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Hey @BipolarComposer! I like some of the ideas you present in this piece! I think my favorite is the following pizzicato idea that recurs throughout the piece: As a whole I think the piece has a sort of ordinary type of beauty. It's not trying to impress or be spectacular - it's just chugging along with ordinary seeming material and pedestrian harmony, but it's beautiful nonetheless. I like how it doesn't end on the tonic chord but instead on the subdominant. That's one of my favorite kinds of endings to a piece of music that I often employ in my own compositions! Now that I quickly peruse the score I notice that the whole piece manages to almost completely stay diatonic to C major throughout! No problem with that - and you do throw in the occasional # in there. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Jqh73o! I love the arch-like form of the piece! I think the main thematic material is solid and is well harmonized. I love the many modal explorations you accomplish and the different harmonies that result. I think in some places in the piece the texture is a bit muddy and too bottom-heavy. You could remedy this in a few ways - bring out the important notes more through higher velocity values. If that doesn't work you could also orchestrate this piece! I think there's a lot of potential for the piece to be made better with an orchestration - in other words, an orchestration could remedy the poor balance in some spots and give clarity. Sometimes there's too much pedal imo, and taking the piece out of the pianistic venue and into the realm of an orchestral one could be just what the piece needs to shine and breathe better. That's my opinion. Thanks for sharing!

Hey @Fruit hunter! Very interesting music! I think when writing a programmatic work like this, it is important to be able to involve the audience more in the story that you want to convey with the music. In other words, you want to give the audience an idea of what it is that they should be listening for. I can see in your score that you are working with thematic leitmotifs. As a casual first-time listener to this work I find those themes hard to pick out and hear. Perhaps, you could give the listener an introduction to each melody in isolation and associate it clearly in the audience's mind with the character you want it to represent? Maybe you already do that and I'm just missing it or not getting it? One thing that certainly seems to be the strength of the composition is the orchestration though! Thanks for sharing!

Hello @Dima Kravets and welcome to the forum! This piece has been sitting on the forum for quite a while without any responses so I decided to give it a go! From the get-go it seems to display a high level of sophistication that I can't hope to delve into and understand fully with one casual listen. For a piece that starts with a series of seemingly atonal chords and returns to them throughout, it does seem to be quite unified. And the piece as a whole does not seem to be atonal or gratingly and deliberately dissonant. Which is a nice breath of fresh air! I love the tasteful changes in key and complex but comprehensible rhythms. There seem to be some motives and the pianism is full of clear textures. The chords are never muddy. The only thing that I observe that could perhaps be improved is that the more important lines can be brought out more in high relief to create a clearer hierarchy of importance between the different lines. Sometimes the texture is polyphonic and the lines are all equally important. But in other places the top note should clearly be the more important element but it is sometimes a bit buried in the texture. That's my only critique. But I don't know what software you're using and how easy it is to do that. In Musescore I have to use velocity values to offset the foreground and background elements. The sonata seems to get more harmonically interesting and crunchy towards the end. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @BipolarComposer! I like the mood you set here! It's like a mix of music from the classic videogame "Metroid" and a bit of Elliot Goldenthal. The latter half is quite different from the beginning which sets a menacing but mysterious mood. But the end is like a release. I like it a lot! Thanks for sharing. I hope you don't end up removing it sometime in the future - it deserves to be heard by the community! Also, to encourage more participation and interaction between you and the people who might listen and review your work you could give a ❤️ or a 🏆 as a reaction to our reviews! And btw - Happy Easter!

Hi Mark, I especially enjoyed your harmonic planing in this piece, and the way you effortlessly blend consonance and dissonance (a common feature of many of your works). It reminds me a little bit of Hindemith's "Mathis De Maler" (which I saw live at London's Barbican last year). Hope others will chime in here, as I'm not the best analyst! Alex

henry ng, this here is a wonderful work. Thank you for giving me a preview of this work before posting. I feel you have taken a lot of inspiration from native themes and folklore of HK; this is a promising new direction in your style as a composer. I love the tranquility of the atmosphere, juxtaposition of the neapolitan harmony, and usage of 4ths and 2nds. I have to agree with darachmiad that the main melody is quite catchy, a little bit bluesy too. Sort of reminds me of music from my home country, but perhaps because I am homesick too. Barely have anything to critique, looking forward to hearing more works. I truly think you are now building your own 1. originality 2. style and 3. uniqueness.

hello user011235(Darachmiad I believe), Thank you for your kind words, glad you found a few things unique about it. These are actually conceived as a set, but maintain distinct personalities from each other. I was planning on unifying the work a bit more, but am also happy with the final product.

