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Hi everyone, For those who don't know me my name is Camille, I'm French and I'm 17 years old. I'm familiar with classical music and orchestral litterature and I often compose for piano and orchestra. These last 3 months I composed a piano concerto in C minor. This is my big project of the moment and also the one that took me most time to compose. I create this topic to share the first movement of this piano concerto. It lasts about 17 minutes and follow a strict sonata form. I took the habit to compose a piano concerto per year and this is what I consider my most accomplished piece so far. Here is below the score and the audio. Enjoy the music, and, please, tell me your opinion about this composition. STRUCTURE OF THE MOVEMENT : INTRODUCTION : M. 1-31 (Moderato, TEMPO I) : Orchestral introduction, statement of the first “theme” on cellos and violas. Dramatic crescendo until the piano entrance M 31-39 : brief piano cadenza allowing the listener to be more familiar with the main theme/material of the piece. Little arpeggios … EXPOSITION: M. 40 – 76 (Allegro) : This is the one ! After a short motif used later in the concerto (in the cello/bass part) statement of the THEME 1 A (violins parts) that as been stated in the introduction. Repeated in piano part m.57. The reappearance of theme 1A leads to a dramatic climax m.70 (being the continuity of 1A). M. 77 – 120 (Vivace) : THEME 1 B. Much faster, this theme consists of a repeated eight-notes pattern in the woods. The piano responds with an avalanche of sixteenth notes. Until m.120, strings are an accompaniment. Main motives are stated in the woods (such as the motif m99, flutes and oboes, it will appear later in the development). The pianist is showing is virtuosity in his modulating part and is assisting the orchestra. M17-20 : end the of first theme with a frenetic climb. M 120-127 : Transition to THEME 2. The piano part is quoting 1A and the clarinets are stating a thematic material of transition later used in the development. The rhythm seems to slow down allowing a quasi-cadenza in piano part (m127) leading to… M 128-150 (Andante) : THEME 2A. Lyrical theme (piano part) that appears 3 times, each one being richer in accompaniment and chord. The 3rd one is introduced by the clarinet material OF m120-127. M 150-169 : THEME 2B : consisting (mainly) of one quarter note and six descending quavers. Again, a virtuosic piano and a support orchestra merges and form a whole for this 2B. M 170-184 : Return of THEME 2A but in a heroic climax where the piano supports the orchestra with arpeggiated chords. Transition with big orchestra chord until… M. 185-194 : ENDING OF EXPOSITION : Theme 2A and 2B are combined but in a the minor key of C to allow the arrival of … DEVELOPMENT: M. 195 – 215 : A repetition of the orchestral introduction with a few small things arranged to lead to the development M. 215 – 250 : Basically THEME 1A is all over the place, dissected, disguised, modulated. Have fun trying to count how many times it appears, you will be wide of the mark lol (You’ll notice, by the way, the transition theme M247, clarinets). M. 251 : 266 : Same thing as m215-250 but with THEME 1 B. M. 267-280 : mish-mash of T1A and T1B leading to CADENZA: M 280-323 : The cadenza is divided in two parts each one being a recapture of T1A. One is aggressive and fast while the other must be played maestoso. M 323-337 (En ralentissant tempo T2) : THEME 2 A being stated in the form of a bucolic love letter leading to M. 339 – 350 (Tempo I) : orchestral introduction allows the arrival of : RECAPITULATION: M. 350 – 383 : THEME 1A is repeated with a long piano speech of with what I called earlier the “continuity of” 1A. M.384 – 404 : THEME 1B (modulations, few changes + new clarinet melody) + transition theme leading to M 405 – 417 : Small piano cadenza, this one could be improvised by the pianist ! Statement of THEME 2 A with big and dramatic piano chords helping the orchestra to achieve the tragic of the moment. M 418 – 421 : THEME 2 B faster and faster. CODA : M. 422 - END (Vivace) : Using of T1A with virtuosic piano passages and symbiosis between soloist and orchestra until the end.

Hello all! I have finally emerged from my 2 month hiatus and composed what has been a very hyped-up collaboration in my head for a long time. My amazing friend asked me to write something for her senior recital and I knew I wanted it to be both my best work and I could make it as hard as I wanted. Maybe it is a bit too hard, but I think a lot of things have been revised since I was getting raised eyebrows regarding playability. Regardless, this has been the fruit of about 2 weeks of labor. Maybe 30-40 hours of writing. The name comes from the difficult mental journey I am beginning to go through as I fall more into being a full time musician, unsure of how I will "make it" in the music world. My style, while unique to me, is something my teacher says needs to be more unique still. I need to have the product before my music can get me recognized and into the business. So, when I bring everything I have been busting my donkey over trying to push every boundary in my writing possible, he always says the same thing. "What do I do??????" How do I make myself unique? How do I break my style down more than I already have while still being able to write music I enjoy? How do I know I am not falling into an extremely stupid hole of pursuing music and wasting all my time I could be using to learn skills to make sure I have food/a house in the future? What do I do??? I hope this work is cool and enjoyable. I worked hard on it. I always strive for every piece I write to be better than the last. This is getting more difficult, but I always want to innovate. I have never made something as harmonically dense as this. Please help me with enharmonic spellings if you see any errors. The sax chords are multiphonics (I have fingerings I will be adding when I do the engraving tomorrow). It is definitely hard. Hopefully it can still get its premiere in mid-April like has been planned. Thank you, Evan Erickson

