotic or atonal submissions. On the other hand, you haven’t stepped outside this kind of “comfort zone”, so for a “more specialized audience”, such as the reviewers on this forum, pieces with their “rough edges” (and perhaps even their shortcomings) might have an equal or even better chance of attracting attention. Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 9.75 10 9.5 9.25 10 9 8.5 Average Score: 9.5

why u expose me bro

Hi James, Welcome to the forum and thanks for submitting this work! It's been wonderful seeing how various people have tackled the challenged I have laid out. Now, I am in the process of doing my reviews and it has come time to leave one here! To preface, I wish to address some things. I am a tonal composer and while I have written post-tonal, or post-modern, I have only done so in the academic scene. My taste is to romantic soundscapes and I may not be the best suited to properly address this work. However, I wish to give it my best shot! ENGRAVING: The engraving of this score is meticulous and leaves no errors. My only comments here is that in your copyright footer on the first page of the score, you misspelled "LLC" and put "LCC" instead. Just a heads up before you sell this work elsewhere. Another picky thing is with the front matter, I am not sure you need to specify "written for the YCF competition..." twice: before the notes and above the title on the first page of score. It makes more sense to see a dedication for the ensemble above the title or to the organization of the event versus saying "written for XYZ" twice. Seems a little redundant. The last picky thing is the page 19 to the end in the harp. I feel there is a better way to notate the cluster arpeggios. The accidentals tend to stick out way too much for me to say it makes sense. Visually it seems a little silly, especially the last harp chord. To me, even for those moments, using two stems, an extra stave, or voices to notate the individual notes, or help spell them out may be better; lastly, use of enharmonic spellings to keep the accidentals uniform (all sharps or all flats) may prove beneficial. (unless the goal was for every string to be used, which aha! That makes sense for varying accidentals) Essentially, I am reasoning that it may be more effective if you make the readability easy for the performer because a lot of challenge will go into the playability and technique. Some of your pedal changes are cumbersome for a harpist. Outside of these comments, nice work! MUSIC: This to me, is the hardest to review as personal taste plays a factor. I did look at some snippets off your Instagram and Twitch of the process, but I do not have the time to do a proper analysis, which I feel may benefit my own understanding. Your use of the whole tone scale is most prevalent throughout the work, and there are certain motifs that come back and can be remembered by a listener during the duration. The form, if applicable seems to be a large binary with sub-forms within them. These forms being separated at rehearsal-J with the harp to break the piece in two. However, to me, the midi doesn't do a good justice as it seems quite monotonous, even though the score has very strong dynamic implications and a singer would actually sing the written lyrics. To add, when it comes to the context of the competition, it casts more a dream than a romance. The soprano and tenor help the visual of two partners, yet, the nature of the work doesn't cast unbridled love, but a complex and troubled relationship in my opinion. Verlaine wrote this before the marriage to his Fiancée and there is a level of raw joy he may have felt. The ending of the work, after rehearsal-J seems to better capture that point, versus the front half, which is weaker in my opinion. As a chance for another to give a better addressed review, I believe @HoYin Cheung will have the tools for more direct feedback. Good work on this piece, and we'll be eager to see what you create next!

Hello I’ve written another sketch for orchestra. In this piece, I’ve used ‘sound mass’ techniques in some sections, and harmonies based on fourths… I haven’t really thought about any specific chords, just voice leading. The first section is the fanfare; the second is the more subdued, evocative section. There are no oboes or violins, so that the brilliance comes from the brass. Fanfarria.mp3 Fanfarria.pdf

Hey Vince! It's real fun playing this one! The time signatute looks and sounds difficult at first so I needed to clap rhythms on my legs first, but once I got through that it's much easier to play! The rhythm and use of pattern here reminds me of your Prelude no.9 which I also enjoy entirely: So in my playing I play it a bit faster, add some pedals, articulations, and whenever there's repetition of phrases I usually play the 2nd time with a slightly stronger dynamic. If you enjoy listening to this Prelude, you will enjoy it 10 more times by playing it! Thx for sharing this wonderful work Vince! I know you're getting busy but really hope you drop more great pieces to us! 💋 Henry

Very well done man, incredible work and very creative, this is so much fun to listen to. I was watching your YouTube video because the effects are wild, and I was glued to the screen. This waltz is actually perfect for Halloween I think, just the overall mood. I think the left hand complements the right hand so well, and your key changing, modulations etc, literally keep me on my toes waiting to hear how you progress the next section. The right hand is really fun to listen to with your chromatic runs and trills. And none of these feel like filler to me, they all have purpose. One of my favorite parts is around 45 seconds in, when you get relentless with your runs, it just feels so satisfying. As far as the visuals, yes I am very interested. Music Jotter is very well equipped to work with outside software, especially Lilypond and Verovio. I just have to code it but MJ is 100% data driven.

