Piano Sonata No. 1 in E-Flat Major

I just finished this, my first classical/romantic piano sonata and I thought I'd share it with the forum.:D

Butcher it/break it down, hate it/love it ...I think I'd did a pretty good job overall. More music to come! Thanks for listening.

Movements:

I - Moderato (5:18) MP3: http://www.box.net/shared/3r1tc3memm

II - Largo (2:25) MP3: http://www.box.net/shared/8gl24ntzfb

III - Spirito (1:39) MP3: http://www.box.net/shared/fqojb2fn2a

IV - Allegro molto (5:08) MP3: http://www.box.net/shared/hjm60us838

PDF Score Attached

Sonata in Eb, No. 1.pdf

So this is your first? Very good. It just sounds a little to much like it was written 200 years ago. Not in a bad way. It just does, and I like stuff a bit more modern, but hey, that's my taste. Overall, this is very good. This would be a perfect piece for like a piano recital or something like that.

Great job :)

Heckel

nice job, clearly classical influence. You played a lot of Mozart?

some interesting feature, the master would do otherwise is in ms 21. It makes more sense to enforce a f note with an octave, and a p-dynamic unisono. Also, in ms 23 and 25 its more common practice for high notes to support them with the note an octave below, preventing the sound would become too thin.

It's a shame that I dislike the classical era so much, otherwise I would be nothing but praise :)

I rarely ever play Mozart. It's beautiful, brilliant piano music that he composes but I can never take it too seriously for some reason. Beethoven or Schubert, on the other hand...well....I'm self-taught so my repertoire is a bit limited.

You get so many pretentious composers that write rubbish gimicky pieces nowadays. It's refreshing to know that people still write this kind of musical style. This is beautiful.

Only listened to the first movement but I really liked it, will listen to the other when I get some time.

Really nice! All the movements were well written.

The music is solid, pure, and with strong ideas. If someone told me it was composed in the classical era I'd believe it. What more can I say, other than it's a worthy classical sonata.

And as the person said above, it's nice to actually hear some nice pieces once and awhile after wading through a bunch of poorly written pieces. These are a breath of fresh air.

You're the real deal. Hope you write a lot of music in your life. Congrats on the sonata!

hey, nice song, hamm, a little old, lol, but fine.

personaly i dont like mozart or any other classic, i think that tge music most evolutionated, and we, like young people, have this work.

But your sonata is nice, sounds fine, i dont like it -not my style- but it es great in his style ^^

I hope you understand me and dont take this comment bad, this comment is a congratulation, no a "i dont like it" :p

See you!!!

Pd. Allegro Sonata!!!

But your sonata is nice, sounds fine, i dont like it -not my style- but it es great in his style ^^

Do you like anything? From what I've seen you don't like any of the good music here, just the meaningless mess of experimental music that poor composers attempt to call good.

you don't like any of the good music here, just the meaningless mess of experimental music that poor composers attempt to call good.

Listen. You offend my style, I dont offend no one style, just dont like it. "Experimental Music"? hahahaha, hahaha, IS NOT EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC!!!! is music, is art, no a seach, there are technics and tehorys for do it, like the traditional one. The Traditional one (old music, like this) is.... is old, is finded and finded again, there is nothing new, for this reason I dont like it.

if you some day go to electronic you will see what I like.

Im only are sincere, I port what I think, i want to finish with this right now. Here a few quotes of me saying what I think in electronic:

i like the strings, sounds cool, the voice is super-cool!!!! i love this song, really

sounds cool!!!! great job and great sounds

yeah me too! this is rare to say for me, but I LOVE YOU!!!! hahahaha

wel, wel, great job, super pro style, not like several people here... (incluing me lol )

I would love to buy the cd, one again, great job, i love it.

(this is not my style but is cool!!!!)

hey man!! this sounds cool

i like it, finish it, i love this song.

hey! cool tremolo begin and chords, nice handling of R and L

this rythms are cool to, sounds nice, pacefull, swetfull, i love it, minus that picolo that sounds, if you pull out it could be my favorite song by you

etc, etc

I like music, not all music, just the one I like, and I say what I think. And you dont have any right to say what you say, because you are not talking like the public (in every comment mine I comment like the pubilc) and you are not a real composer. For this reason shut up, and let me be me.

You both stop it, or you'll spoil jfmayii's Sonata's thread and convert this into a useless discussion about contemporary/old music styles...

It is obvious that electronic music and a piano sonata are two different things, can not be compared or rated equally ...

I also think that sometimes the "Experimental Music" is "that poor composers attempt to call good", and sometimes is even posted in YC/Electronic (like a very recent one I don't want to remember)....but that's not the case always.

