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If you have to choose just one movement that is your favorite string quartet movement ever, which would it be? For me it is definitely the pizzicato-laced 2nd movement of Ravels String Quartet in F: Apparently this quartet got a very bad reception the first time it was performed and Faure - who it was dedicated to - hated it. Anyway - what's your favorite of all time?

I have composed a set of 14 pieces for piano which were improvised in the moment. As stated in the description on YouTube, I am open to suggestions about the most ideal ordering of the works. To be honest, all comments are welcome. Below, I have embedded one of the pieces (Currently Occurrence No.7)

I've always had a fairly conservative tonal style and haven't strayed too much from it. My earlier works were more focused on counterpoint (very into Bach in my college years), and while counterpoint remains very important to me, my works have de-emphasized this to a degree and is more harmonically oriented. I've also consolidated more into a late classical/early Romantic idiom which probably isn't surprising since Beethoven is my favorite composer and whose music I study regularly. I've also moved from larger ensembles to now mostly smaller form solo piano music which is a little odd since I do not play piano (I was a string player, violin/viola) though I certainly hope to write more orchestra works. It is just the lack of free time as it is far easier to write for a single instrument than for many at a time.

My music has changed dramatically over the years. I started having an ambition as a composer since little, and I wrote my first composition at the age of nine. My early compositions were influenced by composers from the Classical Era, especially Muzio Clementi. However, they were very amateurish and sometimes I even felt embarrassed to play my piano compositions. Soon, I started listening to pieces by famous composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, and others. I gained very little insight into their compositional styles and started incorporating them in my later compositions. Throughout learning from my music teacher, I learned the harmony fundamentals, such as chord progressions, parallel fifths and octaves, and so on. I became so interested in why these harmony rules existed and conducted research on those topics. From there, I learned what makes a piece of music sound pleasing to the ear. I started applying my knowledge from music theory, especially harmony, into my compositions, and my music had changed tremendously since that day. When I started using MuseScore at the age of fourteen, my music entered a new phase: this was where I began experimenting on different combinations of harmonies and notes and writing all kinds of music genres, such as preludes, waltzes, and nocturnes. However, most of my piano pieces were highly unplayable and still amateurish, and I still lacked confidence in playing my music. I took the next leap when I started spending time listening to and playing Frédéric Chopin's piano pieces. I adored his compositional style and wondered what the composer did to produce such a beautiful tune. After listening to his pieces for years, my music began to be heavily influenced by Chopin. Other than listening to Chopin's works, I also listened to music by other composers, particularly from the Romantic Era, especially Franz Liszt and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. From that time, my music tended towards the Romantic style, and it had never changed since. After years of composing, I became more comfortable with my style of music, and I started gaining confidence in performing my piano pieces.

I have went through several phases as a composer, each one lasting about a year: Phase 1: Ambition This first phase lasted about a year and most of my successful compositions were Piano Solo at the time, but I was trying everything I could think of. Symphonies, Fugues, Sonatas, Quartets, Trios, Canons, everything. My first symphony idea was in Phase 1. My first chamber works were in Phase 1. If I couldn't compose for a certain ensemble, like String Quartet for example(even 4 years later, I still have troubles with the String Quartet ensemble), I could sure arrange for said ensemble. In fact, most of my successes in Phase 1 were arrangements and not compositions. My pieces strongly emulated the greats, first Pachelbel, then Mozart, then Chopin, then Beethoven, then Bach. Beethoven and Mozart were the 2 that I emulated most often and are my 2 strongest influences, the 2 strongest roots of my compositional style, and my first and second favorite composers respectively. Later in this phase, my harmonic vocabulary expanded and it would just continue expanding. Phase 2: Stability This second phase was a point of stability for me, and it also lasted about a year. This is when Chamber Music became my most common ensemble, usually a Duet or Trio, occasionally a Quartet, more often a Quintet or larger than a Quartet(and if a Quartet, usually Woodwind Quartet). It is when I really started experimenting with pairing different instruments together, like Bassoon and Cello for example. It is when I really fell in love with the Suite as a genre, although my first and still incomplete suite has roots in Phase 1. Without knowing it at first, I was destined to become one with the orchestra, to write orchestral works more often. That's right, my first orchestral work ever, Viaggio de Mare originates in Phase 2. It is also when I noticed that Programmatic Music was way easier for me to compose than Absolute Music. Even Sonatas were easier to compose if I had some kind of atmosphere as a reference. I still compose some Absolute Music to this day, but most of mine is Programmatic. The form started to subconsciously unfold itself instead of me forcing it in. It's when I knew that Sonata Form and Rondo Form were to be my 2 most common forms, even outside of Sonatas. But then, suddenly, it was like a spark lit up in me last summer. Phase 3: Confidence When I composed that March of Iwo Jima piece and finished it, I knew, I just knew that the orchestra was finally in my grasp, and I started writing quite a few more orchestral pieces. I was very close to the Symphony and the Concerto being in my grasp, but I wasn't quite that confident yet. The orchestral suite though? No problem. Programmatic pieces for orchestra? No problem. Recomposing an earlier chamber work for orchestra? No problem. So what if it takes me a long time to compose an orchestral piece? It would take me a very similar length of time for a Piano Solo composition as it would for an orchestral composition. The important thing here is that I gained enough confidence to compose for the orchestra without it overwhelming me(which is what it did when I was composing Viaggio de Mare and is why I only have 12 measures of it written down). I of course still compose chamber works and relatively recently there has been a resurgence of Piano Solo with my 25 Preludes, but the orchestra will always be one of my go tos for composing.