From Above, Now Below

Here's my submission to the Halloween competition, written for piano quartet. I thought a lot about demons and possession, abandoned houses, what's down the cellar, all that 😄 

It was a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy!
 

Very good! Sounds like something straight from a horror movie. I like how the intro keeps a certain harmony and then it sort of freestyles for the rest of the song. but, it feels a bit too little repetitive, because there's no "main" part of the song, but overall I give it an 8/10

@Thatguy v2.0

Entry: From  Above, not below 

Average Score:9.4

Review:

Melodies Themes Motives (10):

I truly felt you have achieved the top tier of what atonal writing should be.  Like the unsettling of high winds, the melodic materials take on whirlwind adventure. I have nothing else to say on this matter. 

Harmony, Chords, and Textures (9.5):

The tonal clusters of this piece truly blew me away.  Nice touch. 

Form(9):

Free form is excellent choice.  

Organity and creativity(9):

you truly were pushed creativity to the mast here!

Score (10):

The score was readable.  However, the only might I suggest is: the pedaling in the piano.  

instrumation (10):

As I meantion before, Pianist like to change the pedal every now and then. If you hold the pedal too long...the notes become blurry. 

Execution:

perfect!

Taste: 

I am giving this 8 because is not for everyone, but it is for some. 

Hi, I'm new so not sure if I'm supposed to comment here, but I wanted to say I'm amazed by this work. Really impressed with the natural dramaturgy of music flow as well as usage of contemporary harmony, rhythm, melodies. Glad to hear something new and exciting like this, keep it up ^^

On 10/25/2025 at 5:55 PM, Kvothe said:

@Thatguy v2.0

 

 

Entry: From  Above, not below 

 

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
10	9.5	9	9	10	10	10	8

 

Average Score:8.2

Review:

Melodies Themes Motives (10):

I truly felt you have achieved the top tier of what atonal writing should be.  Like the unsettling of high winds, the melodic materials take on whirlwind adventure. I have nothing else to say on this matter. 

Harmony, Chords, and Textures (9.5):

The tonal clusters of this piece truly blew me away.  Nice touch. 

Form(9):

Free form is excellent choice.  

Organity and creativity(9):

you truly were pushed creativity to the mast here!

Score (10):

The score was readable.  However, the only might I suggest is: the pedaling in the piano.  

instrumation (10):

As I meantion before, Pianist like to change the pedal every now and then. If you hold the pedal too long...the notes become blurry. 

Execution:

perfect!

Taste: 

I am giving this 8 because is not for everyone, but it is for some. 

 

maths... again...

7 hours ago, TristanTheTristan said:

maths... again...

 

Thanks 

Welp man, this is a full horror medley. 

Very cool ending, nothing to complain about, maybe some automatic overlaps in the score here and there but these are tiny details and it's not like I spotted many.

You fully captured the feeling, that's undeniable. And the more I listen to it, the more seamless it feels and the more coherent its parts become together. Nicely used harmonics in the "B part". this ain't just "here you go, some effects" and call it a day. It's a very difficult (or so it seems) but solid scary dissonant quartet.

My favourite part is this somewhat cantabile melancholic melody you manage to do in the middle of this dissonance of a quartet (in the good way) that leads again to a B' (because of the triplets). And let me mention again, the ending is very solid, very cool.

I don't quite get the title, so it's a 4/10, sorry...

🤑 
I'll vote for you

Kind regards!!

9 hours ago, Cosmia said:

Hi, I'm new so not sure if I'm supposed to comment here

Welcome to the forums! You can comment anywhere you want as long as you follow the rules which are basically common sense (welp I didn't read them but they're probably not so strict)!

Regards!

On 10/24/2025 at 11:50 PM, therealAJGS said:

Very good! Sounds like something straight from a horror movie. I like how the intro keeps a certain harmony and then it sort of freestyles for the rest of the song. but, it feels a bit too little repetitive, because there's no "main" part of the song, but overall I give it an 8/10

Hey thanks for checking it out! I'm glad you liked it, I was definitely going for horror movie vibes 😄 

On 10/25/2025 at 10:55 AM, Kvothe said:

@Thatguy v2.0

 

 

Entry: From  Above, not below 

 

Melodies Themes Motives	Harmony Chords Textures	Form Development Structure Time	Originality Creativity	Score Presentation	Instrumentation Orchestration Playability	Execution of Given Challenge	Taste
10	9.5	9	9	10	10	10	8

 

Average Score:9.4

Review:

Melodies Themes Motives (10):

I truly felt you have achieved the top tier of what atonal writing should be.  Like the unsettling of high winds, the melodic materials take on whirlwind adventure. I have nothing else to say on this matter. 

Harmony, Chords, and Textures (9.5):

The tonal clusters of this piece truly blew me away.  Nice touch. 

Form(9):

Free form is excellent choice.  

