Leaderboard

This is not a dance suite, but is made out of old pieces in my dance suite folder that didn't make the cut (back when I was writing into the sequencer). The 1st movement - Serenade - is a fast ternary form in Ab major. Originally it was meant to be a prelude to a dance suite. It is in 4/4. The 2nd movement - Lament - was originally meant to be a Courante, but it doesn't satisfy the requirements of the kind of dance that a Courante is meant to be (and it's in 2/4). This piece is in Ab minor and binary form. The 3rd movement - Intermezzo - was also conceived as a prelude to a dance suite. It is in F# major. It is in 4/4 and binary form. The 4th movement - Postlude - was originally meant to be an Allemande but ended up being too slow to be any kind of dance, even though it has some characteristics of an Allemande. It is in 4/4 and E major. The overall form is fast, slower, slower, and even slower. Let me know what you think! I appreciate any of your constructive comments, suggestions or critiques!

The idea is there, but it's still a work in progress. Now I can finally start focusing on the 4th mvt! I had the idea of making it scherzo-like, but I couldn't get away from the 6/8 feel. Still ABA form like a normal scherzo would be. Oh yea, I know the ending is reminiscent to Pines of Rome. That's why I put ricorda i pini next to the Adagio marking! It means "remember the pines." AUDIO : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v9ARsboO2ZNuaOaPyeXtRcKTFE21G9wf/view?usp=sharing

Sounding good! I would agree that it's a little left-heavy, though. I also thought the dynamics were a bit too much of a roller coaster toward the start of Serenade, but otherwise enjoyed it.

This collection deserves its place. I like it very much. I find a difference in style between the first two (more galant) and the others (more romantic).

Hi Peter, I have to say the Serenade begins like London Bridge is Falling Down! As Quinn said I won't comment on the technique since I have nothing to add! I love the middle section with the harmonic colors! You can probably use D.C al Coda instead of 1st ending I guess. The lament ends surprisingly on Gb major and this make me think of Renaissance modal cadence. Very soothing and fluent exchange of voice here! For the Intermezzo, I freakingly love this! It has some Mahler 10th in it with the contemplative undertone!! The harmonic lanfuage is less dissonant but very similiar!! You should have extend this!! For the postlude, shxt! I cry for its beauty and transcendence. Again I want this to be extended with this utter beauty!!! It's simple but utterly beautiful for its simpliclity. It's like beauty directly in front of you without any artificial decorations, just beauty itself. A simple octave up for the theme transform it from a contemplative and immanent theme to a transcendental one! It's very Brahmsian for me like his E major slow movements in Symphony no.1 and no.4. I utterly love this postlude which ends this Suite perfectly. For me the order is amazing sincw it gets better after one another! I absolutely love this and thanks for sharing Peter!! Henry

Hi Peter, Thanks for listening and your compliment! Haha it takes me months to play like this! Don't know why that freaking young Henry composed this sort of difficult piece! For me the 7ths are not really difficult since I have quite a big hand, able to extend as far as 11 keys. I use 1432 for b.5 R.H. and sometimes 1543 and it's not really hard for me. For me the hardest passages are b.21-24 and 70-73! But I have to admit my hands will get really tired after every playing of this movement! I like that quotation of theme in b.93 as it mixes c minor with Ab major, thus the D flat minor appears as the tonic after dominant Ab major. Umm... Looks like I have to disclose some passages from other movements... First, after you ask me this, I suddenly find that the 2nd movement is subconcious quotation from a secondary theme of the 1st movement during an episode: The theme is used explicitly in mov. 1 and 3 as main theme, mov.5 as quotation and mov.4 subconciously. It begins the 1st movement in a serene manner like this: And it begins the 3rd mov: I hope I can have the recordings asap!! Henry

Very nice work. Classical and succinct. Nothing to comment on the composition or engraving since you're anyway accomplished in harmony, vertical spacing in chords, thematic work and so on, and the rendering was ok although a little more stereo spread wouldn't be amiss. Violins 2 might be given a little more volume in the Postlude when they take over melody from Violins 2, important from bar 7. My only comment is about the arrangement. You give Violins 1 all the work in the intermezzo. There's a case for sharing the melodic part with violins 2 and even repeating (for either of them) the main theme an octave higher in bar 7. (It also might be possible to share the principal melodic work between the two violins elsewhere - but that's just a matter of preference. Oh, and ok, I can't know how you produced the scores but if using notation software, the dynamics could be a little more...dynamic! It's one of those small suites that would make a wonderful live performance. All good then. A pleasant listen, away from the discords and clashes of the musical world I seem to live in. A musical holiday is always nice... blue skies, light and air.... :>D

A wild flurry of notes! I wish I could hear how it connects to the other movements with that theme you bring in at the very end which sounds very dramatic despite (or maybe because of) the sudden tempo change (and also the sudden Db minor chord). I do wonder how you managed to play some of this so smoothly with some of the very wide leaps between figures which are a 7th away from each other like in measure 5. You're a really skilled pianist! Looking forward to hearing the rest of the sonata!

On a more serious note, it was a very pleasant prelude to listen, dreamlike or nocturne-like as Henry said but less catchy than the first one, which isn't necessarily bad at all and in this case it just means that it is —most likely— less motivic-dependant. Only thing I missed: a bit more of dynamics here and there. At least judging by the score I would agree with Peter and state that it indeed seems more difficult. BEWARE, for I began the same way "I want to make them easy" with my nocturnes and it surely didn't last long, lol. I also did plan to do like 10 or something at the beginning, BEWARE of that too. Already looking forward to check the third one!! Kind regards, Daniel–Ømicrón.

Starting to sound like some real music...

Hi @BipolarComposer, I don't think it's very classical period in it but it itself is enjoyable to listen to! I say this because the progression here is not always functional and you use many added chords. The structure itself is not guided by the cadence and I don't find a PAC in it. The ending is not even in the tonic Ab major! The flute melody itself is not quite melodious in the way for a Classical period music is, so it's not quite classical for me! But regardless of the style overall it's very enjoyable with its moving flute melody and the interactions between the instruments are good. I only find the passage of strings in 2:00 is heavy for me, but other than that it's very light overall which fits for a Minuet for me. Thanks for sharing! Henry