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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:

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.

Hello, yet again with another prelude... GAWL aren't you sick of them yet?? Anyway, this one flirts between Db and C#m. It's 6 pages, but not that long as far as measures. It's grandiose, yet soft and subtle. Unfortunately, the midi doesn't do it justice. The arpeggio measures don't hold the first chord/low note in each one, but hopefully the score paints the right picture. I think it's due to the amount of notes held with the sustain. I hope you enjoy this, and any comments or concerns are welcome. :) Prelude 18 - Db.mp3 Prelude 18 - Db - score - Full Score.pdf

I've taken to another exercise from Chapter 8 of Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" - "Compound and Mirror Harmony". This time I've chosen Exercise 7 - "Move a chamber group through several mirror chords where the reflective harmony is generated by the same tone and by different tones." In this case he is referring to using symmetrically invertible scales just like in Exercise 8 which I already did. In that exercise I built the respective mirror scales on the same tone (C) so in this exercise I sought to build the mirror scales on different tones only. I also created an inverted canon at a 10th and a quarter note between the Oboes and Bassoons. I used the following chart from the book to simplify the exercise for myself (so I used E Mixolydian in the Oboes and C Aeolian in the Bassoons). At one point I switch the Oboes to Ionian and Bassoons to Phrygian, just like in Exercise 8, but this isn't accompanied by key signature changes. Thanks for reading and for listening! I would appreciate any of your suggestions, comments, critiques or observations! Persichetti Exercise 8 - 7.mp3 Persichetti Exercise 8 - 7.pdf

It's been a while since I've composed anything, so I felt like getting back into doing some Persichetti composition prompts. I am now on Chapter 8 of Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" which is titled "Compound and Mirror Harmony". The particular prompt for this piano piece was "8. Write an opening section of a two-part piece for the piano employing two symmetrically invertible scales. The mirror writing should be kept strict throughout." So I tried to do just that with this ~1 minute long piano piece. I tried my best to make an actual piece of music rather than an exercise, but let me know how I did! I'd appreciate any of your comments, critiques, suggestions or observations! Thanks for listening! Here's the form of the piece: A - Right Hand - C Mixolydian, Left Hand - C Aeolian B - Right Hand - C Ionian, Left Hand - C Phrygian A Persichetti Exercise 8 - 8.mp3 Persichetti Exercise 8 - 8 Score.pdf

Good morning, my dear friends! I’m happy to present to you once again my latest work, Binary Sonata No. 28. It is personally one of my favourite sonatas, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!

Just as was the case with the previous movement I composed for this Requiem in the works, "Libera me, Domine", the subject came first and I then had to find a suitable liturgical text that matched the prosodic and accentual patterns implied by its rhythm and melody. Since today's current date, October 10th, has been the World Day Against the Death Penalty for over 2 decades now, I figured it was quite a reasonable occassion to post a Requiem movement as I just finished it. The picture to the left of the thumbnail was originally taken from a sarcophagus found at the Abbey of St. Clement at Casauria, Pescara, Italy. Its text, whose incipit serves as the main feature of this composition, belongs to Psalm 143 "Absolution of the Dead". YouTube video link: Original liturgical text and translations: Latin: Non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, Domine, quia nullus apud te justificabitur homo, nisi per te omnium peccatorum ei tribuatur remissio. Non ergo eum, quaesumus, tua judicalis sententia premat, quem tibi vera supplicatio fidei christianae commendat: Sed, gratia tua illi succurente, mereatur evadere judicium ultionis, qui dum viveret, insignitus est signaculo sanctae Trinitatis: Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. English (20th-century missal translations): Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord; for, unless Thou grant him forgiveness of all his sins, no man shall be justified in Thy sight. Wherefore, may he not suffer, we beseech Thee, the sentence Thou pronouncest in judgment upon one whom the faithful prayer of Christian people commendeth to Thee, to be a doom which shall crush him utterly. Rather, succour him with Thy grace, that he may be found worthy to escape the vengeance of that judgment, who, while he lived, was signed with the seal of the Holy Trinity. Thou who livest and reignest, world without end. English (Modern Standard Vernacular): Enter not into judgment with Your servant, O Lord, for in Your sight no man shall be justified, unless through You the remission of all his sins be granted unto him. Therefore, we beseech You, let not the sentence of Your judgment weigh heavily upon him, whom the true plea of the Christian faith commends to You. But, by the help of Your grace, may he deserve to escape the judgment of vengeance, he who, while he lived, was marked with the seal of the Holy Trinity. You who live and reign forever and ever. Choral Fugue Non intres in judicium in C-sharp minor.mp3 Choral Fugue Non intres in judicium in C-sharp minor.pdf

Hi Vasilis! It was indeed very pleasant to listen to. I do enjoy a lot these works "alla Scarlatti". The whole work seems to have been crafted with great care, both engraving-wise and musically speaking. It breathes, and does it very well in my humble opinion. I believe I have not listened to other binary sonatas of yours; this is probably, or as far as I remember, my first one, but you got a new subscriber! P.S: Pianoteq9 is great. Kind regards, Daniel–Ø.

