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Waltzes in Viennese Style


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 set of waltzes, nine in total, but stitched together in one. I have tried to keep the style Viennese, as opposed to the Chopinesque waltz that is generally written for the piano.
Details:
Waltz I: F major with variations
Waltz II: A minor, ends in A major
Waltz III: D flat major, with the Viennese characteristic Atempause rubato
Waltz IV: F sharp minor
Waltz V: D major/F sharp major
Waltz VI: D major with trio
Waltz VII: F major, an interlude
Waltz VIII: C minor with trio in C major
Waltz IX: E major
Coda: With themes from Waltz I, VIII and IX.
The software, of course, cannot do justice to the rubato. I reckon it would sound better when played. Tempo changes can be arbitrary, I just tried to make it how I would play it. Critique? 

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Hello,

To be honest, I have no idea how a Viennese piano waltz sounds like. I only know orchestral versions by the Viennese maestros. The waltzes sound very Chopinesque to me, despite you say in the description you tried to compose in the Viennese style. Some parts sound very improvised. Can you give me example of Viennese piano waltzes?

I am astonished by your modulations. They sound very natural and logical. The melodies are beautiful too.

The sixth waltz is too repetitive in my opinion, because you only have one rythmic patern and you repeat this patern for more than one minute. Cutting the repetition bars out would probably solve the problem.

Your audio sounds pretty nice for a piece played by notation software. Which program / soundfont do you use?

Overall well done!

Maarten

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Hi Maarten and Luis,

Thanks for listening and enjoying.

Maarten,
You are right about the interlude (waltz VI). I suppose I don't tend to write long melodies that aren't 'square' and got carried away in making people listen to it twice. Haha.

When I say Viennese, I tend to look at Schubert and Lanner's waltzes and landler. I'm not a scholar about these things but I can definitely feel a difference between the Viennese waltzes from Chopin's which are more French with hints of Polish. I tried to bring out the 'starting slow and gradual rise to a tempo' effect which you will often find in Strauss waltzes when masterfully conducted. Sometimes Schubert's dances are performed like this too. Next, I tried to factor in the 'atempause' effect: a slight delay in the second beat of the waltz. Also, I tried to keep long stretchy melodies instead of flourishes in 8th notes like in Chopin waltzes.

Of course, I didn't study much into it and wrote the stuff from intuition and learning by ear.

~Archis

P.S. I use sibelius 6 for writing and Aria Steinway VST for execution. I try my best to modulate the tempo and dynamics but it is always a far cry from an actual performance. Why don't I just play them then? A bit out of my pianistic expertise. These waltzes I perhaps could play but I just don't have the time.

Edited by Archishman
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