A Waltz in F# for Piano

I've dug up another decades old composition. I was once again experimenting with polytonality at the tritone (C and F# major). The first 9 bars of this piece were all I had to start out with so I extended it and finished it using some variation technique and slapped on a repeat and called it done. I referred back to Musescore quite a bit in the process instead of writing everything on just paper and only using my imagination. I made many "corrections" from things that didn't quite sound the way I thought they would on the page, so I feel like a hack LoL 🤣. I'd appreciate any of your comments, critiques, suggestions or just observations. I hope you enjoy and thanks for listening!

A Waltz in F# Print.pdf

Quite a creative waltz and interesting harmony...maybe a little jazzy? The tritones give this piece a lot of tension throughout. I enjoy this type of harmony so I really liked this piece.

You should have posted this when I composed my Sextet, so I can steal your technique of interchanging between tritones of C major and F# major!! I spent too much time then to find a solution linking those two key areas lol! On the music itself it's a really jazzy waltz with very nice voice leading throughout. Thx for sharing!

Henry

I’m a big fan of this! You found that blend of dissonance mixed with traditional harmony that really does the trick. I admire your use of rhythm in the melody, and how it works in unison with the harmonic changes. Your piece does not feel like it’s trying too hard to be modern, but instead uses a bit of modern sound to express something poetic, while still maintaining a clean and apparent form. That’s the sweet spot!

I would like to see a whole second part added on. The repeat of the waltz is great, but it makes my ear excited for part 2, just as a classical waltz might have part 1 and part 2, both with their own repeat signs. If you can develop these themes into a part 2, I think you’d really have a complete waltz. But even if you don’t, it’s still fine to listen to.

Cheers!