Do not lose hope, ever. You're too young and talented, and there may be days where hope is the only thing you have to cling onto. Your music is inspirational, and thank you for sharing here where others can learn from your depth of knowledge and prowess as a composer. I truly hope the best for you, as all I can do for you is to hope too. Good luck my friend, I hope to hear more from you at some point. -Vince

After a short Hiatus : Presenting ... hahahahhahahaa alright dude this legit made me belly laugh out loud. I can't figure you out, I don't know your intentions, don't know if you're a troll, don't know if you're just trying to fit in, don't know if there's a cultural barrier, but that was funny. Well done sir Cool music, but maybe give us a little on what the motive or inspiration is, or some specifics with the compositional process. We'd love to hear, and many here are eager to learn from others.

After a short Hiatus : Presenting an | Easter Sunday Matinee | Dramatic Performance.

Nice work, which I forgot to listen to. For this type of work I like the harpsichord sound better. The initial theme or subject is quite “catchy”. I think the second theme comes in at measure 32? I was pleasantly surprised by the “cadenza arpeggiata”, I think it also has a role of a more rested section. And it sounds chromatic. When talking about Double Fugue, I understand that there are two subjects. I suppose you can work by exposing them separately, or sequentially. Is it also possible to then overlay one on top of the other? Best regards.

Hello Luis, Thank you for your reply, as always. You are right, there are a lot of strange techniques and chord spacings in a few of the pieces. Perhaps, the pieces are more appropriate to intermediate learners. I am also glad you mentioned the idea of musicality; since I don't specify too many articulation and dynamic markings, that will be up to the pianists to decipher.

I think everything's already been here regarding their suitability for children, but these still make up a nice little trio of pieces and i think they definitely represent a unique voice for yourself! Do you see them as a suite of sorts or are they separate as far as you're concerned?

Kia Ora Henry, This is unbelievably beautiful! As I mentioned to you on discord, parts of this piece remind me heavily of the second movement of your 3rd Sonata (Y'know, the one that sounds like "random music"). The section from bar 35 is probably the part that to me is the most reminiscent of that piece. Definitely my favourite of this set so far, though maybe my mind will be changed after laughing hysterically at the 'Joke' whenever you post it. Ngā mihi, Arjuna

Nice work as always, this motif especially gets me

Hey @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu! Nice image! It does also remind me of the very sweet-leaning Debussy piano pieces like the Arabasque's. Also Debussy's Petite Suite for orchestra is another early work of his with this same kind of sweetness. I've noticed some mistakes, either in the score or the performance. In bar 49 you play a low Eb - in the score it's an Ab. Also, in bar 54 your score shows a C bass note, but you play an Eb. That kinda confuses me as to your intent harmonically, especially in the latter case. I have to say my favorite parts of the piece are when you combine two ideas into a single figuration like at bar 19 - 20 where the right hand simultaneously plays the chords from the beginning while playing the pentatonic melody. Actually, there are many places throughout the piece where the right and left hand imitate each other and 8th note apart which is a very cool contrapuntal effect. Another cool spot is bars 55 - 58 where the left hand has the melody proper while the right hand plays canonic imitation a half note apart. Very cool idea there. Thanks for sharing this sweet, relaxing piano piece!

You CAN do it....... 1 step at a time Imagine yourself playing this on the Grand-Piano, in a Massive Concert Hall Center stage with the Orchestra all Around you...........They would gently play softly, ACCORDINGLY to the notes you played. It may take time..........But you have the power to create.

@FILMSCORE I don't know... When I've tried to orchestrate something I've done for the piano..., I almost never get to the end. I prefer, if it's for orchestra, to do it thinking about it from the beginning. But well, it can be a challenge...

You could take this one step further, by orchestrating strings,and soft-horns,and cello bass, BEHIND the Piano solo.............. to create a Beautifull Ensemble.

@FILMSCORE Ah yes. Although everything is generated with a virtual instrument, I try to take care as much as I can of the dynamics, rubato, etc... Thank you.

Well yes ofcourse.........But it was all created by YOU, including the song too It wasn't a Re-Creation .......its an ORIGINAL.

Thanks, but it's not human execution, it's all with software.

Very Beautifully played..............with no mistakes.

Hello, how are you? I hope you are well in this Easter period (wherever it is celebrated). In my country there are many holidays, so a little time to do things. Back to the music... After delving a few months into the compositional resources of Chopin, I have decided to go into a composer that I find more difficult, to see if I learn something: Brahms. Attending only to solo piano music, I have read, analyzed, and above all listened to, many pieces. I have tried to write something, much simpler, incorporating some of its characteristics as for example: -Melodies mainly by continuous degrees. -Several melodic planes (with internal melodies). -All conglomerated in counterpoint as a base. -Wide arpeggios -Harmonization in thirds / sixths. -Polyrhythm and use of hemiola. -Harmonic sequences based on conduction of voices (measures 11 - 16). -Omnibus progression (measures 25 - 29). Etc. I do not try to imitate Brahms, it would be impossible for me to reach 10% of his level. Only to include his resources in the music.