Piano Sonata No. 2 in A - I, Allegro grazioso.

Hello all! I haven't posted a piece on YC in forever so I thought it was time for another update. I finished this movement back in July and I was (and still am) intent on finishing this piece completly. I can never think up second mvmts for some reason and that has stalled this piece. I have a perfect theme for the last mvmt though.;)

I really like this piece because I think its my most mature. It was the first piece that I actually "developed" themes instead of introducing new ones (which I still did in this piece, but I developed other themes first). I also like it because it has a strong theme. It's not just triad intervals or something. I feel like it goes somewhere. One last reason why I like it (lol) is because I started using many different chords and modulated alot. At the time I wrote it, the devolepment section sounded strange, but I got good reviews, so I kept it. :)

With that said, I hope you enjoy!!

PS- If you want the score, PM me. I dunno, i just have this thing about posting a score online where anyone and everyone can see it.. Strange, I know. :wub:

Thanks!!

-William

*gasp* Which piano concerto?? You've written like 5 in C. lol

Too many cadences. The development section seemed less intense and interesting than the exposition. Sorry I'm not a fan of Mozarts piano sonatas, so this review is biased by my tastes. Some parts were elegant, love the trill at 1:13. Was less trilled by the repeated cadence afterwards. 10/10

It's a little bit too much Mozart for me, and there is an awful lot of cadence, but thinking independently of personal taste there's a lot to like here. The piece does hold together quite nicely as far as theme unity goes and for the most part the piece keeps forward momentum nicely. I don't think you need quite as much space between the transition and the second theme as you do, the long note at measure 24 feels like it holds back the progress of the piece (not that I haven't seen myself or great composers do it, but ya know). There are a couple of times in the second theme that this happens as well - measures 32 and 34 I believe.

I like your transitions throughout the piece. They're very energized and never really feel like they're transitory passages. I like your development as well. I think you could expand this to the recapitulation as well so there are a few surprises here and there that make me really feel like all that something really did happen to the theme during the development, and that you weren't just spending all of that time getting us back to key :wub: Still and accomplished bit of writing in that style!

Thanks for the reviews so far everyone! ;) Sorry about the cadences. I didn't realize that there were so many in the piece. When I have time all proabably go back and see what I can do about that. :wub:

-Will

Wow. I hear alot of mozart in there. Sounds like something he's write. WHICH IS GOOD! Very classical sounding. A few too many notes though. Whizzing all over the keyboard like that. Ah well. Still awesome. ;)

Good themes too. I dont mind the cadences.

dude, you absorb music to ridiculous extent.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? ;)

oh ok. so bad thing. i hope some of that gets cleared up now that i'm writting more in minor ;)

Well I don't have any technical criticism for you, this is pretty good.

But I'm just wondering, what's the point of writing music like this? this may sound harsh, but I don't think I, as a listener, gained anything from listening to this. People here start crying at ppl when they post neo-classical, sappy, new-age stuff, but how is this different?

Or is this an excercise? A learning step? If so I think you are on a good path. I'm looking forward to hearing music from you that transcends technicality.

I like this piece for the form, there's a lot of study behind it, it's elegant, refined and quite dynamic, well composed.

I don't like cadences, "fragmentation" and "long pauses", so I would like to hear a more continous melody.

About melody: it's clearly based on Mozart ideas, so I like it very much. But it's too similar to its works! And yes, in some parts there's only a different order of the notes.

There's also something which don't make me say that this piece is like Mozart's pieces... may be the scale? Or it is the melody in itself?

A good work, needs some improvements. :happy:

Well I don't have any technical criticism for you, this is pretty good.

But I'm just wondering, what's the point of writing music like this? this may sound harsh, but I don't think I, as a listener, gained anything from listening to this. People here start crying at ppl when they post neo-classical, sappy, new-age stuff, but how is this different?

Or is this an excercise? A learning step? If so I think you are on a good path. I'm looking forward to hearing music from you that transcends technicality.

Simple: that's what his mind and heart tell him to write. It's what he feels. If you didn't gain anything from listening to this, then it's because this isn't your style of music, that simple.

This music is more than technicality. It does seem a lot of people like to think of old fashioned music as simply 'technicality.'

Well I don't have any technical criticism for you, this is pretty good.

But I'm just wondering, what's the point of writing music like this? this may sound harsh, but I don't think I, as a listener, gained anything from listening to this. People here start crying at ppl when they post neo-classical, sappy, new-age stuff, but how is this different?

Or is this an excercise? A learning step? If so I think you are on a good path. I'm looking forward to hearing music from you that transcends technicality.

A good question. But see, thats what I feel whenever I listen to a Romantic piece. To me, the classical period is where the MUSIC is. Romantic music may be all emotional and stuff, but it lasts way too long, just a whole bunch of sappy long notes, and just doesn't make sense. This type of music makes sense to me. Simple. :P

Now that I have went through the piece and looked into what you guys are saying about the notes thing, I realize that you are correct. :happy: I'm sorry. I don't think I'll change any of the melodies, but I might go back and change some of the other things.

