Adagio 'for Eva' - Piano Trio (mp3 + score)

Hi all! :)

This is an Adagio for a Piano Trio composed for a flute, a violoncello and piano. As the title suggests, this Adagio is written for a dear friend, Eva, who has supported me throughout many hardships and whom I love dearly.

The music depicts the brilliant light of her soul, the ever-existing floyd-ism (sic, referring to the sweet melancholia that can result from listening to Pink Floyd) and...some turmoil and surprises. This is reflected on the piece's structure.

This Adagio was written in the December of 2006. Eva had her birthday and I decided to give her a special present. Thus, after finishing the adagio, I gave her the manuscript, which she still has.

Currently, I am rehearsing the Adagio with some friends, so as I can record a live performance of it. I shall bump this thread when I do. ;)

Yesterday I completed the copying of the (I kept a photocopy, of course) manuscript in the computer. So, I decided to share it with you, before the actual performance. Now I am in the process of turning this into a decent score. Tell me if you want it posted.

Techniques used: nothing special...simple harmony, broken chord lyrical melody, a couple of clusters, some secondary dominants, a modulation and a modal ending...

Structure: Very straightforward, really.

Problems: Nothing, except for the tight deadline. I barely made it in time!! :P

Here it is...the computerized one:

SoundClick song info: Adagio 'for Eva' by Emmanouel Sgouridis - Song info page with free MP3 music downloads

The score is attached below.

Enjoy! :P

Adagio for Eva.PDF

I love the sounds of these 3 instruments together and you have done fine job of bringing them together. I look forward to hearing it performed.

Mano,

This is a lovely piece. It has something of "love" in the air... Who is Eva? ;)

The rendering is not bad at all, if I may add as well!

I do see a little bit of static harmony, but it certainly is much more complex than the other works I've seen. And additionally, the orchestration works very well if I may add. (The middle section in minor, sounds really clich

I love the sounds of these 3 instruments together and you have done fine job of bringing them together. I look forward to hearing it performed.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my music, I am also (deeply) enamored of these instruments. Especially the way the violoncello blends with the flute for expressive, lyrical melodies...simply delicious!

I am in the process of composing a similar piano trio, performed along with Greek poetry (from me ;) ).

I am glad you liked my work! :)

I hope we can do a decent recording, as we're...ahem, beginners... ;)

Mano,

This is a lovely piece. It has something of "love" in the air... Who is Eva?

The rendering is not bad at all, if I may add as well!

I do see a little bit of static harmony, but it certainly is much more complex than the other works I've seen. And additionally, the orchestration works very well if I may add. (The middle section in minor, sounds really clich

Hey Emmanouel!

Congratulations, I loved the emotional stuff involved here. I think there is no better present than a musical work. Once I wanted to present a friend's son that was going to born, but I'm very bad about deadlines.... though I made an electroacoustic music for my girlfriend, using her voice (she's a soprano, but I used the first telephonic message she let in my cell phone... romantic, isn't it?).

However, your piece seems well constructed, I think I have to listen to it more. I just didn't hear any clusters as you said.

As Nikolas commented, it can be easily felt a "love" ambience in the air.

I liked a lot the ending too. It suggests to me a second movement, kind of "atacca" for a more passionate face of love (this one in fact seems a passive love, even when you say it tries to depict the bright/dark sides of your relationship).

I also did feel the floyd-ish thing, the melancoly. Didn't you try to put justified in any harmonic context the "Us and them" chord? Hehe, I just love it...

Ok, I'll try to find some time to listen to all your music posted here.

Congrats again,

I enjoyed your piece.

I like the simple and clean approach to you took. However, on a personal note I would have liked just a tiny bit more melodic interaction or dialogue between the instruments. I think such a nice combination of timbres deserve a little bit of dialogue. It seems that the most individual interaction occured near the end of the piece.

I liked the "emotional surprises". I wasn't sold on the ending though. I think you have a nice piece and your message and the intent came through with ease.

Hey, I realized that you review so much of my stuff, and I haven't reviewed any of yours... I'm listening to some of your music right now, and I think you're a pretty good composer :(. I like the sounds in this, they work well together and make a very emotional mood. I really like music like this, the melody is good and it works well with the harmony. Nice job, I'm a fan.

Still haven't uploaded much yet (beware). I am very happy that the emotional mood got through to you, even through the digitized performance. Thanks for your kind words, friend! :D

Hey Emmanouel!

