"Epistrophe" (sonata for 'cello and piano)--Mvt. 1 Pesante: Lento con tristezza

2 IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. The .pdf file is posted on the 9th post down....

2. MP3: I was privileged to have an eccelent recording of this movement produced(faculty pianist and...I won't lie; it wasn't championed by another: I'm playing the cello...but hey...cello performance is my major!). Anyone is welcome to hear it, but it's an mp3. Just shoot me a 1-liner e-mail to the address below, and I'll get it to you within the day!

bpopw750@students.bju.edu

About the piece:

This is a solo sonata I am working on depicting an upward progression from despair to hope. This first movement portrays despair and a futile search for meaning and satisfaction (portrayed with what I hope is sensitivity and tasteful tonality--not that I have anything against atonal/serial works :)).

Brooks

Epistrophe finalish.MUS

For those that may be interested, here's a more complete description of what I intend in this programmatic work:

An elegy-of-sorts that I intend to convey the hopelessness one can reach in life, the movement opens with funereal piano solo introducing the two themes. I actually drew these fragments from the hymn-tunes ST. ELIZABETH and HALLELUJAH, WHAT A SAVIOR. Except for the piano solo, these fragments appear in inversion, a technique which may prove useful to portray the spiritual "reversal" later in the piece. Two central "seeking" sections develop the two themes with short melodies that quickly build and crash down unsatisfied. Framing these sections, a wandering version of the first theme depicts an underlying, encroaching despair, and the movement concludes with the funeral dirge of the piano ending in listless frustration. The other two movements will convey the journey from such despair to hope.

I like it :)

I especially like the piano intro.

Let me first talk about what I hear. First of all, I can definitely hear tonality in this piece, and it's very tasteful indeed, just like you said. The cello theme was beautiful, reminded me of the Secret Garden soundtrack. Not because it sounds similar, but because it uses almost the same instrumentation (string instruments playing sad, mournful yet romentic theme). The 2nd theme for the cello IMO was more emotional. Not as pretty as the first, but more energetic. The ending was good too, very final.

Next, you labelled this piece as a sonata. But if I remember correctly, the 1st movement of a sonata is supposed to be in Sonata Allegro form. I can't hear the recap in it though.

Overall, it's a beautiful piece of music, which I enjoyed listening to. You play the cello really well. Keep it up!

thank you for your gracious words, Nigel.

Yes, it's true; I'm not totally following the typical sonata pattern, but call it artistic license and that wonderful freedom we have as 21st century composers :P. Maybe it'll make more sense when I finish the work....

(and actually, the original theme comes back in a double sense: after the climax at the end of the 3rd theme and followed by the piano introduction (although just a snippet). So it's kind of in a "chiastic" form, ABCDBA.

Legit criticism, though.

Thanks again,

Brooks

I really like the use of dissonance to set up a feeling of despair in the beginning, as the piece progressed, i could truly feel what you were trying to say.

I like how the piece progresses. It has very smooth transitions. Very nice work! :thumbsup:

I'm glad you both think the piece's structure supported the idea behind it. Thanks for taking time to comment. Glad also, maelstrom, that you see the dissonance as being tasteful...a goal of mine, though I admit, I need to learn to expand my harmonic capability even further.

Here's the PDF.

Brooks

Finale 2007a - [Epistrophe finalish.pdf

Well Brooks, I have to say, this is not only good, its beautiful. Realy this is some of the best cello music i have heard. A wonderful melodyline ( and you play it so well ). i cant say anything but very good, impressive!

Brooks, I listened to only the opening, it IS lovely. VERY lovely!

However!!!

Shame on you. The score is a mess.

Please, isn't it worth it for something beautiful like this to be treated with respect?

What's with the measure of 3/8+3/8+2/8???? it's a measure of 4/4. period.

Where are all your bowings?

Phrase markings in the piano part?

And the tempo is marked 66/quarter note, but the playback is set to 108/quarter.

Please, for me, I'd love to listen to the whole movement, but clean up the score. It will take you an hour at the most.

Why are the name "violincello" and "piano" off the page on the first page?

Why is the "pno" off the page?

If you need any help using Finale, please contact me, I'll be happy to help you.

If this is your first movement, it should have the "complete" title of your piece as a header, and underneath that the movement title.

It should be marked clearly what instruments are playing on the first indented staff (being a sonata, you can leave the staff names out for the subsequant staves, as well as on subsequant movements once it's all put together)

be careful of typos when you print to PDF - the movement is called Epistrophe on the 1st page, but the header for the following pages all say "Epsitrophe".

