Hello CyberPianist,
I could not resist writing something about your piece. Foremost, I was very impressed by the wonderful chords you are using in your marche funèbre! There is a great potential for the things you are doing, and your talent is obvious to me. Admirable!
But I have some critical remarks and suggestions as well (Please note that these are strictly my personal viewpoints),
I was puzzled by the high speed beginning and the end of the prelude. What did you want to say with this? Personally, I would not be inclined to combine such fast sections with a marche funèbre (which is the core of your piece). After all, a marche funèbre is something about mourning, a deep feeling of loss and a remembrance.
About the marche funèbre itself: The r.h. chords together with the l.h. bass octaves/chords are wonderful harmonies. The tempo and the rhythm is excellent and some of the short term harmonic progressions are excellent, good or OK. But when I listened again and again to the march, I got a feeling that there was somehow a lack of coherence. I actually think that the problem is a lack of a coherent melody. When I say melody, I do not only mean a single voice line, but also a melodic-harmonic chord progression. As an example, I am thinking of the marche funèbre of Beethoven (in sonata nr. 12). It has a very simple melody but the harmonic chord progression is the salient feature for the drama of this march (the same is true for Chopin´s march funèbre).
Another thing I did not understand. Why did you simplify bar 44 and 45 by skipping the chords? Was the meaning of this to create a transition to the fast ending? Musically, for me it did not really make much sense.
BUT! You have the right tools in your march. With another harmonic/melodic progression structure of your chords, I believe that you could actually create a masterpiece!