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Yet again, most impressive work -- 7) Yearning -- Fascinating -- when I look at this piece only abstractly, it's very pleasant, although the feeling of yearning is definitely there, at least to my ears. But when I look at it in a more concrete, literal way, it's even more telling to me. The beginning is sort of like a constant beat-down of hope -- the more "certain" rhythms of the quarter notes in the right hand are constantly interrupted by "less-certain" poly-rhythms. When you think of it like someone murmuring a personal soliloquy, this makes sense to me. The poly rhythms on the ending off-beat sound like sighing. Then in the middle at measure 20, you literally have "unisons" in the right hand as the piece reaches a climax, perhaps meaning to convey that wish of "togetherness" this person wants, but ultimately dashed by the cluster at measure 23. After this, the man is even more uncertain and haunted than ever (the poly-rhythms are more present now, and the "second voice" could either be interpreted as his own self putting him down, or what he imagines his unrequited love would say if learning of his feelings). I'm probably just over-thinking this in my typical, Serge-y fashion, but I felt that this was only deceptively simple ... as usual with these pieces :nod: (To me, they have all the soul of Chopin's Etude Opuses. Opusi?) 8) The Garden -- A really catchy melody here -- this has more of a "Secret Garden" vibe to it more than a happy tea-party vibe :lol: To me, that's a good thing. And I see the harmonic resemblance to the Old Woman theme, especially in measures like 8 & 9 in the left hand. The feel is generally happy to me, with maybe a tinge of sadness -- not a profound sadness, more like a "dropped my piece of tasty gum" sadness. It's like a strange, happy dream where you're acting like a complete child, and you're searching for something you lost -- maybe the entrance to the garden? :P Haha -- and it looks you found it at measure 45 (after a build-up at measure 29), and had a happy ending! 9) The Jewel Case -- Wow ... Thank you! ... :blush: Yes ... this is very ... "me." It has a certain quirkiness in the jerkiness of the rhythm, as well as some of the progressions, (especially at measures 3-5) ... and yet there's that certain bitterness in the background of the generally-merry tone. *I don't know why, but measure 10 is my favorite line :blink: Interesting. Measure 15 was also really nice* (And thank you for naming it "The Jewel Case" instead of "The Nut Case" :lol: That's much more flattering :shifty:) I ... love it :happytears: Thank you! 10) Sophistication 2 God, those arpeggios are sultry. There's something very brazen, though slick, about it -- like a woman brushing her bristling nails against her lover's face :sweat: 11) Impetus Indeed, it'd be a pretty impressive piece to execute -- the voicing makes it a lot harder than the previous ones. But ironically, musically-speaking, this is my least favorite of the bunch! But it's not bad -- the melody is pretty good, and I really enjoyed the climax at measure 57. But it seemed a little more ... one dimensional to me, in a way, than your other works here. And it's also kind of a shock to the system -- after all the visually stimulating pieces before, this one seems more left-brained. Maybe it's just me. Daniel, I'm in love with this work as a whole. I think a musician can be too busy trying to come up with the next step to further complicate their work, while forgetting to also make music at its rawer essence -- and even forgetting to make the music enjoyable. There is more than one way in which musicians need to grow, after all. Thanks for sharing! :phones: