Piano quintet in G sharp minor – 2025 Halloween Competition Submission

This is my contribution to the YCF Fall 2025 Halloween competition:

First the story:

On the last evening of October, you take a walk to the nearby urban forest. In the shade of the trees, dimly lit by moonlight and distant streetlights, you spot five figures. They're not ghosts or other sinister creatures, but musicians who – somewhat awkwardly, like marionettes – are performing their Halloween serenade.

All this puppets – while playing perfectly together – have their own character: The pianist hides behind his slightly out-of-tune piano. The flute player trembles a little nervously, while the horn player sometimes blares loudly, the clarinetist and the bassoonist alternate between playful and calm roles.

After the last melancholic chord has faded away, the wind picks up, swirling the leaves on the forest floor. The rain begins to fall and the illusion disappears into the mist.

Now some musical explanations about the piece:

The piece is derived from my Prelude XVIII in G sharp minor, arranged as a piano quintet with woodwinds as the accompanying instruments, in that particular case flute, clarinet, French horn and bassoon. For me, the key of G sharp minor has a mystical and gloomy character and since the piece features many dissonances and rich chromaticism - together with the usage of the tritone as a central interval – it seems to fit perfectly with the subject of the competition.

Here is the structure of the piece, composed in sonata form:

0:07, mm. 1 – Exposition, 1st Theme: The first thematic material (highlighted in purple) consists of a quartet of chromatic runs and syncopations that can be easily be distributed among the four woodwind instruments, achieving a playful character – in spite of the dissonances.

1:02, [E], mm. 30 – Exposition, 2nd Theme: As the second theme (highlighted in blue) I quote the subject of the subsequent Fugue XVIII in A flat minor in a rather chorale-like and calm form.

1:25, [G], mm,46 – Exposition, Codetta: Repetitive notes (highlighted in green) form the thematic material of the codetta, first in chords accompanied by the bassoon, and finally as a tutti.

1:52, [H], mm.55 – Development: In the short development section, the augmented second subject and the chromatic runs and syncopations from the first theme interwove together.

2:40, [K], mm. 78 – Recapitulation: In the recapitulation, the instruments change their roles, picking up the voices from their counterparts and swapping solo vs. tutti sections to avoid a simple repetition of the exposition. The codetta with plaintive chords finally descends in a morendo to the minor triad.

Here is the score:

Piano quintet in G sharp minor

Entry: Piano quintet in G sharp minor

Review: 

The metrical stress of the composition switches between pattern 2, 3, and 5.  The meter in the composition are 4/8. 3/4, 6/8, and 5/4/.  These meters have different stress pattern and feel different.  It would wise to either stay the 8th is division: 4/8, 6/8, and 5/8 or switch to 2/4. 3/4, and 5/4.   Furthermore, it is hard to know where half point of each measure is.  In some measures, there are two 8th notes rests that can easily be a quarter rest, or two 16th rest that should be 8th rest. That would make easier to read in the piano part.   

In rehearsal H: you are implying both 2/4 and 4/8. It is hard to know what meter you are using.  I could not follow that section...   

Overall, in both score presentation and playability this will be score 6 for the reasons explained.   

The overall landscape of the piece was polyphonic, and it used atonal methods: possibly set class and others(?).  This will be score be 9 

The execution of a sonata form Exposition-Dev-Recap was well done. 10 

There were well crafted themes, motives, and melodic materials 10  (also for creativity).

This entry meet requirements of competition 10.

It was done well 10 

Average score: 8.8 Above Average/Good

Review:

I like the melodies and the unsettling feel of them

The chords feel very off, but that's probably just me being used to certain ones; but the texture is really good.

The structures pretty good, but the time does feel a little bit off...

this piece is pretty original but does use share some similarities with the other submissions.

the score is presented like any other so I'd say its pretty good.

seems very much like it could be played with some practice.

you executed it well with an introduction, a video, a MP3 and a score.

it does give halloweenish vibes and reminds me of background music for one of those old black and white cartoons where the characters don't talk, but a halloween special.

overall, 7.5

Hi @Wieland Handke!

I love the pointillistic touch of the whole piece, kind of like Klangfarbenmelodie. The piece doesn't sound tonal for me until the end when it ends in the G sharp minor, but it enhances the unsettling mood for it. Your use of motive is very tight and organized. I subjectively feel like the music somewhat lack drama for climax and passages less excited, and I feel like you can sometimes just reduce one or two instruments in certain passages for creating climax when all the instruments appear. The other thing is the horn, because in real performance the horn may easily overpower the other instruments especially in its forte/fortissimo passages so the balance need to be careful. The high register of flute and clarinet can also be established more frequently for the Halloween vibe!

Thx for joining the competition and sharing!

Henry