Hi Thatguy. I like the contrast between the arpeggiated chords and the almost solo voice passage. Both of them combined act as the structural pillar of the piece in my opinion, and you make good use of them. It may be true the midi doesn't do it justice. Engraving-wise I'd suggest putting these wide arpeggios in small notes so it's even clearer where the molto rubato acts and where the piece gets a bit more rigourus in tempo. I don't quite get the switching between Db and C#. Why is that? That aside, the prelude works for me but it wasn't my cup of tea compared to other preludes I've listened from your list. It's soft indeed and pleasant to my ears, especially the middle section in which the (1) seems to wander around chords. How many preludes are left? Or are they not gonna have a set end? Best regards!

Nice job on expanding your main motif, and excellent key changing throughout. Considering how long this movement is, the piece does a really nice job in keeping the listener's attention I think. About halfway through, you then change the pace but quickly get back on track. The harmony throughout is good, with sprinkles of pentatonic. Also, the last 2 minutes are very cool in how you conclude the piece. I like the change of pace here, with the slower, calm ending. Much of this movement is is quite steady / consistent, and your transitions are seamless.

Thx for your invitation, Peter. My longest time taken is for my Clarinet Quintet in C minor. I started the piece in 2016 Fall, struggling a lot with my life and whether I can really compose, and finished the final draft on April 2022, which was my 1st post here on YC Forum. And I've recently just finished the revision of it for a final version of it, and if this also counts, this work took me almost 10 years to finish. I am not one who love to be pushed by deadlines and commissions, hence still don't want to be a "professional" "composer". Music has their own lives and when they want to speak they will speak through inspiration. I never believe that by forcing myself would make good music at all; if I'm forced to write trash in order to fulfill commissions or for money, I will choose not writing at all. That accounts for 1 reason why I work really slow. One example is for my String Sextet: I knew very well in March 2024 that the piece has to be end in a palliative and serene mood, in pentatonic style. But by then I only finished the first 20 munutes in despairing minor and minor and minor passages linger. I couldn't make it. I truthfully believed I could never finish the piece as I didn't figute out how peace can be achieved after such sufferings, after all tragedies, wars, deaths happening in the world nowadays. You can ask @Thatguy v2.0 and he knew I am not lying. (But a big thx to his encouragement) So after suffering some real life pain, recovet and one day I walked and listened to a Chinesr music grouping, I was suddenly inspired-truly inspired. Inspiration came out of nowhere and I knew exactly how to continue the piece and finish it in the way I never thought possible. I always think that composer is just a pregnant woman (not people). Music just comes from God or Heaven or natute or whatever, and they never belong to you alone as they are only realized through you, hence never your own possession. (Although I am still retaining my copyright lol) That would need time to feed yourself with more nutrients from past human world and the nature, and the process won't be quick, and hence you can never expect your fruit to be born quickly. I am for sure no Mozart thus I can only slowly write my pieces with diligence and hopefully they go well. I wouldn't want to write trash and flashy and extravagant programme notes on my music's blah blah blah to lie to any listeners and myself. I hope everything I write is an honest representation of me, and that would take time too. Another thing is technical: I need time to get familiar with my material and medium and skills in order to adequately write what I want. In my multi movement works the 1st movements are always the worst because I need time to know my music and digest it to write. These are my brief explanantion of why I need much time to write. Henry

= Short Piece for Cello / Piano / Granular Synthesis = = Background One day, I thought of a cellist and a pianist performing over a backdrop of electronic noise, and this piece was created based on that idea. As the title suggests, the composition features cello, piano, and granular synthesis. The composition process began with creating the granular synthesis textures, followed by adding staccato cello notes and piano. I imagine a space that looks like a compact design. = Note I don't have a specific message I'm trying to convey with this music, but I would be happy if someone found it enjoyable. To be honest, I was reluctant for a while to upload this piece; I felt a bit hesitant about creating something annoying when everyone else is composing beautiful orchestral / chamber or keyboard-based works, haha. Still, I decided to take the plunge and upload it. As for the score, since I don't know how to notate it, I can't upload it now. I’d love to hear your impressions, criticism, and feedback. Again, I hope you find it interesting and enjoy it. = Music / Artwork: Lithl = Finally If you know any pieces that are similar to this piece of mine, please let me know. I'd appreciate it. Thank you for listening, and have a nice day :) Short Piece for Cello : Piano : Granular Synthesis.mp3

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

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!

