Prelude No. 18

Hello, yet again with another prelude... GAWL aren't you sick of them yet??

Anyway, this one flirts between Db and C#m. It's 6 pages, but not that long as far as measures. It's grandiose, yet soft and subtle. Unfortunately, the midi doesn't do it justice. The arpeggio measures don't hold the first chord/low note in each one, but hopefully the score paints the right picture. I think it's due to the amount of notes held with the sustain.

I hope you enjoy this, and any comments or concerns are welcome. :)

Prelude 18 - Db - score - Full Score.pdf

Hi Thatguy.

I like the contrast between the arpeggiated chords and the almost solo voice passage. Both of them combined act as the structural pillar of the piece in my opinion, and you make good use of them. It may be true the midi doesn't do it justice.

Engraving-wise I'd suggest putting these wide arpeggios in small notes so it's even clearer where the molto rubato acts and where the piece gets a bit more rigourus in tempo.

I don't quite get the switching between Db and C#. Why is that?




That aside, the prelude works for me but it wasn't my cup of tea compared to other preludes I've listened from your list. It's soft indeed and pleasant to my ears, especially the middle section in which the (1) seems to wander around chords.

How many preludes are left? Or are they not gonna have a set end?

Best regards!

@Omicronrg9 Hey thanks for checking this out!

On 10/13/2026 at 4:50 AM, Omicronrg9 said:

Engraving-wise I'd suggest putting these wide arpeggios in small notes so it's even clearer where the molto rubato acts and where the piece gets a bit more rigourus in tempo.

Agreed, and I will say that this is such a pain in Sibelius. I can't tell you how many times I attempted this, but it needs to looks better.

On 10/13/2026 at 4:50 AM, Omicronrg9 said:

I don't quite get the switching between Db and C#. Why is that?

Speaking of attempting, I rewrote this so many times. It was to show major/minor on Db, but I was afraid of the key signature changing. I changed it to all flats, but I was confusing myself thinking in Dbm (I'm a noob). I then changed it to all sharps, and that was a little better, but back and forth from C# to C#m hurt my brain too (super noob). So in the end, I said screw it and just used Db/C#m 😁

On 10/13/2026 at 4:50 AM, Omicronrg9 said:

That aside, the prelude works for me but it wasn't my cup of tea compared to other preludes I've listened from your list. It's soft indeed and pleasant to my ears, especially the middle section in which the (1) seems to wander around chords.

Thanks for the kind words! It's a goal to have them all different, they're bound to appeal on all types of levels :)

On 10/13/2026 at 4:50 AM, Omicronrg9 said:

How many preludes are left? Or are they not gonna have a set end?

The end is 24

Thanks again for listening Daniel, looking forward to hearing more of your music!

1 hour ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

The end is 24

Sad to know there's an end!

"If I'm going to give a deadline to our love, I hope it will be 10 thousand years..."

Hey @Thatguy v2.0 !

Stoked to hear another installment in your series of Preludes! I've been meaning to give them a review for a while now so here it goes!

First off - I love the idea of these recurring flourishes that you insert into the piece! I think my favorite one is in bar 20 - that chord is just so weird - I think it's just an E5 b9 right? That's such an unusual sonority! I also like how the piece takes its time getting started - it feels like the real melody doesn't actually emerge until bar 16. It seems (at least to me) that all the other melodies are variations of this central and pivotal idea at bar 16 which is the prototype/main melody in the piece. But it emerges organically as if from out of a fog which I love! Great job on this prelude and I'm stoked to hear the next!