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i don't believe in that at all. What makes a music (subjective) sad or not is not. the key but a whole bunch of things. When I write tonal music, the key is chosen depending on the instrumentation and the range of the instruments. But, of course, you may think the opposite,

I find the scherzo quite well built. For me, it would be hard to write something in this kind of Forms... But I appreciate it. What I like most is the independence of the hands, the left hand is very rich.

One theme would work if it presented textural variability and could be manipulated enough to provide contrast. I'll touch form last. Sound effects and extended techniques: to be honest, I'm not a fan of overly using them or using them for the sake of it. I've seen lots of crummy pieces that hide the crumminess with extended techniques -and people swoon! To me, its disingenuine and poor craftsmanship. That doesnt mean the technique is baseless -you can certainly create awesome material with it- just dont try to hide mediocrity behind it. You dont have to be atonal at all. What I mean by not using key sigs has nothing to do with writing tonal or atonal and more to do with freeing up self imposed restrictions. You put a key sig up and you're going to box yourself in. Key sigs that indicate tonality are not the same as transposition key sigs -you should use the latter (unless you know your musicians can transpose without them -but, even then, you should still add them). Now, form: One error I see time and again on this forum is people discounting the importance of form in modern music. This is pure b.s. and should be called out thoroughly. Form is still extremely important. The one difference is that often the material itself dictates the form. You don't have to subscribe to the T-D formal structures of the classical and romantic periods but you should adapt and utilize the forms inherited from those periods. Again, let your material help strengthen your formal considerations. I often take great care in choosing chords and progressions. So, I would argue against using any chord however you want. Despite lacking tonic resolution, every chord should add to some sort of tension and relief. Again, you have varying degrees of tension and relief. So, still give thought to your chords.