Hi Luis. I don't know whether it be the music itself or the soundfont/VST chosen, but this sketch reminds me a lot of Dragon Quest VIII music, and that faint reminiscence alone makes me interested, and makes me like it too. Leaving you some examples here (but with an actual orchestra), if you don't mind, but since I feel I repeat myself a lot, perhaps I have stated this somewhere else! That aside, I quite like the glissandi in the harp and the percussion meshing very nicely in the composition. Thank you again for continuing to share your work here, Luis. Dragon Quest VIII Symphonic Suite - Cold and Gloomy ~ In the Dungeon Depths Dragon Quest VIII Symphonic Suite - Ruins of Darkness MIDI one, just in case: Dragon Quest VIII OST - Disc2 - Track08 - Ruins of Darkness Kind regards!

I really enjoy listening to this. I play the keyboard version, so the difference in tempo struck me at first. But your orchestrated version works really well. It's just fast enough. It doesn’t have all of the ornaments the keyboard has, and that might have something to do with how it can be faster without sounding too fast. Yours doesn't feel rushed in any way. The choice of the instruments works very well. It never feels weighed down with too many instruments sounding at once. I like that you didn’t double so much as to have these walls of sound that make the lines less distinct. I particularly like the Eng.Horn, Clarinet and Bassoons combo in measures 9-15. They are very clear and distinct but still in consort with each other. The same for the strings in 19-27. I’m far from being a sound engineer, but I think you know what you're doing when it comes to using the digital tools to make an overall realistic, coherent sound.

Hi Musicbro, (funny name! lol) I have been in the process of doing my reviews for this competition and I have finally made my way here! Attached is a pdf of some annotations. They are mostly surface level, with most of the comments on engraving and the notation. So, without delay, let's begin! ENGRAVING: You have a lot of engraving errors, from the use of wrong clefs, to rest errors, note placements, dynamic information and more. Please see the attached pdf at the end for the specific places in the score. A lot of other users have mentioned the harp and trust what they say. I have also marked some comments on the harp and I would refer to the harp comments as above. I am also linking this video which is my brief explainer on the harp. MUSIC: My main issue with the music is it's minimalism. There is one melody stated in the cello that gets passed around, yet the accompaniment stays pretty tame while the harp goes brrr. The ensemble is unbalanced and there is no clear sense of melodic structure outside the use of a phrase. To fix, creating the sense of variety or establishing roles in the ensemble would be my suggestion (Cello = bass support, Harp = Flourish, Winds = Accompaniment, Baritone = Melody). Thinking this way may help the coherency of the piece. Truth be told, it feels more like a harp concerto/ concertina versus an established chamber piece. I am limited on time and cannot provide a super detailed analysis, however good work on this piece and we'll be eager to see what you create in the future! M. Bro - Your dear beauty lovelier still [ANNOTATED].pdf

Hi! I am continuing my revision on my old work. This is the 2nd movement of my Clarinet Quintet in C minor, which is completed 4 years ago and I'm revising it. Thx to my friend @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio! To me this is probably the worst movement in the piece, but only because it's the most one dimensional one: After the discovery of despair in the 1st movement, I started to fall into confusion and craziness of despair. Ironically this movement is written in a neat Sonata form with the structure presented below: 0:00 First subject, exposition. Start right from the despair Eb-D-C-B motive in quick Scherzo time to represent the fury and confusion of despair. Clarinet joins in 0:31, still playing at the despair motive, and in 0:33 the whirling figure using despair motive signifying the confusion is introduced. 1:27 Transition, exposition. I like this pizz. theme myself for how sarcastic it is. 2:34 Second subject, exposition. In F minor. A more "reasonable" theme finally with major keys visited, although finally succumbed to the confusing despair. I always go to F minor instead of G minor for the secondary key of a C minor movement for its darkness. 3:46 Development. Continue with the confusion by quickly modulating to different keys. I really love the 3:59 passage with a Brahmsian turn to a German sixth chord in 4:09! The fury ends with a "transcended" sadness in Neapolitan C# minor in 5:20 with a clarinet solo, but sarcastically laughed off by pizzicato strings in another Brahmsian German sixth. 5:49 First subject, recapitulation. Excitement reduced after a suffocating development. In 6:02 obviously I learn from Beethoven's 5th for that famous solo oboe passage. I love how fierce it is in 6:38. 6:47 Transition, recapitulation. Shorter than exposition's transition. I hate exact repetitions. 7:25 Second subject, recapitulation. Same as the one in exposition except in tonic key. Notice how relative major Eb major is finally used with some emphasis for the very first time in the piece, as the confrontation of B flat carried by E flat major and B natural by C minor of the despair motive would be the main battlefield later on. 8:38 Coda. One last cry and I am exhausted by the despair, thus ends the movement in tired pizzicato chords. Only with this exhaustion do I have the motivation to excavate the true reason behind the despair, which would be the main theme for the 3rd movement. Here is the score and youtube video of the movement : (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 2nd mov Final Version 20260707.pdf Harmonically I deliberately play with chord progression of augmented triad keys to reinforce that particular chord both horizontally and vertically, as well as resonating with the despair motive. Hope you enjoy this one and offer some critique to the movement! P.S. This is the 1st movement of the remastered version of the work: Henry Clarinet Quintet in C minor 2nd mov Final.mp3