Congratulations, I loved the emotional stuff involved here. I think there is no better present than a musical work. Once I wanted to present a friend's son that was going to born, but I'm very bad about deadlines.... though I made an electroacoustic music for my girlfriend, using her voice (she's a soprano, but I used the first telephonic message she let in my cell phone... romantic, isn't it?).

However, your piece seems well constructed, I think I have to listen to it more. I just didn't hear any clusters as you said.

As Nikolas commented, it can be easily felt a "love" ambience in the air.

I liked a lot the ending too. It suggests to me a second movement, kind of "atacca" for a more passionate face of love (this one in fact seems a passive love, even when you say it tries to depict the bright/dark sides of your relationship).

I also did feel the floyd-ish thing, the melancoly. Didn't you try to put justified in any harmonic context the "Us and them" chord? Hehe, I just love it...

Ok, I'll try to find some time to listen to all your music posted here.

Congrats again,

I agree that there's no better present than music...that's the second time I undertake such a feat (the first was for a past girlfriend) and I find it very rewarding! Using the telephone message for writing music... :D that's romantic and passionate!

You couldn't hear the clusters? That's good, because I feel they stand out a lot in such a 'pretty' harmonic setting. I am very relieved they didn't stick out too much! :( I will post the score (it's ready but out of reach) these days so you can see them, they're 2 discreet piano chords, right before the violoncello singing the minor melody. :w00t:

A second movement...now, that would be a great idea! Thanks! I haven't thought of developing a 'full' piano trio...however, there's no passion involved, so we'll have to expand on other manifestations of the feelings.

The Floydish thing...I am so glad it got through to you! And, yes, the harmony is full of references to Pink Floyd! 'Us and them', but also 'nobody home', 'final cut'...songs that base their true melancholy in the irony of major keys! :P There is another harmonic reference from (shoegazing) rock, to be found in Slowdive, but...that's another story!

Unfortunately I haven't posted much music yet.

Thank you for reviewing! Cheers!

I enjoyed your piece.

I like the simple and clean approach to you took. However, on a personal note I would have liked just a tiny bit more melodic interaction or dialogue between the instruments. I think such a nice combination of timbres deserve a little bit of dialogue. It seems that the most individual interaction occured near the end of the piece.

I liked the "emotional surprises". I wasn't sold on the ending though. I think you have a nice piece and your message and the intent came through with ease.

Your comments are much appreciated and taken into consideration! I am currently working on another piece for the same instruments, for which I will try to implement a more contrapuntal (statement-answer) approach.

The interaction occured near the end because that's where I wanted to bring these 2 sides (reflected by the timbral qualities) together.

I don't understand the expression 'I wasn't sold'. Could you explain? I am not a native English speaker.

I appreciate your reviewing my work and I was very glad you enjoyed it! :( Thanks a lot!

I'm sorry. What I meant to say is that the ending didn't seem convincing to me. To my ears wasn't a definite ending. Did you intend for it to come across that way? :blink:

That was exactly the way I intended it. :)

As Nikolas said, 'saying hello while leaving' (a bullseye comment). I am glad the non-definite of the ending got through. Bryan suggested (and gave me the idea) of writing another movement, maybe developing this into a 2 or 3 movement piano trio. Given the inspiration, I feel that would be good idea!

Thanks, Majesty!

I very much enjoyed this. The ending, I thought, worked brilliantly, it seemed very incomplete, and just as Nikolas descibed it, very well done :)

I look forward to hearing more of your music.

Mark :D

Thanks, Mark, for your kind comments. :P

Hopefully I will soon feel confident enough to post more...:thumbsup:

At last, I managed to produce a decent score for your better reviewing. It is attached at the first post... :mellow:

Still to come: The actual performance... :D

I really enjoyed this piece, it had a really beautiful atmosphere throughout and all your musical ideas are laid out clearly.

Your score looks very nice (a big issue for me, score presentation) and your musical grammar is good (such as writing a G# after the A flat in bar 27 which makes it correct intervallically and harmonically) I have seen many scores where basic musical notation is so poor that it puts me off even listening to it, but I am very strict :P

The piano writing reminds me of Arvo Part in his simplicity of using arpeggios, and the use of the low register open 5ths and octaves it really lovely.

I think, more interaction between the parts would work better perhaps some supporting harmony lines or even independent counter point. The musical material is relatively simple, so you could probably decorate it in the part that is not playing it.

You do introduce 2 part writing a little later which works nicely, but maybe a little bit more? I can understand how you may not want to over clutter the texture so that makes sense.

As has been said before, the ending is a little sudden, maybe another 2 bars leading into that would be more effective but it is your personal choice, perhaps it could lead in attacca to another movement?

