Sonata for Violin and Piano

Hey all,

This is a piece I wrote for piano and violin. Its three movements and fairly modern in style.

The first i kind of relaxed and in ABA form. It uses a tone row as its main theme, even though its mostly tonal. In the A section the fifths idea is introduced and is later used in the second movement and the B section introduces the chromatic theme.

The second movement is just a violin melody with a piano accompaniment where the pianist strums the string like in Aeolian harp.

The third movement incorporates some humor into it, and has sharp contrasts between very tonal and atonal.

I hope you all enjoy and if you provide a helpful comment, I will be happy to return the favor.

And excuse the MIDI. You'll have to use some imagination with some of the extended techniques

First movement.mid

Second movement.mid

Third movement.mid

First movement.pdf

Second movement.pdf

Third movement.pdf

I'm in love with the second movement. I'm reminded of the solo movement from Messiaen's famous Quartet throughout the whole section, and the strummed piano chords will add an "odd" resonance in a real performance. I don't like the first movement as much. I think the harmonic and melodic language you used in this movement is better suited to a less rhythmic approach, or at least a less "on the beat" feel. I felt like everything was too predictable, and the entry into the more melodic section soon after the beginning wasn't done very well in my opinion.

I DID think the harmonic language throughout the whole movement (and the piece) was quite beautiful. You have a talent for both harmony and melody. :x

I'm on the fence about the third movement. I can't tell whether I like the "humorous" aspect of it or not. I do know that the rhythm, while simple, was very infectious :P

I also noticed a near-quotation from Autumn (in rhythm) that first appears at bar 21. Was this a conscious decision? :x

Thanks a lot for the words everyone.

Voce:Thank you very much the second movement was actually inspired by the Messaien quartet. In the first movement do you not like the transition in the very beginning at 6 or later at 55? And that quotation was completely by accident, but now that you mention it...:P.

Two things I noticed from the first time movement: your use of 5ths on the violin isn't very idiomatic: they're a very uncorfotable interval to play (especially in higher registers) and with pizzicato it won't sound much good.

Also, the way you write in slurs is completely wrong for violin writing. You often slur over equal notes, which any violinist would interpret as a tie.

M is D: Thanks for the advice. I am actually a pianist and find writing for strings kind of uncomfortable. When I have that motif with a single note then the two notes in fifths above it, would it be more idiomatic to write the double stop on the first note instead of the second?

And I dont really understand what you mean by the slur thing. Whenver I slur two equal notes, it usually is a tie and I just write is that way to make it easier to read. And if your talking about measure 9, what I wrote there isn't meant to be a bowing, but a slurr and the violinist can bow it however is easiest to them.

reyeahman- hehe, sorry. I meant the transition at the very beginning.