-------------------------------------

And jfmayii's Sonata is not bad. it's just "old-fashion".

And jfmayii's Sonata is not bad. it's just "old-fashion".

hahahaha, yes. I dont say that was bad, i say that was great but i dont like it.

hahahaha, yes. I dont say that was bad, i say that was great but i dont like it.

What do you think of my piano piece Josepablofm?

wich one??? i think i havent hear it, but post the link and i will

Edit:

Oh, Atacama, let me see and i will post it in you thread

Thank you everyone who listened and commented. Music should cause discussion and such, just no bashing.

This particular piece is the classical/romantic in me and if you've checked out any of my electronic stuff you can see I most definitely have a more contemporary feel in me too. Anyway, again, thanks a lot.

well, try to use that "contemporary" part of you in your piano pieces too ... this one is not bad, ... maybe you could make something more like scriabin/prokofiev next time and less mozart/beethoven.

My second sonata that I'm working on now will have more of a contemporary feel to it's themes and motifs. It is in G-Major; I've never written much in the key so it's pretty interesting. I'm having trouble materializing my developement section but no worries, I'll come up with something interesting. I'm one of those people who hears music in their head 24/7, I just have to quickly get the ideas out on paper and into Finale. The first movement is in 3/4 and I've got several sections where I use sf and tied notes to change rhythm within the triple feel of the meter. Also, Alberti and its variations on bass is fine but I want to experiment with different ways of navigating keys. I'm debating 3 movements or 4, but it will be more of a contemporary/neo-classical piece.

It's great to hear music in this kind of genre. The music flows well and is very enjoyable to listen to. I hope you write more music like this. Like previous posters I prefer this to other modern compersitions. :)

Thank you, Bruno.

Gosh, this Sonata is a thrill to listen to!

I always love it when a composer avoids those contemporary new age pop chord sequences which are terribly cliche and sickening.

It's quite 'Beethovenish' to me, personally. (That's a good thing)

Well I thought it was a nice piece and really well written but for me it just doesn't seem to have that "it" factor that would really draw me into listening to this piece that the greats like Beethoven put into there greatest compositions. So, I like this work very much but it needs something to really catch my ear more i guess.

Thanks for the comment fegane...

I think though you really can't compare me to Beethoven at all. When you say this is a Beethoven piece you seem to already expect that "it" factor that says "it's Beethoven, that's awesome". I mean, he's Beethoven! Despite all adversity he went through he wrote incredibly moving and heroic music that shows a human condition and struggle. A piece by James F. May II can't be compared like that. I'm a nobody and don't have a style that says, "That's a May piece, cool stuff." You understand what I mean?

Ok, first off nice manipulation of the motivic material to form new material. Only thing to watch out is to avoid having your opening phrases being four measures. It is not a problem here as you soon vary phrase lengths to create overall irregularity. So something just to keep in mind - not a problem here.

Now, the coda of your Exposition sounds more like the beginning of a development to me. In fact it robs a little bit of the drama in the development, in the future save such material for the development OR the coda in the recap. Not a major problem at all but just a aesthetic suggestion.

Nice foreshadowing for the second movement and delay of the cadence. overall a good Hadyn-like movement.

Largo - well done, though stylistically a little inconsistent - Hadyn mixed with some later Beethoven outbursts.

Spirito - very nicely done. Some of the scales in the harmonic minor are a bit surprising but again a nice change.

Final mvmt - nice Landler feel though it moves into a Beethoven Scherzo at times.

By the way, I strongly suggest you show this to a composition professor at a good music school. This is an impressive stylistic piece for someone self-taught and not deeply into the Classical/early Romantic period. Before you do clean up the score a little. For example the squiggly line for rolled chords goes BEFORE the chord not after. Check for collisions of dynamics/note and ties hanging in the air. Also, why do you use a B flat major key signature in your first movement when it is in E flat major? What you have written implies E flat Lydian (play b flat major starting on E flat to the upper E flat - you will hear that is not the scale heard in your piece) with excursions into B flat, C minor and E flat minor. Also check around mm 263 - 267 - what are those eighth rests doing there???????

Finally here are a few mvmt of the London piano Sonatas by Hadyn. Actually they are rather tricky - if you can play these well, then you can play most of the Beethoven Sonatas (except Hammerklavier, Appassionata, and two or three others)

Piano Sonata in E flat mvmt 1

Piano Sonata in E flat mvmt 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQCDWzfm0oo

Piano Sonata in C major mvmt 1

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/piano-sonata-no-1-e-flat-major-21188-3.html