PeterthePapercomPoser

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu! I really love this sonata! In this particular movement, the ARJUNA theme brings to mind for me the Nimrod movement from Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations. Funny how both this work and Elgar's were written for friends! Very cool that you dedicated so much time and effort for a birthday gift to an internet friend half a world away from you! I really like the very classical-yet-romantic leaning graceful music that isn't too waltzy. I think I like this work because it's not too Beethovenian - I hear more of your own individual voice coming through in this and I also find it more joyful and entertaining for the same reason. It's also amazing how much this was prompted by Arjuna! Thanks for sharing!

I am also working on a set of variations and mash-ups on themes not written by me (from a famous videogame). I am using so many themes at once that I am also feeling unmotivated lately to work on it. It seems like one of those never-ending snowballing out of control projects. I hope that I'll finish at least one part of it. I think because of my ginormous orchestral project, the next thing I'll want to write is a piece for 1 monophonic solo instrument accompanied by 1 polyphonic instrument (like the Dreamscapes contest rules). It would be a nice change of pace. And if I manage to write something "dreamy" then it will be all the more interesting. Besides that I was thinking of writing my own variations of more of the themes from the "Bits to Bangers" competition, since I already did the "Harvest Moon" Piano Quintet. I think I majorly prefer working on previously written video game themes, and if not that, then I prefer for my own music to retain a VGM style or media purpose to it somehow.

Hello @A Ko and welcome to the forum! It's so fun that you snuck in some themes from other composers' works! At around 4:10 it sounds like you're quoting Mahler - Symphony 4 or 5 perhaps? It's amazing that your first finished composition is this long and for orchestra - congrats! Incorporating other composers' melodies in your own works smoothly and seamlessly is quite a difficult endeavor and it gives the listeners a fun little Easter egg hunt to go on - very clever idea to involve the listener in the listening process in yet another additional way! Thanks for sharing!

Ah, ok. Thank you for the correction. I will be able to listen for that now. I did sense some changes but it seemed like an alternation between i and V and without a score, I couldn't be sure. Thanks for your reply!

Hi @Samuel_vangogh! You made this art? It looks great! The music is wonderful too! The delaying of the resolution to the tonic through repeated ii - V's is to me a very cool feature. The ending is quite unusual as well and despite not ending on the tonic, it still sounds finished. Also, something I noticed is that (at least in the beginning) the piece seems to be in the Acoustic mode (or Lydian b7 or Mixolydian #4). But there's plenty of chromaticism as well. The simplicity but exploration of non-harmonic tones is also a bit Satie-like. Thanks for sharing! P.S.: would you post a link to your artwork, if possible as a high resolution image? That would be really great! Thanks in advance!

Hey @Fugax Contrapunctus! Great idea! I really like how the canon starts on the dominant, making the F minor tonality only a later emergent property of the harmony arising from the counterpoint. I think the Musesounds strings are a bit difficult to deal with to get them to sound as intended. I wonder why you changed the articulation to staccato as each new voice enters when it wasn't staccato in the Cello? It would make the entry of each voice more obvious I think if they entered on a fully held quarter note. The beginning and ending of the canon, I think are the best parts. But the middle could really have used some space/rests in the line to imo to give the ear an occasional break from the barrage of constant melodic material that demands to be digested by the ears. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Fugax Contrapunctus! I think your hours of labor on this unusual subject really paid off! I think the subject and the counter-subject are really well matched with each other with one moving while the other rests on quarter notes. It creates a kind of question/answer dichotomy between the voices and increases their independence. I think this is one of the best fugues you've written and seems really mature and less mechanical. It's very fluid, natural and spontaneous. The only thing that bothers me is the ending on a feminine cadence. I felt like the last chord came too early and should have been reserved for the strong beat of the next (non-existent) bar. Thanks for sharing!

Hey @Layne! Your harmony and main theme are full of tension! And the piece is saturated with the theme throughout. But you do have a contrasting middle section that doesn't use the main theme for a brief moment. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet but your main theme sounds a lot like the theme to "Back to the Future", especially with the first 3 notes (F, Bb, E). Thanks for sharing!

Mark, I think what I mean by artificiality is that the notes lay flat on the page. It might be partly a result of you conceiving of the music as a visual structure. One has the impression that one is hearing a work meant to be experienced all at once, since it seems to have been conceived that way, in a sense. The same thing is true of Stravinsky imo. He worked at the piano and there's an essay somewhere out there about how the piano heavily influenced how he conceived of his music. There's sometimes a certain lack of fluidity where the music spontaneously surprises the listener at each moment of its playing. That's what I experience when I listen to some of your music and I interpret that as a certain artificiality. Thanks for asking!

Hi @Some Guy That writes Music! I love the song-like quality of the music and the breathtaking modulations! Some of the melodies sometimes sound like they're wandering around aimlessly up and down the scale in step-wise motion which doesn't make for a very interesting melodic content. Other times you break away from the step-wise motion and the music seems much more romantic and purposeful there. Although I guess the other extreme of avoiding step-wise motion would be to skip around to chord tones. Of course, that wouldn't be interesting either all the time. But you do show some good choice use of non-harmonic tones on strong beats to really bring out their beauty. Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed the romantic flourishing and I loved the quiet ending!

Hi @Fugax Contrapunctus! This perhaps makes me think of a slow funeral march with its metronomic regularity and depth of emotion. I usually try to try to steer clear of orchestrating stuff the way you've done here where the choir is basically just doubled by the strings and woodwinds. You seem to have made it work, but I wonder if that will translate to a real performance. Perhaps with a careful balancing of the orchestra and a formidable enough choir, the orchestra won't drown the choir out. But you seem to have deliberately omitted the brass which might have been too forceful for the venue and the nature of the music, so I guess it's best to leave them tacit. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @mercurypickles! I really love the lyrical 2nd song! Perhaps they're both lyrical. The 1st song is lyrical in that it seems to continue a logical leading melodic line despite seemingly constant tempo changes. But you make it sound quite natural and smooth and beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Alex Weidmann! I really love the tubular-bell/chimes in the latter half of the piece. Are you using microtones at all in this? The bells sound kinda cool and a bit out of tune. Thanks for sharing!

Hey Mark @MJFOBOE! Nice succinct multi-movement piece! I especially like the 11 pm falling asleep section - probably because of the close connection you have in that part to memories of your daughter. I also like how the piece starts over again as the new day dawns. I would have expected a dream-like sequence after the 11 pm falling asleep section though - could have made for some really interesting music! I also really liked the 3/4 hemiolas in the morning rush section. There is a peculiar artificiality to your musical style (I'm not meaning this at all as a negative comment though just an observation). Once again, I can't help but compare this artificiality of your style to Stravinsky. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Mark @MJFOBOE! I think your individual style really shines in this piece. In your other pieces, your style can be a bit dense and hard to digest. It's a bit like Stravinsky in that it's a style one has to get used to. But once one does, and in this piece especially, it really has its own unique logic and beauty! The way you extend and repeat your motifs in this piece is a really unique kind of development. The piece also seems like it's constantly building towards that final chord. Although I did find it personally a bit lacking, like a whole fanfare finale/codetta could have maybe made it sound more conclusive. Those are my thoughts. Thanks for sharing!