Piano Violin Duet.

Here is a piece that I started a while ago and only returned to it when I felt like I could be bothered and had some more motivic ideas.

Composition technique: I mainly incorporated arpeggiated structures and the thematic material itself does not have a very strong relationship to the composition as a whole.It is in ABACAD format. It might seem a bit repetitive though. In the later passages a higher degree of chromatic harmony was utilised. It enriched the piece I think but the relationships with the rest of the passages isn't as strong as I'd like...

Style As usual with the compositions I do I try to incorporate many different styles. I suppose you could probably classify this piece as late romantic, but the B section kind of reminded me of schubert which is early romantic. Its a bit of a mix in this case. The later passages i.e. C and D have more of an impressionistic influence.

Obstacles: Actually finishing it. I don't even consider this finished. :D Anyway It was mainly the transitions which I think are a bit weak and how to make them smoother. My aesthetic sensibilities like many people attempting composition change with my fluctuating moods. This also posed a problem in creating this piece.

Conclusion: I'm reasonably happy with the piece. It did reflect my violent moods at the time and the end sort of reflects a resolve I have found in myself which is quite soothing...

pianoviolinduet1.2.mid

Okay. So... you have some very big problems here.

1. Violin range. According to this piece, you have a violin that can play a low F - okay, I'll bite, if you use scordatura. Then I saw that according to this piece, you have a violin that can play the F below that! And that's just not happening.

2. Some of the double stops in the violin part are kind of majorly difficult. For instance, you have these fifths, which move on rather dramatically quickly to the next double stop of a fourth. Now, the problem is that violins are tuned in 5ths, and I doubt very much that a violinist would be willing to learn an entire new system of tuning just for a piece. So what happens is - in order to get a fifth that's in tune, a violinist must play either a)open strings, b) bar the chord, which sacrifices a lot of resonance, or c) try to squeeze their hand around the violin neck to press two consecutive strings at the same point, which takes a lot of effort and is way mad slow. Now, the way your double-stops are working, they can't be slow, which takes out option c. In other places, you have the violins playing triads, which is great, but not at the speed you have them doing it, nor with the preceding intervals.

I liked the section from 21 - 27, and its recapitulation. It contains a lot of rhythmic interest not found in the rest of the piece.

Yes yes i'll admit, I never learnt anything about violin or its register or the affect tuning has on compositional practice. I will either alter the piece or just keep it as a mental note for next time.

Thanks anyways.

It's alright, really, to write for instruments you don't know. It's just helpful to look up their limitations and things of that nature before embarking on a piece.