July 2, 200818 yr This piece focuses on 5 variations on a single main theme, with 2 secondary themes, and some tertiary theme fillers. The secondary themes are repeated two times in variations, so listen closely! The last 3 minutes or so, is in romantic form and nocturne like. I did this on purpose, to appease not only the listener, but the performer, as most of the piece is highly energetic, fast paced and difficult to play. As always, I composed the whole piece out on a keyboard, so I know it is playable, even if you may think it's not. I am sorry for the lack of score. I do all my compositions first, then copyright them afterwards (if I decide to even copyright it). If I focused on copyrighting while composing, it would just distract me. Enjoy! Ballade 8
July 2, 200818 yr a quick note, Mike: typesetting your score to a "clean copy" does not actually "copyright" your work. Even existing only as a recording, it is automatically copyrighted. The act of creating the work creates the copyright. Even works you do not intend on adding to your catalogue are, in effect, under copyright. I notice a few spots where I didn't quite feel the left hand figuration was a perfect support for the melody. There was a strong Faur
July 3, 200818 yr Except in the squareness of phrases, I actually noticed a Ravel influence, as well as Faur
July 6, 200818 yr An excellent piece..! Beautiful harmonies throughout the piece's entirety. Extremely ear-pleasing flourishes that sound like Chopin and Scriabin's love child! I loved the introductory section; almost minimalistic but supported by a melody that exists in its own right. Also, a fantastic choice of harmonies that blend together very well and make a whole lot of sense to my ear! One thing though; I found the transition at 2:55 from one section to the another to be a little too contrasting. To go from such fast moving manoeuvres without any rit. seems a little too unexpected. This happens several times throughout the piece and I would have personally preferred it if there was some kind of 'musical warning', preparing me for a transition. This would perhaps have given the piece a greater feeling of structural coherence. Your harmonies are wonderful, and your writing is very accomplished. I enjoyed the piece very much on the whole; it certainly was beautiful to listen to!
July 6, 200818 yr The first part is quite beautiful - Rach meets Debussy. I agree the transition to the next section is a bit thin with the sudden drop of the arpeggios. What follows subsequently though beautiful initially seems to lack any harmonic or voice leading propulsion. In other words it seems pretty static harmonically and melodically (despite the excellent Chopinesque embellishments) for significant stretches and my interest wanes for a bit. I do like the understated ending although a slight reprisal of the first sections arpeggios (slightly transformed) would have been nice ( a matter of taste). Lastly, I do like how you vary your arpeggios in register and tempi but I think you rely little too heavily on this texture. Overall, good work and very well played. Your playing shows a beautiful, sensitive touch and very good at work with the pedals. Keep my criticisms in mind for future pieces.
July 6, 200818 yr I see somebody is hosting their mp3's on the site, the little devil. :shifty: I don't have timestamps (where'd you get them? :huh:), but I'll assume I'm thinking of the same place at around 2:55. The material before and after the transition is beautiful, but the link feels a little weak. Some times sudden changes are effective... I feel this wasn't one of those times. I regret to say I've never heard a note of Scriabin, but as I listen, this is reminding me of a coupling of Chopin and mostly Debussy. Some very impressionistic sounds came out of my speakers in the first half of the piece, I believe I even heard the occasional whole-tone passage. I sensed that in nearing the end was a moment of reminiscence, possibly on old forgotten memories and the sadness evoked from thinking back on such times. Was very nice and emotional, as if a person of deep sentimental nature were weeping his heart out over the happiness he so misses. I could think of the ending as him passing on... into the new world, knowing he will shortly have no sorrows any longer. I felt this the ideal ending, but the ending of the piece was not very fulfilling at all for me. I don't think it justified the rest of the piece and is something you might want to work on expanding or drawing out just a little bit. Very lovely piece overall. It held my attention. Piano pieces can't always do that for me. XD
July 7, 200818 yr I'll comment if there's a score, but just so you know: my dad's a lawyer (here in Canada) and I'm pretty sure no matter where you are if you live in the Western World, as soon as you set down a piece of music or write a poem or anything, its automatically "copyrighted". If someone steals what you've written you can sue you don't actually have to get the little c in the circle and your name and all that.
July 7, 200818 yr Author Arg, I used the wrong word for "typesetting". This is what happens when I work in a job where copyrighting also means writing. Thanks for the notes about that guys! QCC, I have to thank you on your constructive criticism on this work, and my past works as well. You may not think I take your criticism into consideration, but you should hear your influence in my past 4 or so works. And guess what, I enjoy writing outside of my typical style, it's more fun than I thought, and a challenge. In fact, I always listen to "every" constructive comment, even if I may not say much. This is why my music is evolving and changing. So, all of you have been helping me with my development. It is very hard to get this type of criticism in the real world, because I do not know any musicians in my typical daily life, so I thank ALL of you for your help :) Why do you think I love this site so much, and will do anything to help its development and growth? With all that being said, I should have stated my goals in the description, shame on me! I noticed some of you had mixed feelings about my change of styles throughout the piece. I actually do this purposely, because my love for the romantic style is still very strong. However, I also love the whole tone scale. As a result, I mix the two styles together, which is the reason why a few parts of this piece are mellow and romantic. Another reason why I combine styles throughout, is to appease listeners who may not necessary enjoy the impressionistic style. My goal on this piece was to have your typical "classical music" listener, enjoy this different style. However, I could only accomplish this with the hardcore classical listener by combining the styles as to not create numbness of the ears. I could have made this a 100% Debussy/Ravel like piano composition, but that was not my goal. My goal was to ease a traditional classical music listener slowly into the impressionistic world.
July 8, 200818 yr Chopin - Appreciate expounding on your intention, but I think many listeners don't require much help easing into "Impressionism" --- this style is over 100 years old and judging from the recital repertoire VERY popular! That also explains though the lack of harmonic/melodic motion. If you are going to use this scale please study some more Debussy and Ravel to see ways of making it "functional" either through harmonic/melodic means (eg more like Ravel) or timbral/tempi (more like Debussy).
July 13, 200818 yr With all that being said, I should have stated my goals in the description, shame on me! I noticed some of you had mixed feelings about my change of styles throughout the piece. I actually do this purposely, because my love for the romantic style is still very strong. However, I also love the whole tone scale. As a result, I mix the two styles together, which is the reason why a few parts of this piece are mellow and romantic. Another reason why I combine styles throughout, is to appease listeners who may not necessary enjoy the impressionistic style. My goal on this piece was to have your typical "classical music" listener, enjoy this different style. However, I could only accomplish this with the hardcore classical listener by combining the styles as to not create numbness of the ears. I could have made this a 100% Debussy/Ravel like piano composition, but that was not my goal. My goal was to ease a traditional classical music listener slowly into the impressionistic world. ah. i see. shame on ME for not reading the entire thread.
