Variations on a Theme from 'The Lady Vanishes'

This is a little set of piano variations on a pseudo-'folk song' that plays a major role in the plot of Hitchock's The Lady Vanishes.  It's not a very serious nor ambitious work, and as it stands, I think it's likely in need of revision.  If anyone would care to help me out, in particular what I'd like to know is:

- Are there any variations that you find particularly weak and think should be removed?

- The 'blues variation' is a little bit of a joke; does it come across as humorous, or merely vulgar and out of place?

- Do you feel like any of the variations should be re-ordered?

- Is the quiet ending effective, or would it be better to end with a loud allegro?  Or a loud allegro followed by the quiet reprise?

Thanks in advance to anyone who listens!

Hey there

I actually liked this a lot. I really like how many of your variations evolved, where it was like two variations in one. Also, I thought it was clever to end some with a transition to the next variation, while others stuck to a more cadential ending. 

I didn't feel like any of the variations were out of place except the last one. For one, it seems insanely difficult, but to me it kinda just comes out of nowhere. I like the idea of it with the texture, but maybe it could be executed a little better.

Perhaps overall, the piece in it's entirety was a bit c minor heavy as well. The blues one was cool imo.

I kinda like the ending as is. Since you deviated farther and farther from the original theme with the later variations, it was nice to bring it back for an end. 

Well done! I can tell you put in quite a bit of work with this piece, I really enjoyed the cohesiveness most of it had.

10 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Hey there

I actually liked this a lot. I really like how many of your variations evolved, where it was like two variations in one. Also, I thought it was clever to end some with a transition to the next variation, while others stuck to a more cadential ending. 

I didn't feel like any of the variations were out of place except the last one. For one, it seems insanely difficult, but to me it kinda just comes out of nowhere. I like the idea of it with the texture, but maybe it could be executed a little better.

Perhaps overall, the piece in it's entirety was a bit c minor heavy as well. The blues one was cool imo.

I kinda like the ending as is. Since you deviated farther and farther from the original theme with the later variations, it was nice to bring it back for an end. 

Well done! I can tell you put in quite a bit of work with this piece, I really enjoyed the cohesiveness most of it had.

 

Thanks very much for listening, and for your thoughtful comments!

I wonder if there's a better way to notate Var. X.  The effect in the left hand is really more akin to a tremolo, and I wouldn't expect it to be played precisely as notated.  Maybe I should just put in a direction like "quasi tremolo" or something.

Nice set of variations!  Despite being primarily set in C minor I felt like Variation V and VI give enough contrast, venturing into Eb minor and Eb major respectively to give the ear a break from C minor. At 6:07 it sounds like you accidentally (or maybe deliberately?) quote one of Erik Satie's Gnossiennes or Gymnopedies - don't know which.  Nice job overall and thanks for sharing!