Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor - Mvts I, II, & III

The Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor has been my main musical endeavor for the last four years. I have already posted on this forum the first and third movements in years past.

In the last year I have completed a revision of the first movement which has resulted in changes to the piano part in the development section, recapitulation, and a complete rewrite of the coda. I have also just finished the second movement which is the scherzo and ended up being far more significant than I had originally planned.

The overall structure of the Concerto as planned is as follows:

Movement I: Allegro giocoso (Standard Concerto-Allegro form)

Movement II: Fast and Jumpy (Scherzo in A-B-C-A'-B'-Coda form)

Movement III: Slow but Tense (quazi varizione)

Movement IV: Allegro misterioso e marcato (INCOMPLETE!!!)

A few notes on the Concerto:

There are two principle themes that appear in all four movements. The first is a melodic theme in six notes (F# - G# - G# - A - B - C#). This theme sometimes appears in two-note and four note versions as well. The second theme is a rhythmic theme (series of dotted eighth - sixteenth or similar pattern).

Movement I

The first movement begins in F# Minor with the melodic theme in the Tuba and the rhythmic theme in the upper brass. After the Primary Key material is presented the pianist enters with a reprisal of the Primary material before the Secondary Key material begins in Db Major. This theme is melodically the reverse of the opening Tuba line. After a trio of variations on this theme, the music quiets with a soft conversational coda between piano and woodwinds.

The Development section begins with a modified version of the opening brass fanfare with piano and strings making various entrances to break up the brass. This is followed by a restatement of the rhythmic theme in the woodwinds with the pianist playing a very chromatic descending series of broken chords. This segues into a transformed theme from the Primary material before falling into a quiet conversation between brass and woodwinds that evokes a reminiscence of Franck's D Minor Symphony. This leads into a transformed chromatic buildup on the Secondary material at which point the pianist returns to drive the development to a close.

The Recapitulation begins with the Brass fanfare joined by piano and strings. The pianist blends the fanfare into its own version of the opening and hints at the transition to A Major. This process is interrupted by the cadenza which turns the melodic theme backwards and broods as it sinks once more into F Sharp Minor. With an arppegio is runs into the return of the secondary material now in F Sharp Minor with full orchestra. This last only for one variation before the pianist plays broken chords ala Rachmaninoff's C# Minor Prelude, and the orchestra completes the transition to A Major.

The pianist slows to a stop as the trumpets let loose one more fanfare. This culminates in a brief restatement and then reflective meditation on the secondary material. With a quiet invocation of the four-note version of the melodic theme, the pianist brings this tumultuous movement to a peaceful close.

Movement II

The Scherzo begins with the pianist playing a frenetic and insistent version of the melodic theme in B Minor. He is joined by brass and strings before settling into a minor key restatement of a theme from the first movement. A very familiar theme makes an appearance here. After adding more and more instruments the pianist makes a surprising leap to Eb Major before banishing the remaining instruments. This brings the A section to a close.

The B section begins with a playful melody in the strings that begins with the melodic theme. The piano never plays this theme, but accompanies them in fanciful articulations at both top and bottom of its registers. This theme builds in the instruments before being dismissed with a tone cluster in the bass. A quiet conversation between flute and violin dissolves the melodic material into broken chords at which point the full orchestra returns to restate the melodic theme and the opening jumpy theme. After a brilliant V-I run, the orchestra interjects a French Sixth.

The C section creates an immediate contrast with a mysterious alternation between a major and an augmented chord. This continues to slowly move about the various sections and through various keys until a brief interlude in the minor leads to a restatement of alternating theme while the piano plays the secondary theme from the first movement. It ends in A major with the last two notes being a B-C#, the same two notes that both ends the first movement and begin the second. The C section includes no less than three themes or sections from works by other composers all woven together around the melodic theme. See if you can guess them!

The B-C# quickens into a restatement of the A theme which seems to follow the same path it trod before until it suddenly modulates into B Major. A modifies B section resumes with different orchestration. When it reaches the restatement of the melodic theme it dovetails into the theme everybody should know. The short coda is a very brief reprise of the C material before ending with a run on the piano that ends uncertainly on the same B-C# that started the movement.

