5 Short Pieces

I recently completed a set of 5 short pieces for solo piano and am curious as to how they will be perceived by various listeners. I wrote these in dedication to Dmitri Shostakovich and quote from him several times, (more on that below) those these works are not intended to be a pastiche of any kind. They are atonal, though seldom dissonant. At the very least, I do not use dissonance for mere "shock effect" or to be intentionally grating on the ears, but generally for the sake of contrast, perhaps to cut through a dense section with a pulsating rhythm. I consider these pieces to be somewhat modern and/or experimental, but this is simply my take on them based upon how they sound alone and not upon the fact that they necessarily satisfy any formal requirements of the minimalist style as such. As mentioned in the title, they are all quite brief, between 1 and 2 minutes in length , as well as autonomous. Though they were written as a set, I feel as though each should be able to stand alone in its own right as there is not intended to be any continuity between each piece.

No. 1

Probably the most capricious (and to some, maybe even schizophrenic) of all the pieces, it manifest itself as a sort of Shostakovich-inspired patchwork quilt, each section alluding to a different facet of his musical personality, from improvisatory and virtuosic to simple and introspective.

No. 2

A somber, waltz-like piece that is intended to evoke the sound and feeling of Russia. Sparse in texture to represent austerity and melancholy in mood to represent the prevailing cultural sense of Weltschmerz.

No. 3

Rhythmically driven and also thin in texture. Reminds me slightly of Cage's style when writing for piano. Intended to sound carefree yet thoughtful/inquisitive, as though one is playing the piano in a sort of absent minded way searching for the answer to a question or an interesting idea.

No. 4

Opens with a direct reference to the DSCH motif, trudging heavily into a series of repeated chords coupled with an underlying bass ostinato meant to represent Stalin in my own way. The intensity grows, resulting in a climax of thick, dissonant chords followed by a somber note in the piano's lowest register. However, the DSCH motif returns, as Shostakovich was able to prevail artistically in spite of Communist Russia's stringent artistic censorship.

No. 5

A free form fugue in two voices (more of an invention, actually) the includes a reference to the diminished 6th interval that opens Shostakovich's 5th Symphony in the middle section. Mainly written as a personal challenge, an attempt to write atonal counterpoint without it sounding like dissonant garbage. You can be the judge as to whether I succeeded in my endeavor to do so.

I shared these pieces with a friend who did not care for them. Thus, I wanted to get a "second opinion" of sorts by posting them on this forum. Maybe they really are nothing but rubbish! Hopefully, they will not cause Shostakovich to turn over in his grave...

PDF Scores and a link to Soundclick where all 5 pieces can be heard follows:

SoundClick MP3: James Huddleston - Band page with free MP3 music downloads on SoundClick

No. 1.pdf

No. 2.pdf

No. 3.pdf

No. 4.pdf

No. 5.pdf

Thoughts, criticisms...?

I'm in a bit of a rush right now, so I only listened to 5. I like the concept, I live atonal works and this one has a nice rhythm to it. But you never change the rhythm. Even when you slow it down or speed it up. it is the same beat. On a 2 minute piece that doesn't quite get boring, but it comes close.

Got a couple more seconds so I listened to 1. Neat!! In this one you have changed the pace nicely. The feel of the piece continues to shift. Great ending.

Keep it up

very nice set. obviously it means a serious - and successful - effort. your comments show that you are deeply conscious of what you are doing and pursuing, and the result you show in music mirrors such intelligence and sensitiveness. shame that apparently few people has enjoyed them enough to post some few lines of encouragement or even criticism. n.o 5 is specially appealing for me, with that lovely counterpoint and sudden end - very effective. but all of them are very fine pieces - sober, well balanced, and charming, and work nicely as a set and individually as well. somewhat somber in places, but always very coherent and expressive. so keep up composing!:)

Hey - it's obvious you know your Shostakovich inside out! You've obviously thought very carefully about the pieces - particularly the harmonic language, which is very very convincing.

One thing I did notice was that the rhythmic approach often became quite monotonous. For example in numbers 4 & 5 - and I'm not suggesting you do anything crazy - but you tend always to think within the barlines - particularly in the fugue - which is unnecessary. It always creates rhythmic interest to have some overlap - tie some notes over for example, and particularly in Shostakovich it helps to use phrases that don't "fit" perfectly within the eight beats of two bar phrases - I was just looking at some of his fugue subjects and they often start and finish on weak beats - which just injects a little syncopation!

I think that no. 1 is definitely the most effective from this point of view, the rhythm is well varied - but again where you have the tremolandi in the bass with the quavers above in the right hand the rhythm gets a little bit stagnant - personally I would think about putting a few irregular quaver rests in the right hand at this point, and perhaps rather than using octaves, add an alto voice that the right hand can play with the thumb, and use that to emphasise some interesting rhythmic relationship.

Anyway this isn't so much criticism as advice from a personal perspective. Keep it up though - and don't listen to your friend.

Matt