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

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

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 :)

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 7.75 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!

I do have to admit the general textural density remains quite staunchly homophonic-sounding for quite a good few passages, mostly in the developmental section. As with my previous motet, the main focus here was once again textual intelligibility, so in order to break that lack of variety in note values and durations across voices I would need to add in new passages or modify the existing ones by pruning the underlying counterpoint to accommodate for longer values, which at this point seems... somewhat unfeasible, to put it lightly. I could have added an Amen section at the end but after repeating the same incipit in the stretti and then following up with a Da Capo al Fine at the very end, I doubt it would have made much structural sense compared to, say, placing it right after the "Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum" phrase where it is normally expected to be ennunciated. Nevertheless, pondering your suggestions has made me realize that the underlying structure was not calculated thoroughly enough, and even if it does have a clearer sense of direction, structural integrity, Fortspinnung, etc. than most of my other compositions by my usually fairly chaotic standards, it still falls short in the end. Had you not pointed out the textural flaws I might not have considered the whole absent Amen tangent. Thank you kindly for bringing these points forth.

Hello all! This is a piece I wrote for college. The first movement was performed, and I was supposed to have the rest performed before the end of the month, but unfortunately, the ensemble that would have played it got too busy. The piece is kind of in a similar vein as my first large scale work, the Seven Sorrow; a program piece based on a traditional Catholic devotion. The difference is, while no other composer had written a piece on the seven sorrows, there are composers who have written pieces about the stations of the cross (Liszt's "Via Crucis" comes to mind), though I approached it quite differently, I think. Rather than a movement for each station, I made it a 3-movement brass quintet where each movement represents several stations. The first 5 stations in movement 1, the next 4 in movement 2, and the final 5 in the finale. The stations are shown both in the score and in the video with pictures. The Stations of the Cross for Brass Quintet - YouTube Stations of the Cross.mp3 Stations_of_the_Cross_Full.pdf

Hello @Lithl , Someone introduced to me George Crumb recently...he has this fun piece he wrote for his dogs. The best part is the end, where I guess I'm spoiling a bit, as he ends it with a spoken word - "bad dog!". There is another one called Echoes of Time and the River. His scores are beautiful and almost like a work of art themselves. He also uses the instruments in more unique ways. Not totally my cup of tea personally, but can definitely appreciate the genius behind his stuff. So there ya go, hopefully this is avant garde enough for ya :)

