"Sonata of a Murder" - for Solo Piano

Hi!

I hope the title didn't horrify you... If it did, it wasn't my intention.

The sonata form was imposed for my final exam at composition, last semester, finished in June this year.

The idea of depicting such a "human" act was born after reading Crime and punishment by Dostoyevsky, but the project gradually and rapidly inflated into having multiple meanings. So, yes... This is a programmatic sonata, but it doesn't stop here. The perspectives vary from philosophical to religious and social, maintaining a dramatic stream of programmatism.

It's obvious why it has programmatic content, but I have to mention that it isn't a strict and whole depiction of Raskolnikov's story, I merely tried to evoke his inner and outer world (after all, a world of conflict, dispair and emptiness) and to immortalize his premeditated murder(s).

The subject of murder (homicide) is exhaustless in the ideative world of Philosophy. Now the definition of this act - the killing of one human being by another - can be extrapolated to all things! Because all things (that we know of) are affected by time. And time means curriculum - course of actions, cycles, cycles imply duality (dichotomy) and the transition from a part to its opposite can be visualized as an "apparent death" fallowed by a "rebirth" (or "resurection"). In nature this "death" occurs naturaly (like the seasons - winter=death, spring=resurection), but the human mind can came up with stories in which the Sun is killed by a god, or the Sun will never arise if they didn't sacrificed enough animals on the Winter Soltice, hence the idea that we killed the Sun. There is the dichotomy between light and dark, warm and cold. In the abstract world, we have the old vs. new, an important and vital dichotomy that assures progress (although it is known that not all novelty is benign). A new idea threatens the old and safe tradition, and usually one of these two kill the other. Sometimes transitionally, other times violently... So if the lugubrious side of "murder" (the actual meaning) imposes drainless matters into discussion , the more interpretative side of the deed (the metaphorical meaning) brings up substratums from all arias, both synchronic and diachronic leading to numerous myths and beliefs.

In the reprise I inserted the Prohod (Prohodul), that is the name and chant of the burial ceremony of Jesus Christ. The religious factor was intended long before the ending of the sonata. The "light vs. dark" duality is immediately transfered into our minds to its interpretation that is "good vs. evil" (the oldest story in the book). My intention though, was to emphasize the importance of the murder and sacrifice of this event/story. The cruxifixion of Jesus Christ was a human act, a deliberate act, through choice and free will, and allowed by the Creator - the Father, through sacrifice. Paradoxically, through this act, man is saved from Hell, and he is offered the option of Heaven. Here is a crime (murder) comitted by the creation - Man, allowed by the Creator - God, against the Son of God with the sole purpose of saving the created. The substratum of this wisdom is present in the mythical space, where an artisan commits the ultimate sacrifice to save his work (in this myth, Manole, an architect, paved his wife into his building - a monestery, to make it everlasting).

The social crime, the cycle of cycles is all around us... We just need to look...

I want to mention that these are just my personal views and interpretations and there is no intention of offending or depriving one of having his own ideas and beliefs.

There is a postface where I've explained myself (even more :blush:), but it's in Romanian, and I hope that what I wrote here is enough. I'll try my best to answer your questions, if there are any...

PDF

Sonata unei crime - PDF

MP3

Sonata unei crime - MP3

P.S. In the score I chose to write two endings, leaving the interpret to choose, being a matter of "free will" afterall... The mp3 has only one ending, choosing the one my influences liked, but, if I were the one playing it, I would've chosen the other one...

totally not belong to this section , this master piece should post at major work section

good job

W-O-W! This is AMAZING! The clashing, running around, and it's atonal!! :w00t:

You feel the tension, getting almost scared. REALLY got the feeling across, and the music itself is awesome!

Keep writing!

Very good work but within the first minute I was thinking "Wait this is the same person who wrote Fundamental Forces!" Dunno if that's good or bad, you just have a very recognizable style. :D

totally not belong to this section , this master piece should post at major work section

good job

This IS the Major Works forum. What do you mean?

