Maarten Bauer Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Hi all, A friend of mine asked me to write a piano concerto for her - I was already planning one, but now I really began to set the first notes on paper. The early romantic composers' concerti (Schumann, Mendelssohn, Beethoven etc.) have had a huge influence on the piece until now. Sadly enough, I feel I am not able to continue and finish this concerto. It sounds too repetitive and it really bores me listening to it, but also composing. I have reached the capitulation of the first movement. Any ideas how I can recover my motivation of finishing it? I have attached the score and music. Note that this is a rough sketch. Feedback would be nice too! Maarten MP3 Play / pause JavaScript is required. 0:00 0:00 volume > next menu Maarten Bauer - Piano Concerto No. 1 in A minor I. Adagio - Più mosso > next PDF Maarten Bauer - Piano Concerto No. 1 in A minor I. Adagio - Più mosso Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyfry Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 What you've got done so far is pretty good in my opinion. It can be a difficult thing to come out of when you're working on something you don't feel totally satisfied with or able to complete. My advice would be to spend some extra time listening to piano concertos, the ones that inspired this, or perhaps others, and looking for new ideas that might re-invigorate the work for you. If you really can't bring yourself to finish this recapitulation, maybe you could even spend a little time away from it and work on one of the other movements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Bauer Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 17 hours ago, fishyfry said: What you've got done so far is pretty good in my opinion. It can be a difficult thing to come out of when you're working on something you don't feel totally satisfied with or able to complete. My advice would be to spend some extra time listening to piano concertos, the ones that inspired this, or perhaps others, and looking for new ideas that might re-invigorate the work for you. If you really can't bring yourself to finish this recapitulation, maybe you could even spend a little time away from it and work on one of the other movements. I am glad you like it. I made a mistake by saying I have reached the ''capitulation''. I mean the development section... Thank you for the advise of starting on another movement. I will try that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyfry Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 3 hours ago, Maarten Bauer said: I made a mistake by saying I have reached the ''capitulation''. I mean the development section... Here's a useful thread on the forums that might give you some ideas to help push the development forward when you get back to work on this movement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Bauer Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 On 23-1-2017 at 8:32 PM, fishyfry said: Here's a useful thread on the forums that might give you some ideas to help push the development forward when you get back to work on this movement. Thank you, I will certainly take a look at it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khddbbss Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 The beginning is very nice orchestrated! I also would rewrite the piece and make it a bit shorter, you have to much ideas so its a bit hard to follow. The Piano parts are very nice! And in my opinion it's a bit fo fast for Adagio? I would call it Allegro. Best regards K. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Bauer Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 2 hours ago, khddbbss said: The beginning is very nice orchestrated! I also would rewrite the piece and make it a bit shorter, you have to much ideas so its a bit hard to follow. The Piano parts are very nice! And in my opinion it's a bit fo fast for Adagio? I would call it Allegro. Best regards K. D. Thank you for listening. I am glad you like the way it is orchestrated. The main goal of this concerto is to learn and practice orchestration. Which part do you mean with ''the beginning'' or do you mean the entire exposition? I think that is the problem! Thank you! I shall limit the themes to just the themes and not develop them in the exposition, as I did now, but in the development section. The tempo really is 60 bpm. Adagietto may fit better. The tempo becomes faster at Più mosso. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Quince Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Hi Maarten, It helps me to think of the various things I've laid out in the exposition as characters to play with in a development. Just a quick listing of the ones that catch my ear: 1. The downward triplet gesture in right hand in m. 9 2. The arpeggiated texture in the left hand in m. 9 3. The right hand figure in m. 10 with the turn 4. The opening motive of the B melody in m. 43-44 I think there are probably a couple more in there, but that's a start. Now, homework: Listen to Dvorak 9. The last movement's development section takes themes from throughout the symphony and squares them off against each other in a "tournament" format. Only two themes are left standing to duke it out for the championship. It should shed some light on how to treat the motives as characters of their own. You've got a ton of really solid material to work with. Your challenge is (as you say) not putting too many good ideas in, but paying off the good ideas you already have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Bauer Posted January 29, 2017 Author Share Posted January 29, 2017 6 hours ago, Adrian Quince said: Hi Maarten, It helps me to think of the various things I've laid out in the exposition as characters to play with in a development. Just a quick listing of the ones that catch my ear: 1. The downward triplet gesture in right hand in m. 9 2. The arpeggiated texture in the left hand in m. 9 3. The right hand figure in m. 10 with the turn 4. The opening motive of the B melody in m. 43-44 I think there are probably a couple more in there, but that's a start. Now, homework: Listen to Dvorak 9. The last movement's development section takes themes from throughout the symphony and squares them off against each other in a "tournament" format. Only two themes are left standing to duke it out for the championship. It should shed some light on how to treat the motives as characters of their own. You've got a ton of really solid material to work with. Your challenge is (as you say) not putting too many good ideas in, but paying off the good ideas you already have. Thank you for your very useful feedback. Dvorak's 9th Symphony is one of my favourite symphonies! Kind regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Quince Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Hi Maarten, Glad to help. Hopefully you can get unstuck on this piece. You've done too much good work to abandon it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestrowick Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Man..this sounds great! DON'T STOP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sojar Voglar Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 The beginning is Beethoven-like but then the piano solo is like a romantic motion picture-like. And these changes between (too) static orchestration and piano part are not very convincing. You certainly need more active use of orchestral groups and more extended harmonies - too many tonic-dominant relations and lack of modulations. BTW- where is "a minor"? The piano part is promising at 0:35 but you don't make it brilliant or more active. You should prolong this section with effective counterpoints in orchestra and use richer harmonies. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Bauer Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 4 hours ago, Sojar Voglar said: The beginning is Beethoven-like but then the piano solo is like a romantic motion picture-like. And these changes between (too) static orchestration and piano part are not very convincing. You certainly need more active use of orchestral groups and more extended harmonies - too many tonic-dominant relations and lack of modulations. BTW- where is "a minor"? The piano part is promising at 0:35 but you don't make it brilliant or more active. You should prolong this section with effective counterpoints in orchestra and use richer harmonies. Good luck! Thank you for you useful feedback! When I look at it again, I will certainly try to improve the elements you mentioned. The "a minor" is a mistake. Thanks for the reminder, I will change that in the future! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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