Organity and creativity(9):

you truly were pushed creativity to the mast here!

Score (10):

The score was readable.  However, the only might I suggest is: the pedaling in the piano.  

instrumation (10):

As I meantion before, Pianist like to change the pedal every now and then. If you hold the pedal too long...the notes become blurry. 

Execution:

perfect!

Taste: 

I am giving this 8 because is not for everyone, but it is for some. 

 

Wow, thanks for taking the time to give such an extensive review! It's pretty tough coming up with numbers, especially ranking them amongst others. It's also nice to hear what you think of my work in a structured detailed way... makes it easy to figure out how I can improve by taking advice into consideration. We can thank Peter for that haha. Thanks again!

On 10/27/2025 at 12:16 PM, Cosmia said:

Hi, I'm new so not sure if I'm supposed to comment here, but I wanted to say I'm amazed by this work. Really impressed with the natural dramaturgy of music flow as well as usage of contemporary harmony, rhythm, melodies. Glad to hear something new and exciting like this, keep it up ^^

Hey thanks Cosmia, and welcome. You can always share your thoughts, it's encouraged! 😄 

Have you posted any music yet? Be sure to so we can check it out 🙂 

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

maybe some automatic overlaps in the score here and there but these are tiny details and it's not like I spotted many.

wanna see a bad one?

yeah......I forgot to put the accel. to 240...... 

To explain, my version is slightly different than what I posted. I had to do some quick maths to change the tempo on each eighth note for 3 measures to get Sibelius to play it back as correctly as it's allowed to be. 

Whoops

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

I don't quite get the title

Ah, guess I could've explained that. It's a play on "as above, so below" and demons being fallen angels. 

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

so it's a 4/10

Thanks for all the kind words, too! 😄 

Yo Vince my babe!

I listen to this piece twice and I am gonna say that I think this is the best piece in the competition so far (of course @ferrum.wav still hasn't submitted his piece lol).

The opening itself is already very captivating. The Reich-like repeating figure in the piano scares my 💩 out, and it gives me some Messiaen vibe too from his Quartet of the End Time. It reminds me very much of the rehearsal mark D of the 2nd mov of the work:

The octatonic notes really captures the anxious mood well. The Glissando in b.13 intensifies the tendency of my 💩 to burst out from my ass, b.21 even more so, and I absolutely love the polyrhythm in b.20. Even though this section sounds very effective in portraying the horrible mood, structurally it's very tight with motivic usage and you have your materials under your control!

The sabbath dance is even more wonderful. It reminds me of Bee's 6/8 fast section in his Grosse Fuge but with Halloween touch. I love the very low register you use for the piano right at the beginning as the unsettle bass of a dance. I would interpret the opening motive a motivic extension from the opening with wider intervallic usage. The melody in b.56 violin, despite sounding in a complety different context and mood, derives from the beginning bar, which shows how organized this work is despite its wonderful mood creation. And while I am typing this sentence the music turns to the contrasting section in b.64, which is another wonderful section with the subito p. The piano melody, harmonics in violin and viola, as well as the pizzicato cello (which the melody comes from the beginning of this section, b.46), combinied together creates a wonderfully eerie timbre. Wonderful development till b.90. 

And when I think the climax will come, you suddenly tone it down, have the piano playing the melody here, and add a wonderful counterpoint with a jazzy touch in b.96. This struggle between lightness and grotesque really enhance the drama of the work, just like the film ＂It was just an accident" I watched where the director added comedy touch to enhance the tragedy of the whole film. The polyrhythm, use of the high register of violin and cello and piano, very reasonable development of materials in this section is wonderful to listen to. 

After the slight "rest" in b.112 which resembles b.68, another great development follows with more instensified imitations and answering of motives in b.119,and after reaching the climax it moves fluently to the A' section in b.136 with a quicker tempo. The polyrhythm here is even more complicated and wonderful. Within the general mood of the piece, even the "normal" C major sounding in b.154 sounds weird. I love the sadness you reach in b.166 (in my favourite C sharp minor!). It doesn't sound out of context at all as it follows fluently from passages before!

Next is the section in b.171. The transition to it with mood and tempo change is so coherent, and now it's the shortening of the motive with just the minor second left with octatonic key influence. I have nothing to say in this section given how you develop the climax in b.231, and then.... a random pause? Where do you learn the idea from haha!!!?? The ending is wonderful reminiscence of the beginning as well!

I would give this piece the 1st place from all the pieces available now, given how wonderful this piece is from mood, treatment and development of materials, timbre, rhythm, structure... It's just so perfect itself and with the eerie elements in it it just adds as a bonus as a competition piece of a Halloween competition.

23 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

I don't quite get the title, so it's a 4/10, sorry...

You are too kind, it should be -100/10 as it's "so below" lol!

Thx for sharing this wonderful music to us!!!!!

Henry