Piano Sonata - 3 Movements

Hey :) Please let me know what you think of my piano sonata. It consists of 3 movements ... I'm not really sure what to call them in Italian terms, so if anybody could suggest names to me that'd be great! In English, the first is pretty fast and frantic, the middle is slower and more ponderous and the last one is a bit grand and quite quick. Some of you may remember the last movement which I put up a while ago. It's slightly different to what I put up then.

Yes, I realise that the majority of this music is very difficult to actually play. Unfortunately, you see, I'm not a pianist :blush: So writing piano is not my fort

Sounds more like a concerto the plan anyways, yes well here are the terms..

* Prestissimo - extremely fast (200 - 208 bpm)

* Vivacissimo - Very fast and lively

* Presto - very fast (168 - 200 bpm)

* Allegrissimo - very fast

* Vivo - lively and fast

* Vivace - lively and fast (~140 bpm)

* Allegro - fast and bright or "March Tempo" (120 - 168 bpm)

* Allegro moderato - Moderately cheerful and quick

* Allegretto - moderately fast (but less so than Allegro)

* Moderato - moderately (90 - 115 bpm)

* Andantino - Alternatively faster or slower than Andante

* Andante - at a walking pace (76 - 108 bpm)

* Tranquilo - Tranquil

* Adagietto - Rather slow (70-80 bpm)

* Adagio - slow and stately (literally, "at ease") (66 - 76 bpm)

* Grave - slow and solemn

* Larghetto - rather broadly (60 - 66 bpm)

* Largo - Very slow (60-40 bpm), like lento

* Lento - very slow (60 - 40 bpm)

* Largamente/Largo - "broadly", very slow (40 bpm and below)

* Larghissimo - very slow (20 bpm and below)

Other terms include:

* Marcato - March Tempo

* Tempo commodo - at a comfortable speed

* Tempo giusto - at a consistent speed

* L'istesso tempo - at the same speed

* Non troppo - not too much (e.g. Allegro ma non troppo, "fast but not too much")

* Assai - rather, very, enough as is needed (e.g. Adagio assai)

* Con - with (e.g. Andante con moto, "at a walking pace with motion")

* Molto - much, very (e.g. Molto allegro)

* Poco - a little (e.g. Poco allegro)

* Quasi - as if (e.g. Pi

Cheers dude. :) What do you think best describes those three?

i say Prestissimo for the first movement

allego for the 2nd mvt.

and the 3 i haven't listen to yet

I can't imagine writing as you have done and not being a pianist...well, that is to say, it would take a lot of work! So, bravo. Your "grand" sections are well described--good power there. The middle movement, I think, could use a little more continuity; the prhases sound slightly segmented, and sometimes the harmony could change a little more frequently, to my ear.

Just opinion, but great set of contrast here!

Brooks

There are a lot of great musical ideas, and some good ideas for where the harmony might go. I don't think they're necesarily well put together, but that's something that comes with work.

The piano writing is... undiomatic. There are large parts that are just too monotonously similar. And a few rather large sections that I could play with one hand. The rather unrelenting repetition of figurations gets tiring.

Long held notes give a "final" effect on the piano, so to finish off a long phrase of running sextuplets with a big chord on a whole note...

The first movement is very pretty, a nice allegro non troppo. However, it doesn't feel like a sonata movement. It's like an extended prelude. The fact that the left hand part is so repetitive emphasizes this.

As far as the piano writing goes, I think the whole piece (all three movements) is too squarely divided: left hand arpeggios, right hand octaves, or vice versa. You stick a bit too strictly to a single texture.

There's still some very pretty music in this, so it's not a "bad" piece of music, but it's not a successful piano sonata.

What is your principle instrument? Why not write an extended piece for that? Choose a form (and by this I don't mean " well, three movements... umm.. a sonata. I mean that each movement should also have a set form), and develop your thematic material and a harmonic plan that will frame the form make it solid and well exposed.

Hello Qccowboy. I was waiting for someone to tell me what you just said. I've been trying hard to understand how piano playing works... it's the one thing I wish I could do (in case you were wondering, I can't because I only have one hand). And my inability to properly develop ideas I guess comes through a lack of experience and any musical training. But the more I do it, and the more I listen to other music, the better I should get, right? I don't want to give up writing piano music.

My principle instruments are bass guitar and trumpet. I don't really want to write anything featuring the bass guitar, though I do have fun writing jazzy bass riffs. I'm not very good at writing for trumpet either to be honest - see my victory concerto in the major works forum if you're interested. What I love writing for is orchestra but what are the chances of getting orchestral pieces performed? Minimal...