February 24, 201115 yr Hi everyone! I started this piece at the end of December and just finished it yesterday; I'll just copy/paste the description from the program notes I wrote: A liana is a type of woody vine that grow in the tropics; I found this term in my AP Environmental Science textbook one day during read period, and thought that perhaps it would be an interesting image to go after. I eagerly started a flute/viola/harp trio after this thought, but nothing came to fruition, and I set the work aside. About a month later, during a composition lesson David Conte told me, “Composition is like a plant.” I snickered but he continued: “When you create anything, be it music or a story or an essay or whatever, you have to let it come to you organically. A lot of music nowadays feels so restricted and confined, and sounds like it was assembled instead of grown. Music needs to grow, like a tree.” After toying with a few other ideas, I came back to the “liana” concept, taking after my teacher’s plant metaphor. While this piece isn’t explicitly programmatic, I like to think of it as a short exploration of “organic musical growth”: following a musical thought, writing more spontaneously than calculatedly, and letting the piece take me where it wants to go. The image I had in mind while writing was that of an idea sprouting in fertile soil and climbing upward, spiraling in knotted curls and ramifications; wildly sprawling laterally and always moving skyward, but never losing its tether around the tree to which it is tightly coiled. Stylistically, the piece is influenced by some of the music I was listening to at the time, including that of Toru Takemitsu, Kaija Saariaho, Henri Dutilleux, Olivier Messiaen, and Radiohead. -- Of course, use your imagination on the bits with extended techniques (i.e. sul ponticello, piano harmonics, string harmonics, etc). Feedback appreciated! :] Lianas
February 24, 201115 yr Hi, Excellent! This is really well done. I don't think I have any major complaints. Excellent excellent variation of use of textures and rhythms. Thought I must say the best part is definitely the utilization of motivic development. I suppose the only complaint that I have with this piece is its length, because it seemed that you could have easily expanded the material quite a bit. Again, nice job :)
February 24, 201115 yr Excellent indeed. For me no remarks about the music itself. Only one short typographical remark on a score which is otherwise perfect. ms 20 Right hand piano. The lower voice is in the end of the measure missing an 8th rest, I guest.
February 24, 201115 yr As has been said, wonderful piece! I particularly love the piano cadenza, that was just an amazing moment! I don't know how I feel about all the tremolo, some of the places where you had it, I think it might be been nicer to just have had straight tones. I see a fair amount of sul pont, which works well, but there's only two real spots where you marked sul tasto, and one with the mute. I think a few other spots would work great with some sul tasto, or maybe flautando, like mm. 102 for instance. But the orchestration is really great in a lot of places, 44 for instance is great. As for the program, I wasn't really feeling that this piece was that organic in it's evolution. All the stopping and starting, and some of the repetition might of made me feel this way, but it's really a feeling, not a deduction or anything. I agree that it feels underdeveloped a bit. Fantastic piece!
