Frühlingsduett

I'm back!This is for a piano-violin duet.The first piece of these I composed during the autumn, so the name 'Frühlingsduett' is not entirely accurate. :D Comments please!!!

Frühlingsduett

Ha. Nice to see you post something again. I have rather mixed feelings about this piece. To be blunt: from utterly fantastic to banally dull. At times it reminds my of Poulenc, the simple, naive, almost trite harmonies. Like in the 3rd movement (quartal/pentatonic?) you later add jazzy interludes, funny :) In this movement I love the simplicity of the beginning. followed by a gorgeous harmonic progression in ms13/4

In general you have an abundance of ideas, from which some I really like, like the "A" theme of the 2nd and 4rth movement. But your presentation of the themes is sometimes somewhat awkward. I think that in all movements there is a sudden stop and then you introduce the new idea. That gets tiresome in a way that all four movements have that. It sounds more like 8 or 12 movements (depending of the recapitulation is start-stop too)

In mvt 4, you have a nice idea, but the B theme is really killing the mood for me. Same in mvt 2. cool rhythm, interesting harmonies, and then a baroque larghetto, which I found rather boring because of the V-I cadences with the occasional excursion to III (minor or major). And then ms 24-27. In the days of Handel people would be really excited, but all I can think is "is he serious?"

mvt 1 opens with a promising harmonic progression to be followed by a popular sequence (I-II IV-V). I see you added interesting chords in ms 4 by adding a major 7th. That is cool, but the underlying progression does not fit. And I really disliked the B theme :( But I guess this is style-based, and I hate the Spring ;)

I think I am maybe a little too harsh. But I care because the ideas are really good. I hate to see that the structure and development are diminishing the work as a whole. I hope you'll find this helpful.. Keep up!

This piece certainly takes me on a journey... though I'm not sure where. The stylistic aspects change every section, which was a little confusing. I'm just not sure that all the movement are really tied together by any one elements besides key. Speaking of key... you must keep in mind when writing for string players that any key signature beyond 4 flats/sharps is really tough. We do not have frets/buttons to push down and the hand positions for F# Major are just terrible. It is also not a key that "rings" with string instruments (there are no C, G, D, A, or E naturals, all of which ring with our open strings). Of course any good violinist should be able to play it... just something to keep in mind from a technical point of view. I do enjoy each movement individually, like maybe if they were pieces on their own that would work a little better. I especially like the last movement. Hope this is helpful!