Piano Quintet (?)

Hi, this is something I did a few days ago. (It's not complete)

I await your criticisms hehe :3

The most positive thing about this is that the themes come across as being very bold. I don't get the sense that you are overly concerned with writing in a particular style or to please anyone's ears but your own. This is great, and I think it's something to lean into.

The pizzicato octaves in the violin part towards the end are not typical for the instrument and probably more difficult to pull off than what would be "worth it" for the resulting sound.

I would recommend that you continue listening to as much music, new and old, as you can, and infuse whatever stylistic elements you like into your own music. Overall, I think this is a great start, and I enjoyed listening to it.

I just gave your piece a listen and read along. A short summary:

M. 7: This cadence does not really work. The i7sus4 is neither suspenseful nor consonant, just jarring. This is exacerbated through your bass movement, jumping from the minor seventh between g# and f# into a perfect eleventh. No style I know would use this movement to end a section.

MM. 9 ff.: Weird chromatic movement, ending abruptly again

MM.  13 ff.: s. above

MM. 17: An almost pleasant Cmaj7 on the second beat

MM. 21: Almost climactical, but Emin6 - G#minadd9 crashes it yet again

MM. 23 ff.: Off to an interesting start(nice rising figure topped with an apoggiatura), only to go wrong again

MM. 26 - 49(fin): This does not work at all

Now, not to leave without proper constructive criticism, I might add: I skimmed through other works of yours. In your Fantasy for Violin and Piano, you mostly manage to deliver a coherent(although very diatonic experience), leaving odd jumps aside for a second. Your Concerto Sketch does this even better, despite being just a sketch.

The beginning up to M. 7 works quite well. MM. 12-21 are also fine. Elsewhere, however, it is really disjointed. Especially the second half is just odd, the ending coming out of nowhere. What I think you fail at is subverting expectations: Instead, you introduce nice ideas and then go off the rails, leaving the listener behind.

Maybe you should try your hands at a smaller, simpler form. This piece does neither work as a sketch nor a fully-fledged work.

On 4/6/2022 at 1:42 PM, KStoertebeker said:

I just gave your piece a listen and read along. A short summary:

M. 7: This cadence does not really work. The i7sus4 is neither suspenseful nor consonant, just jarring. This is exacerbated through your bass movement, jumping from the minor seventh between g# and f# into a perfect eleventh. No style I know would use this movement to end a section.

MM. 9 ff.: Weird chromatic movement, ending abruptly again

MM.  13 ff.: s. above

MM. 17: An almost pleasant Cmaj7 on the second beat

MM. 21: Almost climactical, but Emin6 - G#minadd9 crashes it yet again

MM. 23 ff.: Off to an interesting start(nice rising figure topped with an apoggiatura), only to go wrong again

MM. 26 - 49(fin): This does not work at all

Now, not to leave without proper constructive criticism, I might add: I skimmed through other works of yours. In your Fantasy for Violin and Piano, you mostly manage to deliver a coherent(although very diatonic experience), leaving odd jumps aside for a second. Your Concerto Sketch does this even better, despite being just a sketch.

The beginning up to M. 7 works quite well. MM. 12-21 are also fine. Elsewhere, however, it is really disjointed. Especially the second half is just odd, the ending coming out of nowhere. What I think you fail at is subverting expectations: Instead, you introduce nice ideas and then go off the rails, leaving the listener behind.

Maybe you should try your hands at a smaller, simpler form. This piece does neither work as a sketch nor a fully-fledged work.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write about my music, I really appreciate all your comments.

On 4/6/2022 at 8:42 PM, KStoertebeker said:

M. 7: This cadence does not really work. The i7sus4 is neither suspenseful nor consonant, just jarring. This is exacerbated through your bass movement, jumping from the minor seventh between g# and f# into a perfect eleventh. No style I know would use this movement to end a section.

 

 

Wait a moment where's the Minor seventh jump in the bass line?
I might be wrong but I don't see a single F# in the left hand, did the score change? Also, where's the E7sus4? I see a E7sus2 (E, F#, B, D) but not a sus4, there's not an A in M.7.

Well apart from that I have more or less to agree with Kstoertebeker, there is an overall lack of coherence. Not that this is necessarily bad, however it does seem that you try to be coherent but you can only maintain that coherence for a few bars and then "go wrong". Or perhaps I'm wrong, not sure actually, but the more you compose the better you'll be so don't hesitate on revising your compositions up to the point they look decent enough to you.

On a final note, there are a lot of "instrument solo" passages during the piece. You could try (as an exercise, a challenge, or well, do it if you want hehe) to make instruments complement one another simultaneously instead.

Kind regards, and keep composing ^^!