Rondo in C sharp minor

Please take a listen to this Rondo I composed. I wanted to capture some early-Romantic fire with this one, and I hope you enjoy! Beethoven was looking over my shoulder the whole time I wrote this, so this music definitely will not make any kind of hyper-modern statements. Though maybe there's a touch of modern in there, especially the middle theme. I appreciate any and all feedback!

03 Rondo.pdf

Sounds Slavic in places - I’m guessing that speaks of your own heritage? Not hearing much Beethoven tbh

Being honest, I found it all very difficult to follow. The tonal (or lack of) approach is bewildering for you leave little that is memorable. Perhaps it is partially due to the midi sound set you’re using. Is it something you can play yourself? Also I struggle to hear the resemblance between your ideas (eg how you developed your ideas).

What’s your approach to composition? What is your training?

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by Markus Boyd

@Markus Boyd Thanks for your feedback! Yes it does sound a bit Slavic in certain areas.

No I can’t play it myself sadly. Wish I could!

For this piece my approach was to be true to the rondo form, to play around within that framework. My training is very limited, mostly self taught. I’ve read a lot about composition and taken some theory classes, but never had a composition teacher per se.

Cheers!

2 hours ago, Seni-G said:

@Markus Boyd Thanks for your feedback! Yes it does sound a bit Slavic in certain areas.

No I can’t play it myself sadly. Wish I could!

For this piece my approach was to be true to the rondo form, to play around within that framework. My training is very limited, mostly self taught. I’ve read a lot about composition and taken some theory classes, but never had a composition teacher per se.

Cheers!

That’s great, thanks for sharing. I’m also largely self taught with some limited formal guidance here and there.

You play the piano, right? I suggest that you compose something like this for piano but at your practical skill level; and then you can play it for us.

I did wondering during my listening about the playability of it.

Lastly, there are some aspects of your diminution in the rondo theme that I felt unnecessary. If you don’t mind, i’ll have a play around with your theme later at some point to illustrate my point.

Hello,

I've listened to this one twice as I type this. It's starts off very fast paced and it feels like there is so much thrown at the listener. It does sound good initially to my ears, but sort of becomes a barrage of notes at some point (which I want to be clear, sounds good...just feels a bit discombobulating). I think that a real life recording could potentially add clarity to what the piece is trying to accomplish. I guess I'm sort of the opposite of you...I could never write music only via musical notation. Whereas I guess you wrote it all by pen! That's pretty darn awesome if you ask me.

I mean, I guess what I am saying is that listening to your music sort of feels like watching a Zack Snider movie. There are these really nice moments that happen in the music, but I struggle to hear the bigger picture if that makes sense. The moments are nice though and it's an overall pleasant experience. (I like Zack Snider movies). Once again...it's possible that having a life performer could bring out some of the ideas in your piece.

Also, the middle section is reaaaally weird (in the context of the overall piece). And you obviously are aware of this based on your intro for the piece. There are some really nice tender moments in the middle section of the piece too.

As I finish typing this...I've listened to it 3 times. It gets better with each listen...I think I can hear the ideas a bit better as I listen to it more! And after 3 times, I am starting to see the little variations when the main theme returns each time. So there ya go. It seems entirely possible that your music requires a few listens to really get into it. And from my point of view, your music is intriguing enough that I wanted to listen to it more than once :)