Sonata for Cello and Piano

Exactly what is says on the tin. I plan on finishing the second and third movements at some stage in the future.

It starts with all guns blazing, and ends that way. I needed to let some energy loose, as I've been writing a lot of adagios etc recently.

This particular piece was inspired by the spirit of Paul Hindemith, Steve Reich, Arnold Schoenberg and Raymond Deane, and each of these have a section dedicated to them.

Hope you all like it! All constructive critisism welcome! :)

MIDI: cello sonata_mixdown.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

ps: apologies about the midi! :sadtears:

Cello Sonata.pdf

This is really good. Extremely well developed melody in my opinion. Though only criticisms I have are that I feel that the transition is a lot little off coming out of the dissonant section. I also think that the atonal/dissonant section doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the piece since it comes so abruptly. I think the ending could be fixed up a little as well, it seems like it needs more of a bang.

I really like this though, it's very well structured, well developed, and the melodies and harmonies are really nice.

Good work!

It reminds me of my own style actually :P

Don't have time for a full review, but just based on the score, two things:

1. It looks like it should be in 12/16.

2. Re-examine your string writing. Add articulations, especially slurs. Make sure the bowings work out as you want them to.

There are some notations problems too - like redundant accidentals in the second-to-last measure. Not as high priority, but if you get a performance, probably worth fixing.

By the way, I really like this idea. I'm not a big fan of the twelve-tone section, but that's just personal taste about how exactly you executed it..

Good luck!

you've got a point there... since I'm not a string player myself Im not really in a position to add in bowings,, I must get some advice from a cellist i think! its a pain.

keep the comments coming plz! i want this ripped apart before I bring it to musicians at the uni! :D

This piece is surely a joke. The Steve Reich 'inspired' section is a complete rip-off of his clapping music, and your dissonant nods to Schoenberg completely stick out. The serialist section was completely unlike what Schoenberg writes. It's not about putting row upon row end to end with little variation.

Otherwise, the main theme was alright. Reminded me of video game music.

This piece is surely a joke. The Steve Reich 'inspired' section is a complete rip-off of his clapping music, and your dissonant nods to Schoenberg completely stick out. The serialist section was completely unlike what Schoenberg writes. It's not about putting row upon row end to end with little variation.

Otherwise, the main theme was alright. Reminded me of video game music.

If I can refer you to back the thread,,, I clearly specify that all CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome, but you obviously can't read so Ill let it pass this time. If you really dont like it, fine, thats your opinion...but lets try to be a bit civil shall we? pleb.

Really cool piece, Sabian Soldier! I love how you combine three styles pretty effectively. You have really lively and cool rhythmic ideas. The second section at bar 83 where the piece goes minimalist is done really well and is a nice break from your first theme.

As for the tone row stuff, I'll have to assume you did it well; I don't know anything about tone rows =P

Good length to it too. You clearly, put a lot of effort into this.

YOU ROCK!

I quite like this; I can hear clapping music somewhere in the middle; interesting. I think it is slightly too tuneful to be inspired by Reich, however a wonderful piece! Well done!

Whilst Rautavaara's critique was put rather acerbicly, I think he has a point. This didn't really 'sound' like any of the composers you listed, let alone display an understanding of their compositional processes (I'll admit I know very little of Raymond Deane, but still). Your chord progressions are, as a former composition teacher said of one of my pieces 'constrained by the barline' - they always move on the first beat of the bar which means that the harmonic rhythm is very monotonous. In other words, the music is essentially vertical, with no horizontal lines to provide unifying motion. The 'Schoenberg' section of your piece was probably the most interesting as it displayed a more linear texture, but there was almost no rhythmic variation as would be found in actual Schoenberg - in many pieces, Schoenberg and the other 2nd Viennese School composers basically wrote a more modern form of Bachian counterpoint, just without a 'tonal' hierarchy of pitches. Your section just seems like a collection of variants of the tone row and its inversion and retrograde without any real direction. The Hindemith section at the opening did not bear any resemblance to any work of Hindemith, as far as I could see. He wrote both accompanied and unaccompanied cello sonatas (mind you, what didn't he write for?) and you would do well to listen to or study these both to familiarise yourself with his style and to learn compositional techniques from him.

The cello part is easily playable and there are no passages that are very difficult. However I would recommend the use of tenor clef only when the music would go above the top line in bass clef; cellists are not used to reading below the stave in this clef. At bar 87, for example, even I would have to stop and work out what those pitches were. There are no slurs or phrase markings anywhere in either part so unless you intend every note to be detached I suggest you add some in. Remember string phrase markings are also bowing markings. For advice on writing bowings, see any orchestration book such as those by Samuel Adler, Alfred Blatter or Walter Piston.

Piano: Bar 80-83 would benefit from showing how the chords are divided between the two hands, especially at this speed. You might wish to include a note to show how the cluster chords are to be played - presumably with the palm of the hand, as in bar 124, as there is no way these chords can be played precisely with the fingers - it's not clear from the score though, and players need to be clear about such things.

Finally, something I say to many submissions here - have this played/performed by live musicians. By actually playing through the work, they will be able to advise you on both technical and compositional issues far better than I can at my desk.

siwi,

I get your meaning about not really emulating the different composers, but in my philosophy, being influenced by a particular composer doesn't necessarily mean "sounding" like them, but using their ideas to create your own sound,,,

It was in fact Hindemiths Sonata for Flute and Piano that inspired me to write the piece in the first place...the third movement of which you'll find at at

-It really is a great piece of music, I didn't want to listen to anything else for about two months there! XD

Its an interesting point you make about the "vertical" movement of chords, its something that doesn't always spring to mind (for me at least!) Now that you do mention it though I see what you're saying... something to definitely watch out for in future I suppose!

As for the 12-tone section...I thought it would be an interesting experiment to combine the serialist melodic patterns of Schoenberg with the mechanical, almost machine like rhythms of Steve Reich, again not "sounding" like either as per se, but drawing inspiration from both.

Also, bar 87 and beyond really does look ridiculous, thanks for drawing my attention to it...will need to revise.

Thanks for the great comment! exactly the kind of criticism needed to improve oneself...

I really don't know much about this kind of music, honestly.

I like what you've done though: the amount of energy it exudes is great, but you might want to consider taking a breather about 3/4 through the piece. A slow part that lasts just a small while will cause more of an adrenaline rush when building back up to a greater speed.

This doesn't sound like video game music by the way: more of a silent movie type thing :lol:

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed this quite a bit! :D