This is the 4th and last movement of my Clarinet Quintet in C minor, which is completed 4 years ago which I finish revising. Thx to my friend @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio! Here is the score and video of the movement: (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 4th mov final 20260922.pdfClarinet Quintet in C minor 4th mov Final Version 20260922.mp3 https://youtu.be/r4Y7eVQdom8 It's finally the time to solve the problem after excavating deeply into the despair and sadness itself in the last movement. The despair motive is almost everywhere in the movement to show the struggle with it. The movement is basically under sonata form (or sonata rondo) structure with an extensive coda: 0:00 1st subject, Exposition. Despair [0134] theme combines with anapaestic (or dactylic?) rhythm behind to present the action to solve it. A sudden reflection with halt appears in 0:44. What is this despair? Eb major arrives the earliest in the whole piece of music in 1:10. 1:49 Transition. Begins in Ab major, the 1st theme enters in 2:06 cello but stop by a chase to Eb major in 2:25. First time to dissolve the despair with bare harmonies. 2:39 2nd subject, Exposition, in Eb major. Some struggle in 3:02 in c minor and reached its climax in 3:21 but dissolved (or ignored). Trying to achieve a more hopeful ending but ends in deceptive cadence in 3:47 with the scare of 1st subject theme. Eb major never achieves its perfect cadence here and go straight back to c minor in the development. 4:17 Development, 1st part. Most complicated part of the movement (it should be), 1st subject theme enters into each instrument individually like nothing happens(that's why it can be either sonata-rondo or sonata for the structure). The sudden halt reflection suddenly interrupts in 4:53(which will keep appearing in the development). Keeps modulating with sudden reflection (or rather because of the reflection) to finally reaches e minor passionately for the 1st climax of the development. 5:28 Development, 2nd part. The emotion gets complicated as 5 part counterpoint is achieved here. I initially was in doubt of the counterpoint here during revision since the sound is so confusing and muddled but I think it's a good way to represent the confusion of mind here so I retained it. Certainly I don't have the ability of Mozart here haha. It cools down to b minor with 2nd subject theme singing, ending in German sixth chord which gives hint to C major/minor as V7 of it. But it instead it enter F sharp minor. 6:23 Development, 3rd part. The use of F sharp minor here is to reiterate the polarity of C/Gb which is established right in the 1st movement (I also use it in my Sextet). Another climax in 6:42 using transition theme. Falls to aura of despair in the opposite pole in 7:17. But only when you fully admit and immerse yourself in despair hope appears, as it magically turns into Eb major with the ultimate climax. The hope theme shines completely in 7:50 and in 8:11 even the despair motive appears hopefully in the clarinet! It ends in a calm pentatonic aura but it proves itself short lived as it cools down instantly. 8:23 Development, last part and retransition. It falls again to the weak Ab major and ends in a long reflection in 8:45. I think it's anti-climatic to allow unmoving passages in a development but I do it as preparation to what comes after it and a preparation of the coda. Sadness deeply felt and rebounds in agitation, as rhythms from all previous movements appear in 9:38 and in 10:00 the outburst of despair motive is played in unison. 10:13 Recap, 1st subject and transition. Themes recapped and reordered in a much more agitated manner than the exposition. I definitely learn from Mozart's G minor Quintet for the texture here. Transition in 10:54 as 1st subject greatly shortened. 11:38 Recap, 2nd subject. Time to enjoy the moving sadness by despair theme here. Try to grasp hope but despair seems fully taking control... 13:28 Coda, 1st part. My fav. theme in 1st mov quoted here: do I have to end in this way after all these struggles?? Are they futile at all?? I sink myself and dissolve myself into harmonies only after all the counterpoints before. Yeah! Despair may not be solved but it can be dissolved! To acquire it isn't to have hope defeat despair, but rather embrace despair and carry its heavy weight on your shoulder and still maintain that the world is hopeful. 14:40 Coda, 2nd part. By no means I am merely copying Beethoven's op.135 3rd mov (my all time fav mov) note by note here: the Eb-D-C-Bb motive there is the perfect solution to the despair motive in this entire piece. But just like Beethoven's op.131 or Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, what's happen next is not the issue here, so the ending is somewhat unfinished, and what's left undone would be further developed as in 16:00 the melody begins my 2nd Clarinet Quintet in E flat major. Feel free to criticize the movement here! A more complete narrative of the whole piece will be put in the video featuring the whole piece instead of here. Thank you if you follow the whole piece of music and read the long descriptions here! Henry P.S. Here are the posts of previous movements of the same Quintet: 1st Mov: 2nd Mov: 3rd Mov: The passage in Mozart's String Quintet in G minor: The slow movement of Beethoven's op.135 Quartet:

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu ! Congratulations on finally finishing this revision of your Clarinet Quintet! I'm glad that you are now able to move on to other projects! I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet - I think you did say something about someone mentioning that parts of this reminded them of Brahms? For me the pickups to mm. 63 reminds me of Brahms Clarinet Sonata No. 2 2nd movement - Allegro Appassionato. Especially the b2 Neapolitan inflections in the Clarinet melody there really remind me of Brahms. I guess you have the 2nd part of the Development without a key signature because it's so modulatory? I like the canonic imitation in mm. 359! I also enjoyed the simultaneous diminution/augmentation of the motivic material in the last part of the Development! I love that slow theme you brought back in the 2nd part of the Coda! Great job - thanks for sharing!

Again, the first sentence of the clarinet is great, and the next time the same phrase is played by the strings is nice too. I don't know why, but when I listen to your clarinet works, I can't help but imagine a raw recording. It is natural to do so. The dialogue between instruments is also very well structured, making it quite difficult to fully grasp in just one listening. I think it is wonderful how so many different elements come together as one. The section starting around 14:44 is beautiful—I feel the vibe of "to the supreme". Also, the section around 8:35 sounds nice to me. The audio playback is nice too—great job, Mr. Vince! Henry, I appreciate your works! Well done! Best, Lithl.

