Serenade for Strings

Hello everyone! Recently this piece of mine premiered in Florence, Italy. Despite the tiny amount of rehearsal time (45 minutes only) I am quite happy with the result. 

The piece is dedicated to my grandma. The four movements describe the different stages of the Alzheimer’s desease. The themes in the first movement evolve and destroy themselves during the piece, as my grandma’s mind was losing all her memories. 

Any feedback is appreciated!

Impressive! I like it a lot.

In some parts it reminds me of Puccini (Crisantemi), also the writing of Richard Strauss.

But this one speaks by itself.

Such rich harmonies and sonorities! I liked this a lot, but my favorite movement was the Danza. You're very good at writing (and scoring) for strings! I'm glad you were able to have this performed—it certainly deserved it.

I happen to be a neurologist who treats Alzheimer's patients so I found your background of this piece quite intriguing.  Like Tonskald, the Danza movement was my favorite but this is a splendid work all around.  There is great balance among the parts which would make it fun to play.  The violas especially would welcome the interesting part writing.

Very impressive! Beautiful string writing all around. I have one minor critique: The first movement repeat (bar 18) to the beginning seems...disjointed. Bar 18 is a perfect setup for the next section, but its a little jarring when it repeats to the beginning. But overall, great job! The orchestra sounds marvelous as well!

Hi @fililando, thanks for posting!

I really enjoyed that. The lyrical character caught me from the first bar all the way throught the 14min. Nice score and life recording....Harmony remind me sometimes of Mahler.    

On 10/7/2019 at 7:46 PM, Luis Hernández said:

Impressive! I like it a lot.

In some parts it reminds me of Puccini (Crisantemi), also the writing of Richard Strauss.

But this one speaks by itself.

 

Thank you. Since I was born in his same region, I am happy I reminded you Puccini!

On 10/7/2019 at 10:00 PM, Tónskáld said:

Such rich harmonies and sonorities! I liked this a lot, but my favorite movement was the Danza. You're very good at writing (and scoring) for strings! I'm glad you were able to have this performed—it certainly deserved it.

 

Thank you for listening. Still a lot to learn though eheh..

On 10/7/2019 at 10:32 PM, bkho said:

I happen to be a neurologist who treats Alzheimer's patients so I found your background of this piece quite intriguing.  Like Tonskald, the Danza movement was my favorite but this is a splendid work all around.  There is great balance among the parts which would make it fun to play.  The violas especially would welcome the interesting part writing.

 

That's great Bkho! It's a horrible disease and I am happy there are people like you who help people in need.

On 10/7/2019 at 11:55 PM, danishali903 said:

Very impressive! Beautiful string writing all around. I have one minor critique: The first movement repeat (bar 18) to the beginning seems...disjointed. Bar 18 is a perfect setup for the next section, but its a little jarring when it repeats to the beginning. But overall, great job! The orchestra sounds marvelous as well!

 

Thanks for the helpful feedback!

Your harmonic palette is very colorful and expressive. I think it is very beautiful. Also I like those original and coloristic rhythms in finale. I think your Serenade is a bright and interesting composition. The cycle is diverse in a character but uniform in a style. Cool! Excuse me for my terrible English. 

On 10/10/2019 at 11:53 AM, Alexx said:

Your harmonic palette is very colorful and expressive. I think it is very beautiful. Also I like those original and coloristic rhythms in finale. I think your Serenade is a bright and interesting composition. The cycle is diverse in a character but uniform in a style. Cool! Excuse me for my terrible English. 

 

Thank you Alexx! I am glad you liked it