Sebastian: Hope to get around posting a thorough review at some point in the next 2 weeks or so (yes... I'm THAT disorganised! :D). I had a quick listen when reviewing the work and it sounded great. Score needs some cleaning up, of course and there are various issues I would suggest, but this will come at a later point. Sorry...

This IS the Major Works forum. What do you mean?

I think she means that it should be here, meaning that it is in the right section

this is seriously good...really gets across the message. great dynamic contrast...with crescendos so loud and sudden theyd knock you over. frightening for the most part! the echo effect in bar 12 is amazing! and the little "dance" section around bar 24 is awesome as well..captures the lawlessness of murder... well done!

I think she means that it should be here, meaning that it is in the right section

sorry i meant this is a good work , my misstake

sorry

good x 1000000 work:toothygrin::toothygrin::toothygrin:

good x 1000000 work:toothygrin::toothygrin::toothygrin:

It is extremely hard to tell when Angela likes something :P

Wow. SUPER BRILLIANT! May I perform it?

This is some high level work! Great Job!

W-O-W! This is AMAZING! The clashing, running around, and it's atonal!! :w00t:

You feel the tension, getting almost scared. REALLY got the feeling across, and the music itself is awesome!

Keep writing!

Thank you Heckelphone, I will keep writing as long as you'll do! You compose beautifully and I'm really curious of your evolution as a composer!

Very good work but within the first minute I was thinking "Wait this is the same person who wrote Fundamental Forces!" Dunno if that's good or bad, you just have a very recognizable style.

Hi... Thank you for your time Weca... Unfortunately, that's bad :( , at least for me... I knew when writing at it that there will be some similarities, but I really tried not to say the same thing (or the least, in the same manner). Anyway, I think it's a bit too early to state that someone has a "recognizable style" after 2 "share-some-traits" works.

Hope to get around posting a thorough review at some point in the next 2 weeks or so (yes... I'm THAT disorganised! :D). I had a quick listen when reviewing the work and it sounded great. Score needs some cleaning up, of course and there are various issues I would suggest, but this will come at a later point. Sorry...

Hi Nikolas... I hardly wait your review! I know that the score needs a lot of work... It would be great if you could also point out some graphic flaws I might've missed...

this is seriously good...really gets across the message. great dynamic contrast...with crescendos so loud and sudden theyd knock you over. frightening for the most part! the echo effect in bar 12 is amazing! and the little "dance" section around bar 24 is awesome as well..captures the lawlessness of murder... well done!

This is some high level work! Great Job!

Wow. SUPER BRILLIANT! May I perform it?

Thanks a lot guys, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Pieter, of course you may perform it, all I can do is... wish you luck? :toothygrin:

Sebastian

I am not going to perform (I am nowhere NEAR that adept), but I feel I can learn a thing or two from studying this score. So, I am printing it off and I'll thank you for it! :)

this Sonata has some attitude

I love these forums... Pieter, you could to play this?

It is the best modern piano I've heard. Very well done. The rhythm is very difficult (all 13/8 with 1/16 notes)... yikes!

this Sonata has some attitude

I lol'd

This is by far the best piece I have ever heard by an "amateur", if I dare call you that. Such emotion, such daring, the piece is just so intense and captivating. Everything works in this piece. This piece is like a stab in the heart over and over, and by God!, what an experience. I'm really short of words, if I write a piece like this some day, I'll dig myself a grave and have a peaceful eternal rest. I'll listen to it over and over and see if I can find something that I think could have been improved, aside from writing "silas" as the composer :P

was nice, except an OP analysis of murder. but, yeah, if this is the rule that brought you here, it's all good:thumbsup:

You seem to have changed time signatures quite liberally, could you explain the logic behind your frequent changes for me? I'm not asking critically it just seems arbitrary and I was wondering if there is some hidden genius at play!

This is absolutely fabulous! I only hope I can write a composition like this one day. :D

You seem to have changed time signatures quite liberally, could you explain the logic behind your frequent changes for me? I'm not asking critically it just seems arbitrary and I was wondering if there is some hidden genius at play!

Hi...

