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I think this sounds super cool! Love the chaos and tension throughout. Despite my lack of piano skills, from what I know about piano this looks ridiculously hard. For some of those accented chord slams that appear, I know the midi plays it like a sforzando, but you should write it in if you want it played that accented/dynamically different while being performed. Right now, they jump in dynamic and really stand out. Unless you do not like that, writing in a sfz on those notes would help a performer. The canon had one weird spot when the bass takes over after that dissonant slam (sorry for lack of measure numbers I don't want to find it in the score). It sounded cool in the right hand part, but a bar later when the left hand does it in the bass register on the & of the beat it sounded super strange to me. Your ostinato movement in the bass leading into the right hands triplet run into the melody is always super cool and satisfying to hear. An awesome little work! Evan

Sometimes all we need as composers and musicians is to just know our work was heard/enjoyed. I thank you for taking the time to listen, comment, and share some of your thoughts. Yes, melodies are just a way to carry the textures and ideas forward. All of my music, if you can recall, is strung about with the most basic foundation for what a melody can be at certain points. Melody is just another tool to use rather than something I rely on, and I wait to use it for when I think a section needs it. The backgrounds, overall texture, feelings, and rhythms/sonorities are what I am really focusing on as I write. And I think it helps add a unique Evan Erickson flair to my works to focus on this pseudo-minimalism + fun/groovy percussive style. Leitmotif/motif usage in my works is what I really focus on to tie my works together, and I find having shorter melodies and less developed melodies helps me when calling back to it later. Your ear recognizes it easier when it comes back or is altered slightly. I am really happy you hear the music box/toy qualities, too! "Toy Box Suite" was just a name I threw that stuck because the instrumentation and how I wanted to use it really just reminded me of like those toy xylophones you use as a kid. It is meant to be very metallic and robotic, but extremely fun to follow. It means a lot that it did leave this impression on you, and I learned a bit more about Prokofiev from you today. Thank you for always listening to and supporting my music, Peter. Evan

Wow ... you're a clarinetist! And you composed a delightful percussion work. I am impressed. What prompted you to write this piece? Did you have a percussionist review it?

I like how you're experimenting with modes and juxtaposing more distant chords next to each other! I think despite that the chord changes are rarely jarring and you manage to create a lucid emotional listening experience. You start out with an interesting dorian flavor that develops into some interesting chromaticism later on. Once again though, I think you should be consistent between the left and right hand using either sharps or flats but not both at any given time. Like in meas. 24, switching between E major and Gb is okay but the B in the right hand is foreign to the key of Gb major and should instead be notated as Cb to make the step-wise movement of the melody more obvious. That's just one example of what I mean though. The melody is quite interesting and easy to remember. It's really tuneful. Thanks for sharing!

I'm not sure how helpful I can be in this review. I consider a good critique to be one that helps the composer better fulfill their musical goals. Considering that you and I write very different kinds of music my ability to help you fulfill goals that are markedly different from my own is limited. Having said that, something I notice immediately is that this music treats melody as a kind of almost unnecessary embellishment. Much like where Prokofiev I think would sometimes write melodies solely for the sake of virtuosic pianistic displays of technical prowess. I think your music focuses on creating interesting and evocative rhythmic patterns and your melodies are just there to have something to play above those patterns. However, to me they do in fact evoke toys, or some kind of music box. I imagine a nutcracker marching or some kind of remote controlled robot with cogs and gears inside of it, turning. Of course this also can bring to mind clocks. I like how different you manage to make each of the movements. The metric and tempo changes bring much contrast and excitement to the piece. I think my favorite movement is 3. Sullivan's Fantasy for sheer ebullient listening pleasure. Thanks for sharing!

I like the ending, I thought the unexpected non-tonic final chord was a perfect way to close the piece, and it fit the piece very well emotionally speaking.