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Well - if it were my piece I would stagger the accompanimental pizzicati so that they sometimes land only on the offbeat while sometimes on the downbeat. I guess it's just a matter of coming up with an interesting rhythm for those pizzicati that works well with the melody. Anyway - that's my suggestion. You're welcome! It was enjoyable to hear your music!

I think all the parts work really well together! I really like how you harmonized the main theme in the beginning by starting on the subdominant (or is it a supertonic in 1st inversion?). Just by looking at the theme by itself that kind of approach is unexpected and it really gives your main theme harmonic freshness. The part that I would modify if this were my composition is the part where the viola melody is accompanied by the rest of the ensemble pizzicato. it seems like just straight quarter notes makes it sound too march-like for me. Really quite an enjoyable and quaint little theme you've written! Thanks for sharing.

This is great! It proceeds very logically from the initial material and slowly makes it's way from the high to the low register. Seems like this kind of piano work might be suitable for orchestration. I'm also hoping for more miniatures like this. Great job and thanks for sharing!

Beautiful piece. I like how that kind of ostinato is transformed into something different.

Thank you for your feedback! That's a tough question. I guess I did it for three reasons: I thought it would be fun. I thought I'd learn something from the experience. I hoped the end result would be art. So if I only accomplished 2 out of 3, that's still something I suppose. I love Bach, and this work is my personal homage to his genius, and my quest to crack his secrets. I learned so much about composition from this project. Stepping into his shoes for a bit, playing with his materials, allowed me to see how he solved certain compositional puzzles (such as how to express so much feeling with a single line of music, a single violin voice). While working on this music (and the two other partitas that are still in the works), I learned more about myself as an artist than I expected to. I know the work isn't perfect, but I really appreciate what it taught me. Speaking of teaching, the name of this partita is called "Teaching" because I wrote most of this music back when I was an economics teacher, while at the same time feeling like such a student in the realm of composition. I was teaching all day for a job, then coming home to my musical hobby where I tried to absorb whatever lessons I could from master teachers like J.S. Bach. My whole life revolved around the act of teaching, whether I was doing the teaching or receiving the lesson. So that's what this music means to me: the challenges of teaching and learning, and what can be gained from actively engaging in both. I still have much to learn. Yes neobaroque for sure. I appreciate your take, because I do not feel that the entire partita slavishly imitates Bach. Though I quote Bach, I am trying to transform his ideas into something original as the partita progresses. The Allemande is the most plagiaristic, so we start the partita firmly rooted in Bach. But by the time the Gigue and Sarabande roll around, the themes are all original. Thanks for listening and commenting!

Thank you very much! I definitely am very much influenced by Mozart's Requiem when I was working on it. I do think this is one of the better movements in terms of having the music reflect the text. Thanks for the kind words! The vocals are from Symphonic Choirs by East West which has a word builder that allows articulation of words which sounds really great but very tricky to implement properly. A very kind member here (who unfortunately isn't really active here much any more) who was more experienced with it generously helped me with it for this and the other completed movements.

This piece is my first multi-movement composition, and was written in 2016-2017. It was, at the time, my largest completed completed composition, with a full performance lasting about 25 minutes. The piece was originally conceived as a piano concerto, and the now-first movement was initially going to be the slow movement, in a similar manner to the third movement of Brahms' Piano Concerto no. 2. However, I came across a composition competition called the Young Composers Challenge, or The Composium, and decided to turn it into a shorter chamber piece. The original concerto-version lasted over 15 minutes, and the maximum timing was 5 minutes. So, a lot was cut from the original concerto-version (which, I should mention, was not orchestrated or completed), but the results were just as satisfying, though the cropping of it was rather painful. The piece was first performed at a small chamber music festival for students, with myself at the piano, in 2016. I ended up actually winning a place in competition, and it was performed, again, with myself at the piano that same year. By that time, however, I was making more movements for the piece, and finally, the completed version was performed in Moscow, for the concert for the 2017 International Summer School of the Moscow Conservatory. So, that is the story of my Piano Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 3. The quartet is in 4 movements: Movement 1. - Moderato, quasi andante (B-flat major) Movement 2. - Intermezzo: Allegretto moderato (F major) Movement 3. - Moderato (B-flat major) Movement 4. - Finale: Furioso (B-flat minor-major) The musicians in the Moscow performance are: Mikhail Akinfin - violin, Alexandra Zhelvakova - viola, Alexandra Parfeneva - Violoncello, and me as the pianist. I unfortunately do not know who the other performers in the Composium concert were. Here are the performances: I hope you all enjoy. 🙂 Theo