Hey all, This is the current iteration of the second movement. Eager to hear people's views so far on this... whether it works. The bit I am currently working on is intended to be a fugata, in the spirit of Beethoven's own in his Erocia, second movement (which I love). I am using that as a model. Never done that before and it's certainly a challenge. I haven't finished the wind writing which will have two parts for each instrument except for solo areas (i.e. the beginning). I wouldn’t bother looking for errors as it’s still a work in progress. There is still much to refine. It would just be helpful to just gauge how the ideas come together while i’m immersed in the rabbit hole! 🤣 Symphony in A (Second movement Draft).mp3 Symphony in A (Second movement Draft).pdf

Hello dear fellow composers! The two months of the YCF 2026 Summer competition are over and we have now the results. For me, participating in that competition was (again) a great fun – but also a huge challenge! And I think, I’m not alone with that impression, since – on the one hand – only roughly the half of that members which initially intended to participate have finally posted a submission and – on the other hand – the most submissions arrived during the last two weeks, signifying that almost all participants had to do a hard work to meet the requirements of the contest, to produce „Something“, that was related to Paul Verlaine’s poem, from „Nothing“ (in this regard, the specific task made it difficult to use an existing piece; therefore, I believe that most submissions were composed “from scratch”). I’m very pleased, that I could win the third prize, however the most takeaway from the contest are – in my opinion – the reviews which had an outstanding quality this time. It was the fourth consecutive competition (or event) I participated during the past year, and I think the overall quality of the compositions and of the reviews has been improved significantly in that period. The reviews tend to be longer and consist not only of the impression and taste of the listener/reviewer, but have become full of profound feedback and suggestions, concerning for example questions of engraving or of the playability and/or specific characteristics of certain instruments that a composer must take into account, even if he or she may not be very familiar with the one or the other instrument. With this respect, I would especially thank @MK_Piano, @Omicronrg9 and @Thatguy v2.0 for their reviews. I'm already looking forward to the next competition, though to be honest, I need a few weeks' rest until then. Finally, there is just another little concern I would share: I noticed that some of the participants voted for themselves in the final poll. That behavior ultimately had no impact on the awarding of badges and prices in that sense, that a participant has not earned the respective badge due to he did hesitate and not voted for itself. However, in my opinion, it is not a good practice to vote for oneself, since - if everyone would do so - voting would become merely useless, especially since we have relatively few voters at all, and this time more participants than other members. Therefore, I would suggest to introduce an explicit statement in the rules of upcoming competitions, that participants shall not vote for themselves in the final poll.

@Lithl My dear friend, I truly don’t know how else to thank you. Your appreciation, both for me as a person and for my music, genuinely makes me very happy. I’m so glad that you enjoyed this sonata as well, and it means a great deal to me that you took the time to listen to it and share your thoughts. As for my dear friend @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu , I have had the pleasure of considering him a friend for quite some time now. Even though we are separated by distance, we are in touch almost every day and we often talk about music. Above all, there is a deep mutual respect between us, as well as a genuine love for music. Lately, we have been talking quite a lot about Scarlatti. Henry not only loves Scarlatti, but also listens to and performs his music. Since I also have a deep love for Scarlatti, especially his binary sonatas, this shared passion for his music has brought us even closer. And so, I felt the need to dedicate one of my own binary sonatas to him. I’m truly very happy and touched that I had the opportunity to do so.

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.

