Sonata ''Ragdoll'' for two celli and piano (UPDATED AGAIN! ANOTHER movement!)

A sonata for two celli and piano I've been working on.

THREE MOVEMENTS, NOW!!

First movement:

The main theme of the Allegro Vivace is a tribute to Beethoven's cello sonata opus 69.

The tense return to that theme after the development uses a known bossa nova tune partially hidden by the piano arpeggios: "Desafinado". Its use is justified by what the piece describes, kind of story-telling and riddled with inside jokes (such as the incursion into the piano accompaniment of Regina Spektor's "Us" in the middle of the development).

Second movement:

Just a presto with some vague references to Sweeney Todd. Specifically "By the Sea" and (in the end) the string ostinato that abounds in the musical.

I'll post a score for these two as soon as it is minimally presentable.

Third movement:

What starts as a veeeeeeery vague reference to Grieg's Wedding March from Peer Gynt gets progressively more free and then back almost making a palindrome of sections. Also has references to Mendelssohn's Wedding March, and The Beatles' All My Loving.

Score only for third movement so far, sorry. It is terrifyingly dirty. Didn't clean it up because I just finished. No need to comment on that specifically.

Sonata ''Ragdoll'' for two celli and piano (UPDATED AGAIN! ANOTHER movement!)

This is awesome! Great example of using modern and traditional styles to create a beautiful style. This is a piece I would love to listen to in a concert. One of my favorite pieces that I have heard here. Please keep posting your music here.

is it beethoven violin sonata

Hmm good work here. The opening is a little tame for a first movement. It doesn't get out attention straight off. The pluaralist idea of having references to popular music and esp. Jobim, is brill. The latin element seeps through alright. You wouldn't want your allusions to other music to not be noticeable either. It works and I like it. Ragdoll is also a good title. It is evocative and fits well with the music - in the faster section. A little bit more harmonic variety? Maybe be good. Don't be afraid of a little more dissonance, to spice things up a little. Just a thought.

Nice one

I agree with jaime_b: The first minute and a half seems almost unnecessary. I believe in taking your sweet time musically, but it comes across as boring instead of building up to something excellent.

From 2 minutes on, though, it's basically clear sailing: the strings play off the piano perfectly, and there is quite a lot of fantastic development throughout.

Also, as a side note, something in the piece made me think of the "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleeeeep liiiiitle baaaaaby" lullaby: I think there were the beginning notes to that somewhere in the piece :lol: Or maybe I just imagined it.

Great job!

Beautiful piece. Like others, I have a hard time with the first minute and a half or so since it seems disconnected. I can't believe I missed a Desafinado reference! I'll have to listen again...

its good I feel its missing something that would make it awesome just a bit more umph of some description other than that good work.

very lovely! I don't have any criticisms, but that may change if/when you post the score.

Shame on me! No score yet, but there's already a second movement!! xD

It's a presto. Two vague references to Sweeney Todd inside!

Go here and listen to the second movement.

Nice work Miguel........ I particularly enjoyed the main theme and the stuff towards the very end.

I think you should try ditching the ostinatos for a few pieces - your musical language would be stretched a bit more, and I think it would benefit you - keep working away!!

Now go comment on one of my pieces :-p :-D

I liked the beginning of the first movement, and all the "classical" moments contained within (I hear bits of Beethoven, as you said),and the moments of counterpoint. I liked the middle section less, it sounds more disconnected to me. The entrance of the bossa nova theme I found very groovy. The transition I found to be too intense for the material contained before and after (the bossa nova and the Beethoven-esque theme). THe ending surprised me, but I found it effective.

The second movement sat well with me, the constant rhythmic ostinato provided a lot of energy to the piece, although I found the last minute or so a bit tiresome.

Overall, I hear a lot of different techniques and textures, you seem to have a very good mastery of string and piano techniques, and a very good musical sense. Great piece hones:

Love your cromatic parts!! you really are into the romantic harmonics!

you got a really nice peak musically here.

The introduction to the first movement is gorgeous. I really found this to be quite interesting and lovely to listen to. The piano part sounds like it was recorded on a real piano, not a sample. Is this the case? You have quite the piano chops, if so. While this may be a bit derivative of Beethoven (I certainly can't tell, but I don't listen to much Beethoven) I really don't see any issue with that. You write what you feel like you need to write. I really can't think of much to say about it, because everyone's already tearing you apart for the unoriginality, and I don't really want to do that. I really loved listening to it, that's all I can say about. Sometimes we need to just let music be music, and listen instead of critique. Bravo!

Hehe, thanks! They are samples, yes, but I can certainly play it!

Tidemand: I am studying. What I compose is practically self-taught. I'm only going to start compositional analysis next year.

Haven't finished the basic music course yet. Three years of music theory missing and I'm quite late on my instrument (piano), although I do have a technique that is significantly higher than my current level at music school. The problem is that I suck ENORMOUSLY at sight-reading.

I have several advances due to being mostly self-taught, so I managed to escalate 4 years of music theory in 2. But I need all the theory I'm missing besides the diploma in order to go to a music college abroad.

Excellent work!! Can't wait to hear the rest of the movements.

aaam, well, this sounds too classical for me, I mean sounds good, but I'mm used to think in this as music is not made anymore...

The ideas, dialogs, development sounds good to me.

Then the ending was very weak to me, why you end like this a happy piece ? or like going to bed on night ..... aaaa how cute..

Overall this stuff is gorgeous.

Great work, two things stuck out to me. A few times, you rely on rhythm to move the piece forward, and it sounds forced. This is much moreso in the first and second movements, and maybe it's because there doesn't seem to be the same care to attack and articulation there.

The outright bluesy elements in the third movement seem kind of ... i dunno... cliche? sorry. Some of the harmonic language is cool, but when it sounds like blues licks, it sounds a bit cheesy.

But i mean, that's minor. this stuff is pretty well done.

The sonata isn't over, SYS65, and I don't think it will soon, because I don't know how many movements it will have. xD

Ferk, where does it sound forced exactly? The bluesy elements on the third movement came to being naturally after I played the quarter note/eighth note triplets of the marching theme. I chose not to inhibit the spontaneous flow of the thing, which is kind of what the whole sonata is about. Bits of things and natural flow of my mind.

Some might say my mind flows in a non-standard way. :P

I liked how the cellos had the thing with the notes.

The piano sounded very pianoey.

Music.

asdlfsdanf

I liked how the cellos had the thing with the notes.

The piano sounded very pianoey.

Music.

asdlfsdanf

I'm gonna frame that.

Great work! I think all three movements are great, I especially love the way you have used the upper register of the cello, it has such a fantastic tone