Movement III

The third movement begins in C# Minor with a theme stated quietly on the flute and other woodwinds. This theme is in an arch with an upward melody rising an octave from C# to C# before descending back the way it came. At first the music proceeds by a series of variations on this theme. The first half of the piece reaches its culmination when the melody is finally transformed into a slightly altered form of the playful theme from the second movement. This melody has been given a Scriabinesque twist.

The second half of the adagio movement begins with vibrato strings restating the main theme and it slowly builds with more and more instruments. The pianist grows increasingly violent with stacks of sevenths and ninths thundering at top and bottom registers. It finally reaches a violent scream with two stacked diminished seventh chords. This fades into a silence into which the pianist very quietly plays the second theme from the first movement. The flute, now in F Sharp Minor plays the first half of the theme, ending on an uncertain E#.

Movement IV

INCOMPLETE! But when completed it will resolve the tensions created by these three movements by ending with a descending motif instead of ascending (which the first three all do).

MP3

Movement I: Allegro giocoso

Movement II: Fast and Jumpy

Movement III: Slow but Tense

All these have been written with Finale PrintMusic and converted with the basic musical libraries, so I apologize if the sound quality is less than salutary.

Dominus vobiscum

PianoConcertoMvtI.MUS

PianoConcertoMvtII.MUS

PianoConcertoMvtIII.MUS

PianoConcertoMvtIV.MUS

The second half of the adagio movement begins with vibrato strings restating the main theme and it slowly builds with more and more instruments.

vibrato?

I suspect you meant tremolo ;)

The opening of the 1st movement, your horns are considerably too high. As are your trumpets.

I'd suggest using all trumpets, as cornets are really not a standard part of the orchestra.

I'd also suggest re-sizing your brass section. Right now, you have 4 trombones and 2 tubas. There is NO way you are balancing that against a normal string section, nor a 2-per-part woodwind section. Adding to the bras section 4 horns, 2 trumpets and 2 cornets (making it de facto 4 trumpets) and your brass section is grossly over-sized.

most of your horn part is ok, but it just keeps creeping up there to notes above the high C (written). If you really want those notes, you're much better off re-orchestrating and assigning them to the trumpets. Horn is an alto instrument! it belongs IN the staff and below, not above.

I suspect you are orchestrating to balance the MIDI recording, which is an error.

Midi rarely balances well when working with an orchestra. You will always tend to feel that there isn't enough of some important part. When in real life that section would thoroughly overwhelm the ensemble on its own.

One thing about Finale: using the (erroneous) 8va basso bass clef for the contrabass adds an EXTRA bass octave transposition. So right now, in your score, the basses are playing TWO octaves lower than written.

At measure 505, forget about that celesta part. It will never be heard over what you are orchestrating there. Celesta does not PLAY fortissimo.

By the way, at that point, the brass section looks like a woodwind part, and the woodwind section looks like a brass part. I'm seeing very un-idiomatic writing there.

There are a lot of range issues to be dealt with in the brass. As well as balance issues (brass against the rest of the ensemble).

Musically (1st movement) I find the harmony a bit confusing. There's a blend of thoroughly romantic harmony with a lot of notes that seem to be quite foreign to the harmony. It's hard to tell whether that's on purpose or not. I hear some tensions that want to resolve in certain directions but which you force in others.. and they (to my ear) really FEEL forced and unnatural.

The non-chord tones are what bothers me the most, however. There's a lot of passing material that is just too far from the basic harmony to sound "right".

Not that the themes aren't pretty, they are. But I don't feel the harmony is clear enough and supporting the material.

This sounds like an attempt at a straight-forward romantic piano concerto

Hey,

I'm afraid I only have time right now to listen to the first movement.

Unfortunately I do not have finale which means I am scoreless and reviewing a midi, which cannot possibly do your piece any justice, but here goes...

Firstly - good choice of key! I love F Sharp minor!!

I thought some of the piano writing was very nice,although at times it was difficult to discern above the rest of the orchestra when it was playing the lead, however i suspect that this is just the midi.

The themes used were VERY nice and i thought they were developed quite well throughout. Towards the middle of the piece at around 7 minutes I began to switch off... perhaps introducing something to hook the listeners interest at that point could be quite useful.