Hi @MinGry ! Thank you for sharing this piece. I think you’re on the right track, and it’s clear that you’ve been studying composition and working hard to develop your melody and harmony skills. This work shows a lot of thought and care, and I can hear skills that will continue to blossom with practice. I’d like to share a few thoughts that might help you develop this piece and give you some ideas to carry into your next one. My first suggestion is to look at the passages with block chords in the left hand and experiment with more varied accompaniment. You already use some Mozart-style accompaniment, but there are many possibilities beyond that pattern and block chords. Try breaking up the chords, varying the rhythm, or creating flowing, scale-like lines. This could soften some of the heavier chordal passages and give the left hand more personality. It also opens up opportunities for passing tones, neighboring tones, and suspensions. The left hand doesn’t have to simply state the chord of each measure; it can contribute to the character of the music. You could explore all of this while keeping your underlying harmony and right-hand melody intact. That step alone could add quite a bit of oomph to the piece. Another detail to look closely at are the areas where you begin a melody with the fifth of the accompanying chord in the bass. Depending on the context, this can make the music feel less grounded, weaker, than it would with the root in the bass. That doesn’t mean the root always needs to be in the bass. But it’s good to be aware that the fifth in the bass will weaken the strength of any chord. One great place to put the fifth in the bass of the I chord is if the following chord is the V chord. That is a powerful I-V cadence that is used throughout the classical repertoire. My final thought concerns the overall harmonic direction. There’s plenty of appealing melodic material, but at times I feel that the music wanders harmonically, making it harder for the listener to sense where it’s headed. I’d recommend listening to some early Beethoven sonatas (maybe #1 through #15) with this in mind. Your piece doesn’t need to sound like Beethoven, but he offers wonderful examples of how melody, harmony, and form can create a dramatic arc. Tension builds, reaches a peak, and eventually subsides. The listener enjoys the music while also participating in the drama, as if the music is telling a story. Try listening to those sonatas while taking a hike, without looking at the score. Just study the sound first, the vibes. Then pick out some moments that felt especially moving to you, and study how he did it. Explore: how did he use harmony, melody, and accompaniment to construct something dramatic, something with power and direction? See whether you can build tension gradually over several measures in your music, arrive at a climax, linger there long enough to make it meaningful, and then let the tension resolve. In passages that feel a little directionless, that sense of movement toward and away from a goal could give the music more shape. It might also help to set the piece aside for a month and return to it with fresh ears. Listen for moments that feel flat or seem to lose momentum; those could be good places to experiment with accompaniment, harmonic direction, and dramatic pacing. Even if you decide to leave this piece exactly as it is, you’ve still made real progress in your composition journey. You can carry these ideas into your next sonata and keep exploring how a more expressive left hand and a stronger harmonic arc can bring your music to life. These are just my thoughts, and I appreciate the opportunity to listen. I hope you keep composing! Jonathan

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

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

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

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 @latebeethoven_addict , Wonderful entry to the competition. It was great to listen to your music. Some engraving thoughts: score order: vln, hn, pno very cramped score - put more space between systems and staves not sure why some pno notes are grace note or cue sized lots of rests divided incorrectly (m2 8th+16th should be a dotted 8th rest; m3 two 8th rests should be a quarter rest) double bar lines at section changes and tempo changes (most players also still prefer them at key changes) where it is just pno solo - hide the other two instruments General Instrumentation thoughts: I would think more about articulation/bowing for the piece and add a lot more slurs. putting in these markings would make the violin part more playable A lot of the times the vln/hn are playing together and often in unison. I would play more with counterpoint and harmonize some of the lines. Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 7 8 the ABA form did not seem to serve the piece well 7 6 see comments above 6 see comments above 7 7 Average Score: 7.0

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

Hi @Fruit hunter , It was lovely to listen to your music! I think On Pastel Skies would make for quite the fun front ensemble or indoor percussion piece as well as a concert percussion quintet. It definitely succeeded in your goal and transported me to your Florida summer evening. I enjoyed the details you brought into the score. Wonderful usage of mallet changes, vibraphone pedaling, stickings, etc. You can tell that you are comfortable writing for percussion and that all the parts are able to be performed, even if some of the transitions are tight. Overall I liked the sectional use of form with reoccurring elements. I think you could have expanded the unpitched percussion sections more and explored that sound world for longer. Or even add sections where you more more thoroughly combined pitched and unpitched sounds. (I know the time limit was only 7 minutes - I did the same thing in my piece and pushed the duration to the buzzer.) Some engraving notes (I'm being quite picky for this score): I would appreciate an instrumentation list/page after the title page, so I know what equipment is needed for each player there's a lot of white space on some pages and a lot of cramped staves on others make sure the instrument abbreviations are marked Mar. 1, Mar. 2 (they are at first but not after you switch instruments) double barlines at meter and tempo changes check that your rests are simplified correctly, a lot of two eighth rests that should be a quarter rest sometimes extra clefs are left in after changing instruments I know this is controversial, but I'm not sold that all the staccato markings need to be placed on the glock and vibes part. I personally don't mark percussion as staccato unless I want the player to dampen the note. If you want vibes really short you can always mark them as non Ped Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7 wonderful atmosphere, not a lot of sections which felt melodic - not that that's a bad thing 7 a lot of octave doubling and not a lot of fully fleshed out harmony at times 8 enjoyed, but see comments above 8 interesting and successful use of the theme 8 see above comments 10 lovely blend of mallets - see comments above 9 relaxing summer vibes 8 some of the chromatic scales and octave doublings were a little too marching band-esque for me, but still greatly enjoyed! Average Score: 8.125

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

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 :)