Of course that the frequent changes in the time signatures are arbitrary! But that doesn't mean that they are random... I wouldn't call it hidden genius at play, but there are a lot of reasons for which I chose certain measures, like palindromes and fitting melodic lines, preferably in a measure of uneven number (the prime numbers being of significant importance from an esoteric point of view and others). I don't have the time to discuss every measure - even though I would love to, but I can assure you that the frequent changes in time signatures are not random...

Thank you all for your nice comments!

I usually dont like modern pieces but I liked this..I think its good for its title. :thumbsup:

Didn't quite get the programmatic feel from the music that I actually expected after reading the OP, honestly. I don't really think it's a bad thing either... the music speaks for itself.

I love the score, you put a lot of work into it. I understood the use of some of the awkward time signatures. I don't think all of them are musically necessary, but they do make the score visually appealing.

As far as the music is concerned, I won't go into too much detail about everything I 'liked' about the piece. The palindromes were a nice effect, the piece flows extremely well in certain places, in others it feels like I'm having to wait for you to collect your thoughts, as though you've gotten lost in the music and you're trying to figure out what measure to pick it back up.

I really like the figure in mm 12 & 13 (and many other places where I heard it), I just heard it repeated so much. Did you do anything with it? As in, did you develop it or use it differently anywhere else in the piece? If so, I missed how you used it beyond those places where I just 'heard' it.

Good work. The piece deserves to be here in Major Works.

I thought this was pretty awesome actually. I can't say I entirely got the programmatic content either but I viewed it as sort of a conversation leading up to a murder. While I'm pretty sure where exactly the "murder" happens (the "sit down violently" part), it still didn't feel quite as climatic as it should have. Perhaps a real performer could better bring out what you're looking for.

Throughout, I could hear influences from both Stravinsky and Varese. The use of parallel fourths, the octatonic phrases, the rhythmic vitality, the often changing tiem signatures, the manipulation of rhythmic cells. All felt very familiar to me. This is kind of a double edged sword as, while I love the compositional procedures you employed, it also felt really predictable. At times, I felt you were trying to surprise and maybe even disturb the audience... for the most part, I felt neither. Hearing such a clear Stravinsky influence, I could tell exactly where you were going with this and what you were going to do. I think this problem could be allieviated slightly be more variety in the time signatures. While you do constantly change time signatures, you generally only alternate between a few and it's typically only the result of manipulation and elaboration of two or three rhythmic cells. This does give a consistent feel but it lacks surprise. Typically, I like to set up a rhythmic system and then arbitrarily subtract or add a quarter/eight/whatever simply to throw the audience off. I get the sense that you were trying to do this as well but I don't see it much in the actual execution.

As far as form goes, I suppose it must be a sonata-allegro of some sort since I can hear two contrasting subjects and a clear recap. Though, I'll admit to not being able to fully comprehend where all the material was being generated from. I'll probably have to listen to this a few times with the sheet music (which I will do) before I can really make much of a comment on how you handled the development.

Overall, I thought it was a great piece but still lacks a bit of maturity. While a fairly decent sized piece, I still feel like something is missing from it. I can't quite put my finger on it but I know there's something. Perhaps it's another movement. A slower, contemplative movement "after the murder". Since the "murder" takes place so late in the proceedings, I feel like you didn't give much time for reflection after. Perhaps that was your whole intent but it felt a bit hollow to me personally. It's hard to really critique something as obscure as programmatic intent though so my opinion shouldn't mean much. Quite a good piece nonetheless.

I've been coming to this forum for over a year and have never signed up.

Today I had to just to let you know;

It's evident that this music is coming straight from your soul - I can feel it. It's the type of music I aspire to materialize from inside myself... if I didn't currently lack the faculties to produce such a work, it would have already been posted here somewhere.

(not to say you're a murderer :P)

On a more tangible note, it reminds me of Bartok's Sonata #2 - lots of 'atonality' but about halfway through the piece he'll contrast it with extended chords/fifth chords that just have such an enigmatic sound in juxtaposition with his dissonant but often mystical harmonies.

And whatever brand of atonality you're using, it sure as hell is a lot better than 12-tone scraggy.