I hope that if you continue down this path that you don't eventually "burn out"! I think it's also important to ask - how is your music getting "better"? Who is it getting "better" for? Innovation I think is a more achievable goal. You can innovate by giving each piece you write new and unique features not found in the others. You can explore new techniques and approaches to the different elements of your music. If you ever need specific ideas DM me! I would be happy to brainstorm ideas with you about how you can innovate future pieces! But this concept of getting "better" with every piece you write can only lead to exhaustion imo. I see you're experimenting with different types of naming conventions for your pieces - this time trying out an autobiographical approach. I think uniqueness is something that each of us possesses already from the beginning, but it is also something that is an emergent property of our music as we mature. It can't be forced imo, and if you try too hard you're apt to just get frustrated with the effort. Also, in hindsight, you might find that your most unique pieces were not the ones where you deliberately tried to be unique. Just wanted to comment on these things you mentioned in your post. About your music - I think it is getting more mature! And your ending is more convincing! I hope all those multiphonics gets performed well at the premiere! Thanks for sharing.

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, Thank you so much for taking the time to review this. I will do my best to answer what you brought up. I listened to this first movement again before reading your message, and I agree with you in the idea that the themes are presented "straightforward". Maybe today, I'd add complexity but 2 years ago, this was really the first time I composed a "serious" piano concerto. It seems this was quite coarse and indelicate. Indeed, I wanted to use the C major key for the 2nd theme as I also wanted to use Eb major for the recapitulation. When it comes to the lack of tonal diversity in the development, I understand your feeling, it. However, there is a part in E minor (with the triplets, before the Cadenza), and a section in Eb major (statement of the 2nd subject just before the recapitulation). I also try to always include harmonic diversity without necessarily changing of key, because if so, I would feel the necessity to develop it more than for a few bars or short episodes. About this subject, I must say that it was completely deliberate. I did not want the recapitulation to last for too long as the real Climax was, for me, reached within the Cadenza section. I also did not want to tire the listener with the restatement of themes that had been heard so many times in the Exposition/development (even tho all of them are present in the recapitulation). To be completely honnest, I took inspiration from Rach 2, where the recapitulation is also a bit rushed. In any case, thanks for commenting on that post. Your message are always welcomed as they really push me into trying to improve my music. The 2nd movement of this concerto is already finished, and I posted it on this forum. If you have time and envy, would you consider giving your opinion about it? I composed it this summer and consider it far more mature than this movement and it is, for now, my favorite.

You can count me in!

Hi @Camfrtt, I must first say, you are very talented to have written this at the age of 17! 17 minutes really do not seem long for me! I also like and wrote long pieces as well! The piano part is so captivating and the orchestration is very good! I absolutely enjoy this, there's no doubt about it. I can hear the youthful spirit in your themes and your treatment of them, quite Mendelssohn like I will say. Their presentation is quite straightforward and sometimes the transition between the themes gives me the same feeling. The reappearence of the themes are sometimes only the repetition of them but I don't mind it as a concerto, since for me concerto is sometimes an "easier" genre for me. I love how direct you are and the power in it! I want to say about the structure of this movement. For me it's the main shortcoming. First is about the tonal plan. I see you use the tonal scheme of Chopin Concerto no.1 with the second subject modulates to the tonic major, which is fine for me. But when reaching the development I still feel like most of the sections are still under the spell of C minor and the tonality doesn't give me contrast. I have to wait until the second subject of the recapitulation which is E flat major to find some contrast of tonality, but the section is brief. This makes the tragic effect minimized with the all-C minor mood here. Another thing is the balance of structure. The recapitulation is only under 100 bars with the second subject under 40 bars, comparing to exposition's over 150 bars and 2nd subject over 70 bars and development over 150 bars. It does give me the feeling of rushing till the end and lessen the dramatic effect. This is what I feel sad about since you build up so well in the expo and dev! I also find the return of C minor in b.185 not quite good since it weakens the drama of pretaining the use of C minor in the development, and the build up to it not quite satisfactory without suitable preparation. But despite saying all these, I really admire your talent. Just 17 yo then and write this!! So talented and a marvellous job. You will definitely write even better music in the future!! Thank you so much for sharing! Henry

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, first of all, thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts. Ah, you're right about that. The whole score is a complete mess right now. I will definitely clean it once the composition process will be over. Same applies for the accent. I was thinking about it when writing the development (i'm in the middle of it right now). I think it would be difficult as it is 1. an adagio which could break the dynamic of the development that I already composed so for (this kind of slow section should be prepared in my opinion, just like a cadenza in a concerto). 2: it is in 4/4, which is also quite abrupt, and I dont think the melody is easily transposable in 6/8 I will definitely post the first movement complete once it will be done! 🙂 Hi @PeterthePapercomPoser🙂 At the point where I am in the developement, I composed a little codetta and a bridge section to go back to bar 22. For the introductory material, I will use it, for sure, as the coda of this first movement, but not necessarily in the development section. Thanks a lot! My worst nightmare when I was a beginner composer was to lack harmonic diversity, your commentary is thus very encouraging.

Hi @PeterthePapercomPoserthanks for taking the time to review my work ! You are completely right. I usually take the time to modify these kind of settings before uploading a playback, but as Musescore 4 is pretty new to me I still have not figured out how to do it! I'm glad you liked this passage. Just to set the context, I composed these 2 little duos for my uncle who his a clarinet teacher and who wanted me to write something that some students who learn clarinet for 4/5 years could learn not too with too much difficulty. That is why, in these duos, the clarinet is not really showy and extravagant (but trust me, I wanted it to be more of that!). That is very relevant and I think I will change the notation for what you pointed out.