I must agree with QC about the brass, it was very unbalanced. I also thought it was over used and overall didn't interact with the rest of the orchestra very well.

When I have more time I will definately listen to the other movements and tell you what I think of those :)

Ferret,

Thanks for listening and commenting on the first movement, Qc! I do hope you take the time to consider the other two movements as well and share your thoughts on them.

vibrato?

I suspect you meant tremolo ;)

Yes, that's definitely what I meant!

I suspect you are orchestrating to balance the MIDI recording, which is an error.

Midi rarely balances well when working with an orchestra. You will always tend to feel that there isn't enough of some important part. When in real life that section would thoroughly overwhelm the ensemble on its own.

Guilty as charged! That said, I have a guide on the instrument sof the orchestra and their various ranges and capabilities. I know I was getting a little high with these instruments, but my guidebook said it was okay. Obviously, I go too high too often for good taste.

You'll discover the same thing happens in Mvt II and III. These movements are all going to be revised to improve the orchestration based on the comments and suggestions I receive. They are complete only in the sense that the musical material is completely laid out form first note to last note.

Once I can get my paws on the full Finale and the Garritan Orchestral Libraries (my current computer won't support them), I plan on adding an additional two French Horns, making the woodwind section by threes, and adding Violin III, Viola II, and Cello II to the Strings. I'll also move many bits that won't sound on the Celesta to the Glockenspiel and place them in the right octave where appropriate. I know most of my Celesta lines won't sound in a real orchestra at present. In fact, in measure 505 I've explicitly written in the score that the Celesta part is to be played on the Glockenspiel which does have sufficient projection if struck hard with metal mallets ( I know, I played this instrument myself as was continually told to soften my touch because I overwhelmed the band).

If you see any other problems with the orchestration let me know so I can add them to my list of corrections. But listen to the next two movements knowing that some of those problems are already on my list to address.

Musically (1st movement) I find the harmony a bit confusing. There's a blend of thoroughly romantic harmony with a lot of notes that seem to be quite foreign to the harmony. It's hard to tell whether that's on purpose or not. I hear some tensions that want to resolve in certain directions but which you force in others.. and they (to my ear) really FEEL forced and unnatural.

The non-chord tones are what bothers me the most, however. There's a lot of passing material that is just too far from the basic harmony to sound "right".

Not that the themes aren't pretty, they are. But I don't feel the harmony is clear enough and supporting the material.

This sounds like an attempt at a straight-forward romantic piano concerto

Hey,

I'm afraid I only have time right now to listen to the first movement.

Unfortunately I do not have finale which means I am scoreless and reviewing a midi, which cannot possibly do your piece any justice, but here goes...

You could download Finale NotePad for free. Their latest version should be able to read my file no problem!

Firstly - good choice of key! I love F Sharp minor!!

Awesome! Glad you approve! :-)

I thought some of the piano writing was very nice,although at times it was difficult to discern above the rest of the orchestra when it was playing the lead, however i suspect that this is just the midi.

The themes used were VERY nice and i thought they were developed quite well throughout. Towards the middle of the piece at around 7 minutes I began to switch off... perhaps introducing something to hook the listeners interest at that point could be quite useful.

Is this before or after the development section begins? What would you suggest to hook the listener?

I must agree with QC about the brass, it was very unbalanced. I also thought it was over used and overall didn't interact with the rest of the orchestra very well.

I blame Robert Simpson for my love of heavy brass. This piece is intentionally supposed to have a heavy brass section, but they are supposed to blend. Could you cite a place where you don't think it interacts well?

When I have more time I will definately listen to the other movements and tell you what I think of those :)

Ferret,

Great! I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Thank you for taking the time to listen and comment on my work. :-)

Dominus vobiscum

i really love your piano concerto

that is all

i cannot express the feeling by words to words but i can only express myself with my music

good -work

dark-super(ly)-enjoy

Hey!

I think QC already mentioned everything that was necessary about the technical challenges.

I think this is a wonderful creation and you have a solid structure and your theme is nicely developed.

Peace,

J

darkangel2008hk, jannokas,

Thank you for your kind comments about my Piano Concerto. I'm very glad to hear that you enjoyed it. :-)

Dominus tecum