Beautiful music also deserves to be beautiful on the page.

I'm listening to your music right now, it must be the 8th time.

Well,

1) This is truly beautiful. In concept, structure and performance. It goes in my mp3 player.

2) The score is messy, as Cowboy stated. It's in awful need of attention.

3) I can't wait for the next movements.

Two thumbs up!

Wow! Thanks for lending your ear. It's really encouraging!

I am tending to the score; I should be able to post something much cleaner and communicative of my intent soon.

I'm not sure when I'll get around to the other two movements, considering my current college schedule. I do have some coalescing ideas for them, which I've expressed in an essay under the "Articles" section ("Genre for a Lifetime: Christian Epistrophe in Music").

Thanks again, Manossg and QC!

Well, I must say that I like this piece very much. ;) However, I do have one complaint after viewing the score, and it IS a selfish one but; I am a pianist and I have relatively small hands. You have a LOT of tenths in there arghit! Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to reach a tenth? It hurts! Ok, well, that's my only complaint. Good job on the piece overall though! :thumbsup:

Well, I must say that I like this piece very much. ;) However, I do have one complaint after viewing the score, and it IS a selfish one but; I am a pianist and I have relatively small hands. You have a LOT of tenths in there arghit! Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to reach a tenth? It hurts! Ok, well, that's my only complaint. Good job on the piece overall though!

HAHAHA! Well sometimes composers tend to overlook, I do it all the time as you know I mistakingly put in a 15th interval for one of my piano compositions Jair..so I would much sooner have a tenth than a Fifteenth, I loved the cello piece, those harmonics at the end made me feel quite tingly....if that even sounds out of the ordinary...but I liked it alot. :thumbsup: :w00t: :sadtears:

Wow... I really hate starting off with such a vague word as "wow," but that honestly expresses how I feel. After having listened to this, I honestly have a new view on what is considered "virtuosic" writing. There's the kind that's full of dazzling orchestration that makes your head spin, complex rhythms and harmonies and blah blah blah... and then there's this kind of virtuosity. The kind where it looks so utterly simple on the page, but in hearing it performed by a pair of musicians who know what they're doing, you discover that, apparent simplicity aside, there's really something going on here.

The simple rhythmic accompaniment of the piano was simply alluring; add to that the cello melody which was at times just as simple and lilting, and at others complex in its own special manner, and you have the nearest thing to perfection you can get out of a duet. The increasingly dissonant coda (codetta?) resolved just perfectly at the end...

I really and truly was impressed. The best music does one thing beyond all - it speaks to one's soul. That's why there's not much of "the best music" out there. However, this is easily amongst the best of the best, in my opinion. I'd want nothing more than to see... and hear... the rest of this lovely sonata.

All the best,

Amiti

Thank you, Dallas, for the listen and gracious words.

oh, and Brooks, don't let those tiny-handed wusses get to you... keep writing 10ths in the piano. They're a breeze for us big-hand folk! :D

oh, and Brooks, don't let those tiny-handed wusses get to you... keep writing 10ths in the piano. They're a breeze for us big-hand folk! :D

How very thoughtful of you Qc! :angry: Lol jk. :thumbsup:

I can reach a 12th in my right hand, and usually an 11th in my left. ~random~ I have no issues playing through the piano part for this. But I can see how some might; that's solved with a simple interpretive arpeggio. Keep it up, Brooks, it's wonderful.

Many have praised you much with this piece, so I will restrain from is in order for you not to get 'soda water' in your head.

I have little criticism to give, apart from the score errors which Michel elegantly pointed out. I do not know if anybody else has commented it on it, but the cello was on a bassoon track, not a big deal - just had to point out something new. :P

Truly a golden piece in the Chamber Music sub-forum :)

EDIT: :toothygrin:

...There's a violin in this?

I'd like to think that Saiming was referring to the cello... I still don't get the point about it being on a "Bassoon track," though... could you elaborate for us, Saiming?

He was (jokingly, I hope), referring to the tenor clef.

Thank you, Nico, for commenting and suggesting. I agree that the beginning can be more harmonically "obscure"--less "sharp," to better fit the rest of the piece. I might alter that at some point in the future--perhaps when the other mvts. are completed, since it will open the piece. I also agree that the themes are very short-lived: only 2 or 3 phrases, on average (except for the last dotted figure). I thought about going back and expanding, but that would take some major re-thinking of the pacing of the piece. Since it worked as it was, I decided to write off the "deprived" feeling as a support for the mood of despair that I was going for. :toothygrin: I actually think, in that sense, that the "shortness of breath" does contribute positively.