Waltz in A major

Hello everyone! I’m happy to be posting my first piece on this forum. It’s a short and unpretentious waltz for piano in A major.

After a couple years of much reading and sketching, but without a single completed work, I decided to revive one of my old ideas, with the encouragement of my best friend. It took me a little over a week to complete, during a vacation in Paris, and it’s very satisfying to be able to put a double bar on the end! I’m dedicating it to my friend, who plays the piano herself, and now lives on the other side of the world.

It’s in a very tonal and functional idiom, and I had no intention of making the piece stylistically distinctive, though I think a few elements of my personal style definitely found their way in, such as a certain motivic organicism, and penchant for harmonic variety.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

(Sorry for the bad recording—I figured it was still better than the MIDI output, especially since I don’t know how to configure dynamics playback in Dorico yet).

01 - Full score - Waltz in A major.pdf

Edited Wednesday at 02:59 PM2 days by CrystalCanon
updated dynamics / articulations

Hi @CrystalCanon !

Great job with the crafting of this piece as well as live performance! Did you perform this yourself, or did you record your friend playing it? It's very charming with many romantic era harmonic tropes (such as dominant 13th chords and modal interchange). Thanks for sharing!

Hello,

It's a nice waltz. It's always great to hear live performances of original works!

It's perhaps a bit short...leaves me wanting a bit more :)

Thanks for sharing!

I listened twice, and you managed to put a smile on my face. You evidently know your stuff for it is very well crafted. I have no constructive feedback with regards to your writing. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next upload. ;)

Thanks everybody for the reviews and comments!

On 9/2/2026 at 7:07 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Did you perform this yourself, or did you record your friend playing it?

Yes, I played it by myself. It was the same day I finished composing it, so I didn’t have much time to practice!

On 9/2/2026 at 7:07 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

It's very charming with many romantic era harmonic tropes (such as dominant 13th chords and modal interchange).

Thanks! While composing I didn’t actually think of the chord structures I was using, or any styles and influences. I basically just wrote what sounded right to me, polishing for coherence.

On 9/2/2026 at 9:25 PM, Grant Weep said:

It's perhaps a bit short...leaves me wanting a bit more :)

I agree—I just felt I had to start with something small that I knew would be achievable. Also, I don’t think the piece has much potential for expansion unless it’s really restructured.

12 hours ago, Markus Boyd said:

I listened twice, and you managed to put a smile on my face. You evidently know your stuff for it is very well crafted. I have no constructive feedback with regards to your writing.

Thanks for the compliment! It means a lot to me, because I always feel my technique is lacking. I think what I’m learning is that ideas seldom come perfectly polished—it’s the diligent work afterwards that matters. If you analyze what you’re doing too early, it blocks the creative flow.