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A short and rather incomplete lullaby for my baby daughter.

I can see this in a 'high seas' context for sure. If you sped it up it would almost sound like an old sea shanty or jig. I like your use of low brass in the beginning - sounds like a euphonium. The tuttis with the bass drum and snare drum march-like rhythms really sounds martial and fitting to your context. I like how you use the piano here - exactly how a piano part should be scored in the context of a large ensemble like this. The rising and falling winds give one the feeling of the rising and falling waves. The only thing that I miss is a section at a faster tempo. Overall a great piece!

I'd like to enter as entrant also please 😃

Hi @Vogel! Allow me to begin by thanking you for going out of your way to spend some time with the music, both through listening and through a careful analysis of the score. Your comments are very well informed and very helpful. I must say that in my time at the conservatory and music school, I was led to believe by the faculty (and others) that my music, being written in a Classical—Romantic idiom, as you've correctly pointed out, would not be interesting for performers or the music industry in general. Thankfully, I have found that to be far from the truth. (Although it is true, and I have inside information, that many composition competition panels throw tonal music scores to the trashcan without even looking at them.) Ah! Yes, the old dilemma about sonata form. I found your observations keen, and some of your conclusions very interesting and novel. All of them have some validity, of course. I can only say that I was indeed thinking of sonata form. Now, using the term 'traditional sonata form' is to walk into quicksand. Let me just say that the strategies that I used to lay out the sonata form were all found in real musical examples in the works of Mozart and Beethoven, primarily. What might have thrown you off for a while is the fact that the first theme, in a typically Mozartean fashion, is comprised of two very different modules (if only on the surface, for there are many underlying connections between them). Therefore, b. 28 is obviously the beginning of the exposition proper with what we could call Theme 1.A, and then comes Theme 1.B at b. 40, which leads back into a second (variated) iteration of Theme 1.A. As you can see, our first theme is actually in ternary form itself (1.A – 1.B – 1.A'), which is exactly what Mozart does in his E minor Violin Sonata (K. 304), albeit at a much smaller scale (20 bars in all, compared to my 32 bars). I had to extend to 32 bars in order to balance the introduction which is fairly substantial. And this exposition is itself balanced in the recapitulation by the abridgment (or omission) of several modules—which, again, Mozart does. Bars 59-68 are a transition into the second theme which is in the surprising key of A-flat minor, which closes at b. 77 with a PAC in A-flat minor. Why the key? Well, the end of the Introduction cadences in that same key (b. 23) before modulating to F major, and the initial motion of the opening bars of the sonata the violin clearly delineates F-G-A flat. Not only that, but when the upper voice leaves the F pedal, the first note it touches is A flat. There are plenty more, but you get the point. The development proper (b. 85) goes through various modules before reaching the recapitulation (b. 118), which uses the first theme's 1.B module, rather than module 1.A—yes, you guessed it: Mozart also does this. This brings novelty, especially since a lot of module 1.A is used in the development. It also helps to balance the quite extensive first theme in the exposition, as I said before. Module 1.A (technically 1.A') still makes an appearance at b. 126. The rest is pretty straightforward, paralleling the exposition, until we reach a bar of silence which leaves the music hanging on a dominant seventh chord. After that we get a coda to further balance the introduction out (b. 171—end of movement). In the end, the form is only secondary, and what's important is the effect and overall impression and proportions of the movement or work. I'm glad you found this particular model 'refreshingly original.' By the way, are you familiar with (or have you read) 'Elements of Sonata Theory' by James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy? I had never found a study of sonata form based so thoroughly in facts and that looked at the repertoire itself trying to understand it without trying to force it into a pre-conceived idea of form—something which we know came after the fact, since a definition of sonata form is not to be found anywhere in any book or writing in Beethoven's or Mozart's time. I highly recommend this book (along with a careful analysis of the repertoire, leaving behind old ideas) to anyone interested in understanding sonata form as it was understood in the time of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Yes, you're right. I will only add that this diminished chord contour does not come out of the blue (you didn't imply that, by the way). It is taken directly from the First Theme (module 1.A) of the first movement. Three descending notes by step, followed by a leap upward in the opposite direction; the context here is a diminished chord, whereas in the first movement it was a major chord. (The module 1.A from the first movement was itself taken from the introduction—look at the violin in b. 17–18). That is exactly the feeling I wanted to convey, Vogel. The second movement, although a movement on its own, is on the verge of feeling as an introduction to the third movement. Or, as you've pointed out, 'a cantabile ['arioso' might be closer?] to the third movement's cabaletta. Again, the theme of the third movement is taken from the very beginning of the work. Remember the first three notes of the violin? F—G—A flat. These are precisely the notes that the piano lingers on if you where to take the bones out of the flesh, if you take my meaning. E–F (x2) followed by G—A flat (x2). Furthermore, the ascent up to D flat (b. 3–5) is exactly what the violin does in the opening bars of the sonata. You're starting to catch the motivic relations. Now that I've pointed out some more of them, you might be able to see yet others. It was definitely intentional. I couldn't pick between them—what father can choose one amongst his sons as a favourite? But you are welcome to pick 😉 Thank you for the encouragement, Vogel. There's much I need to work on, definitely. One step at a time! The pleasure is all mine! I'd be happy to keep a conversation going. I greatly enjoy sharing ideas with you. I will definitely take you up on that and send you new works for you to review. Please feel free to send me your things as well, if you'd like. (May I ask you if you write music criticism for a magazine or other publication? You have the chops for it and you write in a very engaging way.) Thank you a thousand times! Best, Rodrigo