Thank you so much for your time, guys!! I appreciate it! :)

A good question. But see, thats what I feel whenever I listen to a Romantic piece. To me, the classical period is where the MUSIC is. Romantic music may be all emotional and stuff, but it lasts way too long, just a whole bunch of sappy long notes, and just doesn't make sense. This type of music makes sense to me. Simple. :)

Now that I have went through the piece and looked into what you guys are saying about the notes thing, I realize that you are correct. :blush: I'm sorry. I don't think I'll change any of the melodies, but I might go back and change some of the other things.

Thank you so much for your time, guys!! I appreciate it! :D

Well William, what you just said about the Romantic is as true as Snoop Dogg being a genius. What is it that arouses emotion in the Classical period to you?

hahaha. I'm not really sure. It just makes me feel good. I don't want to feel sad and depressed when I listen to music. I want to feel good and happy. Classical music does that, and Romantic music does just the opposite.

hahaha. I'm not really sure. It just makes me feel good. I don't want to feel sad and depressed when I listen to music. I want to feel good and happy. Classical music does that, and Romantic music does just the opposite.

Listen to Brahm's First Symphony, Mov. 4 to hear something happy and triumphant, or Beethoven's 5th, 4th mov.

i like mozart too, and yes it

hahaha. I'm not really sure. It just makes me feel good. I don't want to feel sad and depressed when I listen to music. I want to feel good and happy. Classical music does that, and Romantic music does just the opposite.

That's just because you're a happy person. Depressed people prefer romantic music for the obvious reasons.

When I first heard this piece, it reminded me of Mozart's Piano Sonata K 311. The beginings of both pieces are way too similar.

I wish I could write music like you. Not alot of your themes are original, but neither are mine :P. Like you, I have trouble composing second movements, most of which I steal parts from various Mozart sonatas. Anyway, now to comment on the actual piece:

I really enjoyed this movement. At :35, right before the development, the quarter notes seem a little too bland. Why not staccato eighth notes? And I know this has been said over and over, but the pauses really ruin the flow of the piece. I loved the minor transition- it reminded me of one of Beethoven's sonatas.

Overall, it's a great first movement. I enjoy your style. I look forward to the other movements- you are going to make them, right?

thanks for your review! I haven't really had time lately for composing, let alone editing, but I'm pretty sure I will take out some of the long pauses. I also see what you mean about the quarter notes. I don't think I'll change them to eigth notes, but I have something else in mind. :o I definately want to finish this sonata and I have a killer 3rd movement thats been in my head FOREVER. Maybe I'll just write it down and save the second mvmt for later..... Thanks for the reviews so far everyone! :D

Definately a fun little piece. Well structured and finely written.

I enjoyed it!:P

Someone said it had to many cadences. It may have a few of those,

but dont most Sonatas in this form? I think it was fine as it is.

Hope to hear more in the future.

Good work!:toothygrin:

The theme should be more clearly defined. There should be a very melodic and memorable phrase, which there is not. This should then be expanded on.

You have everything but what makes a classical piece memorable.

At 4:44 exactly, something must be added right afterward that will add rich melody to the piece. You instead end your idea immediately as if you are a painter that loved what he created so far and didn't want to ruin it by putting something out of place in his scene.

Study more Mozart piano sonatas--might not be the composer you should study more of--and you will find parts like in Sonata No. 10 in C, the part that goes gag-egag-cage-G G gag-egag-cage-G G D F# D-G G D F# D-G G, etc.. phrases like these make you want to hear them again and again. The part following this previous example sounds just like what's in your piece, but where's the phrase before? There is no originality; you must think more creatively and really try to come up with something rich like that example. You are good at writing down what's in your head, which is a very good place to begin. Just work on the melody. How can you work with sound like that, get 2007 and GPO immediately!!!

I have 06 lol. Thanks for your comment! I have huge amounts of problems getting a memorable melody (and a good one at that). For some reason, its just hard for me to think up proper melodies. They're all boring and triadic in some way. *sigh* That will go away soon... I hope. Thanks again for your time everyone!! :P

I have 06 lol. Thanks for your comment! I have huge amounts of problems getting a memorable melody (and a good one at that). For some reason, its just hard for me to think up proper melodies. They're all boring and triadic in some way. *sigh* That will go away soon... I hope. Thanks again for your time everyone!! :P

If that is the case, go to the piano, bang out some interesting notes, and use it as a motif:D

Back to the piece, there were parts I really like, and some parts I don't. The music around 2.23~2.33 was nice, and also 3.14~3.20, and the minor part which comes afterwards, last but not least, the ending is also nice... sweet...

Very mozart-ish, if you wanted to do a piece in his style, then you have succeeded.:D

Overall, I like it. Definitely captures the classical period.

2:55 -- I don't like the left hand. It sounds like ragtime or romantic, but not classical.

By the cadence at 4:10 I was wondering if I would ever hear a melody that caught on and was fully developed. The minor section would be a good place to get a melody, develop it and keep it flowing for a good couple of minutes.

I like the ending, with the reintroduction of the triplets.

:)