Short work for Piano and Viola

Hello all.

Here is a short composition for Piano and Viola as the title says.

This composition is made for two muscian students at my music school i go to which will be performed later this year I think.

Title is still in progress.

Any feedback is highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Best regards.

Bjarke.

Hi @Bjarke,

There’s no doubt I like the pace and atmosphere you are creating in this piece. It’s so exciting and I like it. 

I think you may have to concern the playability of the piano in some places. For me the piano part in b.45-48 and b.114-115 are unplayable at all since the tempo is too quick! Also, the rhythmic pattern in b.14 may not be easily differentiated given how quick the tempo is.

The high register of viola could use a treble clef when notes exceed the two ledger lines.

Thx for sharing!

Henry

Thank you so much @Henry 🙂

Hi @Bjarke!

For me the thing that interferes the most with my enjoyment of the piece is the balance issues between the viola and piano.  Very often, the viola part is totally drowned out by the very loud piano part.  There are many places where you bring the piano up with a crescendo without a corresponding crescendo to bring up the viola.  Since the viola is the solo instrument it should be center stage and the star of the show!  I would even go so far as to bring the piano down in the mixer to make sure that the viola is in high relief in comparison.  Because if, for example, the piano and viola are playing unison lines like in meas. 99 - 109 then the viola is totally inaudible and swallowed up by the piano in the texture.  On the whole I think this would be an enjoyable Bartok-like banger!  Thanks for sharing.

Thank you as well @PeterthePapercomPoser 🙂

Hello @Bjarke

I agree with what has been said before about this work: About bar 45 and the unplayability, I would suggest writing it so each semiquaver is followed by the other hand in a different register (look at the last 20 seconds of Rachmaninoff’s second sonata if my explanation wasn’t clear), for bar 114, maybe change the register of one of the repeated notes.

It would fit the music and the idea you are trying to pursue to add thematic material with tritones and minor ninths, as these intervals (specially the tritone) are usually representative of the devil. Other techniques regarding this would be repeated notes (at a lower pace than the ones you wrote, because on the piano it is very difficult to play them) or petrushka polytonality, as the two tonal centers are a tritone away. Or you could experiment with passages where the harmony shifts by tritones.

I am waiting to hear how this work progresses (my favourite part is bar 67 onwards). You could include it in the Halloween challenge.

Thanks for sharing

Manuel

This is an interesting conceptual work with a definite point of view.  As others have stated I believe the technical demands most probably are too high!  A rework with more nuance to tempi and technique would improve the work and make it more accessible to both musicians and listeners.

Mark

On 9/22/2024 at 8:20 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I think you may have to concern the playability of the piano in some places.

7 hours ago, MJFOBOE said:

As others have stated I believe the technical demands most probably are too high! 

On 9/25/2024 at 4:57 PM, Jqh73o said:

About bar 45 and the unplayability

On 9/22/2024 at 1:24 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

balance issues between the viola and piano.  Very often, the viola part is totally drowned out

Here's a short compiled list of the main concerns of your piece here, my friend. I concur with my peers, here. While it's clear the sort of theme you're aiming for, It always helps to step back and think about "who's going to be playing this? Will they be able to rehearse it and play it without too much difficulty? What might it sound like on stage? What areas might a player experience fatigue?" Among many other performance related questions, that you should ask yourself before finalizing a work. 

I can picture a man in a Twin-Tailcoat Tuxedo, and bloused french cuffed under-shirt, with hair down to his shoulders, playing that piano part with strands of hair sticking to his forehead from the sweat, and raising himself up off the bench due to the fervor being used to pull off a feat such as what's been written! 🤣 It's awesome! But much like most anyone's work, there's areas to improve upon 🙂 Keep doing it, dude! And keep writing imperfect scores with mistakes all around. You learn well that way