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Hello everyone! This is a Sarabande in C major for solo cello. it is supposed to go together with the allemande and Courante I composed before. It is in [:A:][:B:] binary form and slow 3/4 time. Also, an occasional (or sometimes constant) stress of the second beat is considered to be a "common" feature of the Sarabande style so I tried to apply it in certain points. The first part is 8 measures long and modulates from the tonic, Cmaj, to the dominant Gmaj. Part B is 15 measures long and stays mostly in the relative minor (Am) but ending in Cmaj. I intended the first part to work as a kind of contrapunctal introduction to the second part. I had quite some troubles composing this due to the slow tempo so I don't think I am so satisfied with the result. Also, the slow tempo really calls for a less mechanical and more realistic cello sound so I am sorry about the boring midi output. Any feedback, suggestion or comment is appreciated! Hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening!

Tried my best! Thanks for the feedback! It's a bit more "inspired by" than "for literal use" 🙃

Really fun piece! I think you did a pretty effective job of showing the staccato/legato contrast. I like this kind of simple, whimsical major two-part harmony – it reminds me a lot of Petzold's Prelude in G Major. I also think the flute and cello sound really great together. Good call on the transposition, it does make the flute sound brighter. If you were looking to improve the piece further, I'd suggest a little modulation might be a good way to do it. In the Petzold piece, he modulates to the dominant in the first half of the second section before going back to the tonic. You've kind of done something similar in bars 15-16 with that B natural, but it doesn't really seem like a modulation, it feels more like just an accidental. That's just a thought, though – it's a very nice piece as is!

I was planning to make it dark at least, but diverged a bit (maybe more than a bit) Yeah, weird chords like that sound catchy to me for some reason. 🙂 I tried to make it into a score, but it's barely readable (I also had to change arpeggios into block chords). There's too much editing 😑 And thank you for taking time to actually write all these reviews. Much, much appreciated! 😄

No I'm sorry, instead. But this is as if told you Haydn didn't thought about the Sonata Form and went to it by chance.... Debussy also used the golden ratio Other: In 1907, Kodály writes Méditation sur un motif de Claude Debussy. Just as with the fugue from Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, the piece opens pp and ends ppp, with a central climax marked fff. If one counts quarter notes rather than measures, there are 508 beats. The golden ratio of 508 is 314 (to the nearest integer) and this just happens to be smack in the middle of the two climatic bars at fff. Third mov of Music for strings, percussion, and celesta Other works by Bartók where the golden ratio can be detected are Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Miraculous Mandarin, and Divertimento. Bartók was highly secretive about his works. Surviving manuscripts of many of the pieces where the golden ratio appears to have been used contain no mention of it. Bartók was already being criticized for being too “cerebral” in his music. Identifying the mathematical patterns in structure and tonality (even to his students!) would have only added fuel to the fire. G. Roberts (Holy Cross)

I don't think this piece is that dark! I love the bittersweet atmosphere you create here. I wish I had a score to better understand the key changes. I like how you end on the IV. I am recognizing your particular harmonic style now. You use many of the same harmonic formulas such as using a natural 6 in the bass in a minor key under the minor tonic chord (thus creating a half-diminished chord). Nice job!

I wonder why you repeat so much in measure 38 to the andante. I get that you're trying to transition, but just repeating the same thing over and over, even if you change the tempo, it's as if you didn't know what to do to change into the next bit. But in general I think some of the transitions are a little underdeveloped. This is first evident in the transition to that segment (Moderato measure 31 onwards.) Which out of nowhere gets a really thin texture, as if you make a kind of general pause but not quite. Let's take your inspiration, the Rachmaninov piece, as an example. When he transitions into the Meno Mosso pianissimo bit with the arpeggios, he had already fully completed the initial idea. This is the reason he can allow himself to just go into something totally different. You have to remember that Rachmaninov was operating under a very romantic framework of form. That is to say, he started the prelude out as if it was the exposition of a Sonata, so when the second part comes, you could easily see the connection to it being the second theme of the exposition in a sonata form. Don't be fooled by the name of a piece, as the majority of the concepts of form from that period (and specially composers that adhere to the late classical-romantic structures) all work in a similar fashion. Likewise, that second theme is also fully developed before he does anything else. When the accelerando comes, is where you would expect the development section of the sonata form to begin, now that both themes have been exposed long enough to be "locked in memory." However, since this is a rather short prelude, he doesn't do AS much of it, but he does still do development, if only mixed in with the actual reprise and end cadence. It's obvious that if this were an actual sonata movement he would have taken much more time to elaborate on that, but instead he kept it relatively short. But the main thing to take from all this is that the prelude is very simple in terms of structure and it doesn't have a lot of musical material. Indeed, you can roughly label it as A B A, though I'm not a fan of lettering it like that since that last A isn't really A, but more like a pseudo-developmental reprise and end cadence that somewhat resembles A. It's also important to recognize that transitions vary greatly depending on what's being transitioned. This is the same difference between a modulation inside a piece and a transition between two different movements of a bigger work. Think about how those things operate and why. Now going back to your piece, you go through a bunch of changes and a lot of different material but you don't stick around long enough for it to make any difference. I'm not saying you should outright copy Rachmaninov, but think about why people structured their music that way and specially think about how long things are in those pieces. How much of it is actually lingering on a single concept before moving on. I think that'll help you strengthen your musical ideas in the future.

Lovely bossa nova feel to this, and what fun to play on the piano! The chords are so rich and creamy one could spread them out on a bagel. I particularly liked the downward chromaticism at m. 14. Nicely done! Welcome to the forum! I look forward to hearing more of your stuff!

Same. That aside, great work here. As much as I liked the fresh harmony and catchy melodies, I really enjoyed the numerous jaunty rhythms you used. There's something about a 3+3+2 rhythm that feels very driving to me, and the modulations were enticing. I love the juicy 11th chord to end it, well done! You seem to be a man of talents, and we could use your critiques around here. I'm sure you have lots to offer, and sharing some advice for others is a sure way to receive the most feedback. Welcome!