Four Bagatelles for Solo Flute

This was written during a summer workshop in Ohrid, Makedonia, 2003. I consider this my first opus (though, I never put an opus number to my pieces) because this was when I realised what composition was all about, during that workshop. Before that, I didn't had any composition lectures so all my efforts were self thought. The tutor at the workshop liked my piece so much that he encouraged me to finish and hand it to him so he could send it to a competition that was going to take place in the following month. My piece was selected and the prize was that it will be performed in a concert by professional players. Sadly they could not find a flute player and instead it was performed on violin by Vladimir Kostov.

Four Bagatelles for Solo Flute

--Interesting, weird tonalities for the Prologue, and nice use of bizarre tremors and such, it's good to see variety. It's kind of lacking direction and "fullness" though: there's no identity! :dunno: Once it was over, I felt dissatisfied, rather than intrigued in what was going to happen in the next movement. I believe in progressive build-up, but this felt a little bit...unnecessary, don't you think?

--Scherzo

You've captured the spirit of the lively, playful scherzo, and merged it with a sort of creepy undertone: reminds me of a black cat playing with a mouse :lol: Cool.

--Lamentatio

The wailing of the violin is proper, and I like how you're purposefully minimalistic to create a sort of simple charm in the piece (unlike the prologue, which felt kind of forced, to my ears, but that's just me.) It's sparse, but in an evocative, depressing kind of way.

--Tocatta

The various techniques, and amount of skill it would take to play this is impressive. I like how it merges the sort of scherzo sound with the prologue, to create a fuller, more interesting piece, and it makes for a very good ending ;)

Thanks for sharing! :D I'd give this about a 7 or 8 out of ten, personally, but I'll round up :thumbsup:

Great piece and awesome recording! How much did you rewrite when transferring the composition to the violin (I swore I heard a couple of double stops)? Is there a quote from another piece of music at the end of the tocatta? Really well done and it sounds fun to play, especially the Scherzo and Tocatta.

Thank you guys for these great comments!

SergeOfArniVillage:

You have a sick ear man, I'm telling you. How did you notice the connection of Prologue with the Tocatta? I never thought it was that obvious. You know the high notes in between the repeated notes? The high notes are actually the melody from Prologue. I'm not sure if you were referring to that but at least you sensed a connection. I am rather suprised you found the first piece a bit boring because I think that one is my favorite. I believe that in that short time frame there was enough buld up and ending. But that was what you felt and I can't say anything about it.

Black Orpheus:

I actually did not rewrite it for the violin. I knew so little about composition and instruments back then so even If I had to do it, I wouldn't be able to. Perhaps the violinist himself did some adjustments to make it more interesting on the violin. The irony is that I never heard this piece on flute! So perhaps it is actually better on violin, I just don't know. However it is most of the time a single line and might sound dull on a solo violin. There is no quote (If I remember right) but the ending was a kind of joke, so different tonality from the rest of the piece.

"You have a sick ear man, I'm telling you. How did you notice the connection of Prologue with the Tocatta? I never thought it was that obvious. You know the high notes in between the repeated notes? The high notes are actually the melody from Prologue. I'm not sure if you were referring to that but at least you sensed a connection. I am rather suprised you found the first piece a bit boring because I think that one is my favorite. I believe that in that short time frame there was enough buld up and ending. But that was what you felt and I can't say anything about it."

Why thank you :lol:

That melody in the high notes was what I was referring to in the tocatta, and hearing it played with the personality of the scherzo made the prologue seem kind of empty by comparison, in my opinion. It's like you were holding back with the Prologue to build up to the Tocatta...which is fine, because it does pay off :lol: But hearing it for the first time and feeling like there could have been more was something that threw me off.

But overall, all of the pieces are very solid work, and the tocatta is my personal favorite ;)

Not my cup of tea, since i am musically conservative regarding tonality. Btw, where is the solo flute? i just hear a solo violin in the scherzo.

Not my cup of tea, since i am musically conservative regarding tonality. Btw, where is the solo flute? i just hear a solo violin in the scherzo.

Maybe you should read before asking