Alex Weidmann

Three of my favourite composers! I didn't realise I was channeling Prokofiev!

Great opening! I love the idea of starting on the harp and bassoon. Also loved the moment when the music suddenly bursts into life at Bar 37. This has fantastic emotional impact! Percussion is used sparingly and to great effect, and I found the melody line in the first movement quite moving. The second movement has a strong rhythmic drive, and makes a good contrast, with little echoes of the first movement in the flute towards the end. The third movement has a mysterious opening, and I really like the demisemiquaver gestures in the solo violin. The fourth movement has some great climaxes, underscored by percussion. When the solo violin melody comes in, it sounds quite Oriental due to the pentatonic structure. This then gives way to something that reminds me of Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Art Exhibition". Definitely my kind of piece!

Many thanks for the kind words! It was made with the free grand piano that comes with MuseScore.

No, it was MuseScore's built in theorbo, in their MS Basic sound font.

Hi Wieland, Many thanks for taking a look at my piece. I'm a total beginner at writing for theorbo, but I notice you've correctly notated your score an octave above the sounding pitch; whereas I've written mine at sounding pitch! So will have to correct that in my next draft. It's uncommon to use a grand staff, as theorbo players prefer a single staff (usually in 8vb bass clef). Looks like for your composition, the musician would have to do some extensive retuning of the unfretted strings, and there may not be enough of them! That's why I decided to rewrite my piece without any accidentals on the lower 8 strings. The tab notation for theorbo uses fret numbers for the 6 fretted strings, and these are written on a 6-line staff. (Each line corresponds to a string, and the top two strings are tuned an octave lower than you'd expect on a classical guitar: so you have re-entrant tuning.) For the unfretted strings, you typically write the number of the string below the staff. So where it says 14, that would be string 14, etc... Forgot to mention, my piece is for a workshop and concert later this year. So a real theorbo player will be helping me revise it (which should be interesting!) Alex

Yes they are traditionally used for ground bass. I decided to write a two part invention, as it seemed natural to me to use the lower strings within the lower voice.

Hi to all! Have been trying to compose a piece for theorbo, and am finding it really hard! Mainly because of the 8 unfretted strings, that can't be tuned to accidentals. That seems to limit me to the 7 modes of C major; or something bitonal or atonal. Anyhow, I've posted two versions below. The first is what I wanted to write, and the second has been bent out of shape to eliminate accidentals on the lower strings. Am thinking I may have to throw the whole thing out, and start again!

Thanks Vince, I just hope it's playable! I can only play it myself at a very slow tempo. Most of the recapitulation came to me just as I was falling asleep one night, which is when I always seem to have my best ideas!

Hi Tunndy, I notice your glissando lines have gone a bit haywire in Bars 54-55. Also in Bars 23 and 41 Violin II, you should flip the direction of the note stalks to make it clear what's going on there. Same in Bar 61 Violin I. Bar 55: some rests need deleting in the harp and Violin I. Same in Bar 66 Bass Drum, and Bar 69 various instruments. Plus a few more places where you have unnecessary rests. Bar 74: voices need tidying. Other than that good job! Also liked your recent Liszt orchestration of "La Campanella".

Many thanks Mark for the kind words! As to playability, I've sent this piece to a virtuoso pianist: so I guess we'll find out! If not, I can always make changes. I know I can't play it at tempo!

I hadn't even noticed that! But you're right. I guess it just worked out that way by accident. I'm glad you liked the changes of time signature, as I wasn't sure about some of them. I did think of using more ottavas; but found I could read the ledger lines quite easily when playing it through myself. Will add them if the pianist requests it. N.B. The composer who inspired me to write this piece was Julian Scriabin, as I recently discovered his preludes on You Tube. Think my piece maybe sounds more like Rachmaninoff though? Many thanks for your interesting review! Alex

Many thanks Peter, for taking the time to listen and review. Yes please do! I'll be getting a real performance from a pianist in May: so I'll probably just wait for that, rather than trying to massage the midi rendition. Will bear your points in mind for the future though. That 9/8 bar originally had a short fermata on the middle note; but I decided to use a time signature change instead. Then I reproduced the same 4/4 to 9/8 in the recapitulation: so it is reflected later in the piece.

On playing this through myself tonight, I noticed a few further corrections and cautionaries that were required. So here is my latest version of the score.

Noticed a few hand clashes and enharmonic spelling errors today: so here's a revised draft. Also made a tiny change in Bar 8 (left hand). Hopefully better? It's still a bit of a beast, with awkward hand-crossings; but I wrote it for someone with great technical skills!

Hi to all my fellow musicians. Here's my latest piece for piano, that I spent the last two days writing. Haven't quite finished the phrasing and dynamics yet. I may possibly extend the work; but I'm not quite sure yet. Hopefully I haven't accidentally stolen ideas from other pieces I've heard? I know the initial chord progression of C#m to Am(maj7) came from a You Tube video; but can't remember which piece they were discussing. (Pretty sure it was from a film score; but can't remember which one.) Anyway, hope you like it. I wrote it for a concert in May. P.S. Can you guess which composer inspired me to write this? (N.B. Revised scores will be posted below.)