Romance for Viola and Piano

All comments welcome ... to respond/improve the work.

Original composed 2020 - and expanded/tweaked this week.

Mark

Hi @MJFOBOE,

I like the harmony throughout the piece as it provides the loving but uncertain mood with those added non harmonic notes. The use of viola is great as well as I always love its high register which provides more tightened sound then violin.

I love in the middle section when the viola and piano imitating each other, which provides contrast with the texture of the opening section.

For my personal taste I feel like the opening section can extend a bit longer as I find the modulation to the C lydian a bit quick.

Pedal markings can be added in the piano as some of the left hands notes can be difficult without pedal, eg b.6, 43, 45, 47, 49, 65-66, 84-85.

Thanks for sharing,

Henry

Henry,

Thanks for the review and comments.  Yes, first section should be extended ... and I will attend to it and re-post at a later time.  I am pleased you enjoyed the mood of the work.  I wanted it to have a bit of both yearning and lightness.

Mark

I also will attend to the engraving suggestions.

I agree with Henry with the harmony of the piece, it creates a lovely mood throughout, with some pleasantly, unexpected notes here and there. 

One note I have... typically a Romance would be in a 3 beat... 3/4, 6/4, 6/8

I didn't realize a Romance is always 3/4 etc...

Thanks for informing me.

Mark

Hello. Well done, a style a little like Samuel Barber.

This could be very appreciated in concert.

Hey Mark

Cool piece you have here. At first I was going to say something about the "aimless" quality of the music, but after listening to it in it's entirety, I rather like the jaunty unexpected in the piece. 

Personally, I would have liked more lower notes to really utilize the darker texture of the viola, but that's just preference I suppose. It'd be very easy to amend this if a violin player ever wanted to help see a performance in this. 

Lots of color throughout, very cool music. Also, I've learned to take everything Henry has to say to heart; the man knows his stuff. 😄

Thanks for sharing!