A great piece though and you should definitely put more of your stuff up here! That's an order! :D

Thanks for your review, friend! It means a lot to me! :)

About the score; it is a big issue for me as well...I am struggling towards producing scores of sufficient quality.

About the piano part...Arvo Part is always a (subconscious) influence...it is interesting for me you noticed that! :)

About the counterpoint...I thought about ways of (subtly) having the other player be more active, but I felt it ruined the form I wanted to give it. So I had to withhold the interaction for the end of the piece where everything forms a coherent whole. I would not change this piece, but I would gladly listen to any recommendations/ suggestions for such an endeavor in future music.

The ending...I am sorry it didn't work for you; :w00t: the next movement idea seems very juicy for me...it will depend on whether I feel I have to express musically something else...

I am very happy you liked it and I appreciate your comments and suggestions!

And, YES SIR, I will gladly post some more, when I can (I am a working man...)! :D

I thought the ending was a very nice touch - it sort of grabs you out of the tonality and thrusts you into a new one suddenly... its an idea that I am very keen on.

Do you need to make a note of the clusters if it is only three notes? You could just write out the notes and not have to deal with the performance instruction.

I can definitely feel the Pink Floyd influence here. At times, the piano part sounds like a rock ballad accompaniement. I like how you have taken this 'sound' and placed it into an unfamiliar context.

One thing I noticed is that the piano seemed especially dominant here, and you didn't much explore the capabilities flute, since it seems to stay in its weakest register - by weak I mean that it isn't the hushed beauty of the low register or the noble brilliance of the top register, its just sort of in the plain, flute-y register. Of course, there is nothing especially wrong with this, but I could imagine the flute taking on a more interesting role here. You did use the cello more convincingly, and the ending was great, since the cello was in its high register and you could hear the 'straining' tone well, which went with the mood of the music.

Hey, Nightscape, :)

about your comments...

On the clusters, I like to treat clusters differently from harmonic notes. Kind of like using 'noise' in the music, instead of notes. A pianist has a different mindset when playing notes and a different when playing cluster chords. The specifications underneath deal with a combination that I feel captures the cluster-ness [sic] I wish to convey, but without ruining the balance in that section. I know my perspective is kind of weird, but I feel this makes for a good discussion topic. :)

On the flute, you are absolutely right! I love the trumpet-ey lower registers of the flute. Initially this Adagio explored both the lower and upper registers of the instrument. But, the flutist is a beginner (as is the cellist ->me :toothygrin:). The low notes weren't loud and pure enough and the upper weren't balanced with the rest of the ensemble. So I asked for her input, and the result is what you saw in the score.

Thanks for your comments. They are pretty deep and insightful.

Much appreciated! :D

Hey Manos,

I'm glad this got bumped, so the newer members can hear your talent. As I said before, I love these 3 together. Every bit of this, including the ending, flows like a butterfly on the wind. Delicate and beautiful. When do we get to hear more? You don't need to wait for a recording on your new piece.

About the flute, I know exactly where you are coming from. When it comes to actual performance, its important to take your performers into consideration, which you have done - I've had to make some concessions too and its better I think to be a little reserved and have a good performance than to have a bad one.

Ron...:P I'm flattered! I have a piano trio in 4 movements which is a paid project, so I get to have this recorded, hopefully on September. Maybe I'll post the score and the Finale rendering before that.

Nightscape, I perceive such obstacles as challenges, always! Instead of being hindered by performer problems, I try to use them in my advantage!

Thanks, guys! :):):)

I have updated the score with a new one with a better layout. It can be found at the original post. Unfortunately, other musical projects occupy me at the moment, so the recording is postponed until after October... :shifty:

I know what secondary dominants are, but I haven't used it in any of my pieces. (Well maybe I did but I didn't know). Downloaded the score for some analysing. ;)

About the music. It was great. It was pleasing to my ears right from the first note. Everything was good except for the ending. Didn't realy like it, too strong, IMO.

But overall, it was a good piece. :)

I know what secondary dominants are, but I haven't used it in any of my pieces. (Well maybe I did but I didn't know). Downloaded the score for some analysing. :P

About the music. It was great. It was pleasing to my ears right from the first note. Everything was good except for the ending. Didn't realy like it, too strong, IMO.

But overall, it was a good piece. :)

Analysing? :laugh: An honour, even though I feel this music and the tricks used are quite straightforward...anyway, feel free to ask, whatever questions may arise!

I am amazed by the controversial opinions on the ending...yes, I wanted a strong, not sweet ending! What would you think of another movement to this?

Anyway, thanks for commenting, Nigel! :)