Hi @ilv! Thank you for posting and sharing your impressions. I see that @Vogel has already replied to some of them, but I would like to add to what he's said to enrich the conversation. I agree with you that the beginning is fiendishly difficult, and probably the technically toughest passage in the sonata for the instrument. Even if the general idea and the melodic contour of the passage remained roughly the same since its initial conception, it did go through important revisions with the help and advice of violinist Kerenza Peacock. She was very excited to play it and, even if it is still very difficult, a professional violinist can play it, although not without having to practice quite a bit. (I'm sure there are more difficult passages in the violin repertoire that get performed every year all over the world). That being said, my main goal was not to make the passage difficult, but to achieve a certain effect, something which I'd like to think manages to be portrayed by this passage as it was finally printed on the page. I wish I could share our recording now with you, so that you could hear the amazing job that Kerenza did with it. Best, Rodrigo

I liked the contrasting section in this which I guess ended up being in B minor. The rhythms you choose aren't always predictable, but they do always make sense. About the lyrics - which program is it that allows the lyrics to actually be sung by a simulated choir? Sibelius? I loved the harmonies in this.

Also the trumpet can play softer in it's lower range than in the highest. Usually, the higher you go on the trumpet, the more difficult it is to accomplish a soft attack.

Hello Guillem, The trumpet can play that softly, it is a real trumpet playing without mute and it resembles a solo trumpet in an orchestra playing p. It's like the trumpet was in a concert hall and the other instruments much closer so we can imagine the trumpet being louder in a chamber music situation. Still the delicacy of the line will remain.

Such a serene quality to your lullaby, a nice "musical box" touch, very sensitive ✨ Your mix is switching a little bit the roles between accompaniment and solo 0:21; 0:30; 0:57 the bass+piano is popping a little bit. On the contrary the trumpet can be louder being the soloist of your piece and such an enveloping sound. If you lower the bass and increase the volume of the trumpet you will find a new balance that might please you. I hope it was helpfull ☔

This is really lovely. I was also wondering the same as Guilem82, are you recording this on a real trumpet? The recording sounds very good, thanks for sharing! 🙂

Yes, that's a very beautiful Lullaby! Just a question, can a real trumpet play so softly? I always think of a trumpet as being one of the loudest instruments in the orchestra and sometimes is added a mute to make it softer and blend better with other instruments, but the one you used doesn't sound Sordino-like.

Here my new Choral work for voice, strings and organ. It has no lyrics yet, but it definitely has to be for some religious purpose. I think it is a very solemn, optimistic and bright piece. Any comments are wellcome (I also appreciate suggestions for the lyrics 🙂).

Beautiful! I love how the soft trumpet just sneaks into the texture - to me it almost sounded like a flute with it's low vibrato. Very nice. I love the way you also avoid the tonic basically throughout the whole piece (minus the very beginning of course). Overall a very enjoyable and bittersweet piece!

The fourth string of the violin has been tuned down a whole step to F. Professional violinists are more than capable of playing (and sustaining) two notes at once, and they are often called upon to do so in the solo repertoire. See, for example, the opening measures of the Kreutzer sonata.

First off, let me say that this is an excellent piece and it was a pleasure to listen to, so thank you for that. It’s good to know that people are still writing in a Classical/Romantic idiom and that performers are still commissioning such works. It gives me some hope for the future. Some notes: In my first play-through, I thought the first movement was in sonata form. But when I went back to analyze it, I found that it is not. While it seems to follow sonata form in its broad outline (there is a slow introduction, a first theme, a second theme, a developmental section, and a sort of recapitulation), the details are anything but conventional. The first and second themes, for example, are both in the same key (F major), and the music that kicks off the “development” section, practically a theme in its own right, returns in the coda (transposed from Ab minor to the tonic). The “recapitulation,” if it really is one, seems to be an apotheosis or rhapsody of the various themes rather than a simple restatement. In the end, I don’t know what form this is, but I like it. And I don’t know if you started with a sonata form and changed things around, or if you just followed your artistic inclinations and ended up with something close to a sonata form, but either way, the results are refreshingly original. You’re obviously someone who knows the rules and is consciously choosing to break them. The second movement begins with an outline of a diminished chord in a contour that Wagner was particularly fond of (especially in his earlier operas), so it’s only appropriate that this section has the feel of a recitative about it. The diminished theme is then transformed into a major key for the ensuing “aria” which, appropriately enough, is accompanied by a pattern frequently found in Schubert’s lieder (not to mention bel canto opera). I think the second movement ends a little too early, but there’s an interesting consequence to its brevity: it makes the second movement sound like a prelude leading into the third movement. Or, to carry through with the aria analogy, it makes the second movement sound like a cantabile to the third movement’s cabaletta. If we think of the second and third movements as a double-aria, then we end up with a traditional, three-movement sonata: Adagio-Allegro (I), Cavatina (Cantabile and Cabaletta) (II), and Adagio ed intimo (III). Interestingly enough, the descending scale that opens the fourth movement is a transformation of the diminished theme that opens the second movement (with octave displacement taking the place of the anguished leap of a sixth). I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but it’s effective. Even though you say that the fourth movement was composed last, it’s actually my least favorite movement. My favorites are the first and the third. The earlier movements call to mind Schumann and Beethoven (particularly the motoric drive of the third movement), while the fourth movement gives the work a sentimental, almost elegiac quality typical of Brahms. Stylistically, I think this piece could pass for something written in the nineteenth century. If you had told me it was by Raff, I would have believed it. Whether it stands alongside the greats like Beethoven, Schumann, and Dvorak is another matter, but the potential is there, so keep writing. Again, this was a great pleasure to listen to, so thanks for sharing (I actually listened to it several times, and always found new details to appreciate). I hope you will post more pieces in the future, but you’re also welcome to message me about any new works you’ve written – I would be happy to review them. Thanks!

Hi I do exist 😮😃