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This is a style I haven't tried much What do people think?

A little slightly more contemporary piece for solo flute that I have been working on for a while. In the first movement, I make use of a ‘filtering’ technique to develop the material; I began the piece by writing out a progression of modes, a few notes altered by a few semitones each time, which I work through to gradually modulate (with some exceptions!). I went for senza misura for this movement as I was looking for a more contemplative and tranquil tone, hence the title 'Penseroso', and to give performers as much space and creative opportunity as possible, which I something I always strive for. I contrast this with the virtuosic and frantic nature of the second movement ‘Scherzando’. I began by planning a sequence time signatures to be repeated, in such a pattern that an audience would be oblivious, to convey this freneticism. I develop this sequence; I designed an exchange in length within the piece of the high, loud, staccato sections and low, softer legato sections, in which the staccato sections gradually grow shorter as the legato sections grow longer, until roughly halfway, when the staccato sections lengthen again, and the legato sections shorten (I hope I worded that clearly enough!). I am particularly pleased with the sudden shock ending of this movement, designed in contrast to the soft a niente’ of the first movement. I managed to persuade a flautist friend to record this for me, and they have done an excellent job. I hope you enjoy the sounds of a real instrument, unlike last time! Any feedback and suggestions much appreciated.

Wow! These are such nice comments, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu. Thank you SO much for taking the time to listen. I've listened to parts of your work posted here - the quintett is amazing, the parentheses is also so so good, as is the pastorale. You have such great command of harmony, form and the way you intertwine ideas and melodies (esp in the quintett) is quite beautiful. I like that there is a rather constant sense of longing and melancholy in the music, and the times when this is lifted shine of a very intense light. I'll try and listen more and more carefully and offer more detailed comments on your posts. Thanks again for listening and for your kind words (btw I agree on the imbalance in the 3rd mov of the sonata, it didn't occur to me before: it does need a longer coda).

I've just listened to the second movement. I enjoy the programmatic elements in it as the passages are contrasted with interesting passages. I love the yearning in Egyptian style in b.42-53 and b.198-206. I sometimes lose my way in the galloping sections. With the programmatic elements I don't find it a drawback at all, but rather think it greatly depicts the scene! I feel like the materials themselves are interesting, but somewhat repetitive. However I don't really know about the story deeply so I won't say it's a bad thing to have the repititions! B.147-153 seems too short for me. I may develop it a bit longer since it's different from the previous sections with its contrapuntal nature, and it will add a great contrast to the movement! Does the A mode implies the Angel?😆 The ending B major chroale is gorgeous. After the relentless galloping, yearning and moaning, it appears so magnificent here. Really nice contrast. I see in Vince's comment that it will recur in mov. 7 and I hope I will remember this detail! Thanks for sharing! Henry

Oh I click into the link and cannot find the link! In brief, a sonata form is a ternary structure in double rotations. There are three main bodies of it: Exposition, Development and Recapitulation. In the exposition, there are two major areas: First subject and second subject. In the first subject you present a theme or series of theme in tonic major/minor. After this there may be a transition/bridge to the second subject. In the second subject there's also theme(s), usually in dominant major (for major key work) or relative major (for minor key work) for a classical style sonata movement. After the cadence in the 2nd subject, the exposition ends and we get into the development. In the development you can undergo different treatments of the themes you presented in the exposition, or introduce new themes to create drama and climax, After this we go to the recapitulation, where usually we present the same themes in the exposition. The first subject remains the same, while the themes in the second subject will be presented in the tonic key. After this you may add a coda or just end it. I find this graph quite concise in describing the basic sonata form: Sonata form is basically a form of drama like the traditional three part one: Presentation, conflict and resolution. Any book concerning musical forms and structures will cover a lot on it since it's one of the most important form in the common practice period. For music you can start with Haydn, Mozart or early Beethoven's piano sonatas first to get used to the form. For a detailed analysis of the form, I find the book by Hepokoski and Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory really helpful, though I suggest to read later after having a basic understanding of the form: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FElements-Sonata-Theory-Deformations-Late-Eighteenth-Century%2Fdp%2F0199773912&psig=AOvVaw15JNOiwzJPydWQ_xtsQ-Md&ust=1673936248616000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBEQjhxqFwoTCOi0xs24y_wCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE Hope this can help! Henry

You know I always don't like my old works, at least unappreciative to them. I always find in them things bad and so many aspects to improve. It's not that I love my current work more but at least I am more confident in them. But those are really necessary evils. Knowing that our works have rooms to improve is already an improvement of judgement and taste. And I haven't listened to that yet! You won't be sure whether I love it or not! I am usually appreciative to people's works except mine. If that seems really bad I can at least have something constructive to say! One way to improve is to listen to other composers' works here. You will find different approaches and styles, even though they may be utterly different from yours. You may give suggestions to others and receive feedback from others. This kind of mutual review and encouragement will definitely help you grow as a composer! Henry

I quite enjoyed the Scherzo better than the first. The low range parts were exceptional and a nice touch. I love your musical language here. Nice works!

I don't ever really have "writer's block' as such anymore, if anything I kind of have the opposite problem: Too many ideas at once. My personal struggle is fighting with the uninspiring technology used to make a decent-sounding mockup, and I can't afford to hire live players all time. It's why I don't do a lot of orchestral music these days; having to perform and program absolutely every line, do multiple passes tweaking MIDI CCs with faders in realtime, keyswitches, layering articulations etc. is all very soul-destroying and time-consuming. So for me, it's largely that I find myself just wanting to do anything else. A teacher I had in digital audio somewhere around 10 years ago said something that has stuck with me: "Every minute that you're fighting learning curves, fiddling with knobs and faders; you're not making music". I really need to get on finishing my new Windows 11 PC, because then I can run Musescore 4, which I'd combined with live musicians and samples. I really support these things like Staffpad, Musesounds, and the coming AI instruments because they take so much workload off the composer to get a good synthesized recording. Anyway, tips that helped me: • Always have a theme for the piece in mind. A setting; a place, person or story that the music is supposed to represent. Always have a "muse". • Star with the simplest aspects of music first if you're stuck. I used to be a big "Melody-first" evangelist, but honestly: Starting with an accompaniment idea that sets the tone of the piece can make it a lot easier to come up with a melody. • Start with the rhythm of the melody before the pitches if you're stuck. Every great melody has a strong rhythmic pattern/foundation. If you just come up with a good rhythm on say, the root note of your key, then you can play around with the pitch afterward. • Learn about melodic structures like the sentence and period form, and try to keep within the usual 8, 12 or 16-bar phrase length. Lastly: Not every piece can or needs to be a masterpiece.

Musescore can be glitchy with transposing instruments. In the Ab major section of your score the Bb Clarinets' key signature should be Bb major. Try messing around with it to see if you can get it to display right. I know that in Musescore 3 there was a bug when switching to Clarinet in A where the key signature didn't want to change along with the instrument change and I had to play around with it for it to display properly. I don't remember what I did though.