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Enjoy this mental experiment.

Hello, I will be posting the submissions for the Summer 2020 Competition as replies to this thread. I will send out a notice to all the entrants once all of the submissions have been uploaded. Each entry will be randomly assigned a letter (A, B, C, D, etc.). Thank you in advance for your patience, and congratulations to all of the entrants for completing your submissions.

Made a new invention with a mix of influences. I am really curious to hear other people's opinion of it so I can improve Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koz_Q2sDa1I Score: https://workupload.com/file/NBMKPKG69zw

As a religious person myself, I encountered different spiritual warfare everyday and one day I tried to create the warfare with music. I ended up writing a string orchestra piece with some interesting harmonies and repetitive melodic shape. I think I'm starting to discover my kind of harmony which is great, hope you all enjoy this 🙂

Good evening everyone, I am excited to present a new piece I have been working on: "Sinfonietta No. 2 for Large Orchestra". I have been working on this piece since last December (with a few interruptions due to the pandemic and life in general) and just added the finishing touches this last week. I chose what you might call an "extended" sonata form, with a longer introduction, exposition of two themes, development, recapitulation, and resolution/coda. I am interested in any and all constructive feedback. Since I just completed this piece, I'm very interested and open to ideas on how it could be improved. Like my last work, it is a little long clocking in around 20 minutes, so I broke it up into "chunks" if you want to listen a little bit at a time: (0:00 - 4:12) Introduction (0:00 - 1:33) A piercing opening that leads into a stormy "Infernal" theme (1:33 - 3:48) An ominous theme that leads into a passionate proclamation (3:48 - 4:12) - Brief return of the opening theme (4:12 - 5:48) Exposition of Theme A, a thundering overflow of aggression (5:48 - 6:32) Brief Transition from Theme A to Theme B (6:32 - 8:19) Exposition of Theme B, a wandering chromatic theme underscored by a heavy ostinato (8:19 - 14:03) Development, referencing and expanding the themes above, while deriving a few new ideas from the themes as well (14:03 - 15:35) - Recap of Theme A, transposed (15:35 - 16:00) - Brief Transition form Theme A to Theme B (16:00 - 17:45) - Recap of Theme B, transposed (17:45 - 20:18) - Resolution/Coda, a somewhat impatient, but ultimately triumphant finale As you listen, there are a few things I would like to hear your opinions on: What effect does the music have on you? Does in conjure up an image? Or an emotional feeling? Does it tell you a story? This can be the piece as a whole, or a specific part or parts. What was your favorite part? What was your least favorite part? Do you have any comments or critiques on technique, e.g. harmony, melody writing, counterpoint, orchestration, voice-leading, etc.? How do you feel about the overall form? Is it effective? Do any of the parts seem impractical to you? I tried to challenge myself with this piece and as a result I wonder if I pushed the expectations of some of the instruments too far. For example, I included "optional" Eb and D clarinet parts for some of the higher clarinet parts, but I'm not sure if it was necessary. I'm also not sure if some of the string technique in Theme A and the "Infernal" section is practical or not. Do any clarinet players or string players have any insight? Do you have any comments of the quality of the performance in the audio file? I really want this to be a decent representation of how the piece would sound if it were performed live, since it is unlikely it ever will be. For example "I would have liked xxx instrument to be louder/softer here" or "The xxx instrument technique sounds sloppy here and could use some cleaning up" or "The balance in the xxx section was all out of proportion" I have included a score and welcome any constructive feedback on its presentation. And if you're like me it's a lot more fun to follow along with the score. Do you think "Sinfonietta" is a appropriate designation, or would you call it something else? If you could name this piece, what would you name it? Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy! As always, if you liked something I did and want me to explain how I did it I am happy to do so. Or if you just want to tell me it's awful that's fine too. gmm

SUBMISSION I : Symfonie № 1 In this difficult times we fight hard against the problems of the world. When it appears that we have won, suddenly the mood changes and we are uncertain of the future and the difficulties that will come. I must say that I started this piece before the competition was announced. I was planning to include some ideas of struggles with Corona etc. and this competition even more motivated me to do that.

SUBMISSION H: Tempesta Brevis "This work tries to reflect the abruptness and the impact that the global pandemic has provoked, but as well tries to remind the sadness and solemnity of those we’ve lost."

SUBMISSION F : Bassoon Concerto No. 2 So I wrote a bassoon concerto for this competition, meanly because I myself and my father are bassoonists so i know pretty well how to write for bassoon. I will probably write more movements to it, so see this as a 1st movement :). This piece is a special piece to me, it is a very challenging piece with a lot of long jumps and notes in a short period of time. It is about a lot of deep things that have happened and thoughts that i have had these couple of months. I had my first real depressive episode that lasted 2 months in which it was so difficult to even write a single note (at the end of that episode i did write a bit and it is probably the most "real" music i have ever written in my life). Afterwards I had a real "high" (bipolar?). My mom got diagnosed with cancer 2 months ago and it kills me inside to see her in the state she is in. So that is really the beginning of this piece, the introduction is probably more the sad side of me, but quickly the piece becomes something more than that. It becomes a piece about how i survived what i did, i don't think i really have to explain to much. Go listen to it and please let me know what you thought 🙂

SUBMISSION E : Ennui is defined as a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement. I wrote this song in April and May in response to the corona-virus quarantine. With all my free time I decided to learn to play acoustic guitar and this is the first song I wrote after learning some basic guitar chords. I wrote the first two verses and the chorus/bridge in the middle by myself, and my friend helped me with the 3rd verse. I don't have any professional recording equipment so I just recorded this on my cell phone. Score was made in MuseScore 3. Enjoy!

SUBMISSION D : "We have gone astray, the stripes that heal" If you ignore the vocalist and look at the instrumentalist, they have a part that repeats several times, like how COVID keeps coming back(# of new cases). The vocalist is there to give you a false sense of 'normal'. The religious text for me, mean that I haven't been to church physically for a long time, and haven't be playing hymns.

SUBMISSION B: My piece, Flight of the Fledgling, is about a young bird that must learn to fly on its own for the first time. It is a metaphor about being pushed out of the security of a relatively benign world.

Hello, everyone. I am new to the forum and decided to share my most recent composition for solo piano in three part sonata form. I am looking forward to your reviews. This piece displays the current evolutionary stage of my musical language - where I'm at regarding expressive capabilities, structure, how I handle development and so on and so forth. I hope you enjoy or at least that it triggers an aesthetical response of some sort which in turn would mean that it has inherent artistic value. P.S. I put a bit of effort in producing a visually appealing score video too. It would definitely help my YouTube channel grow if you like, subscribe or leave a comment there. Petar Dimov