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Hi everyone! I have previously posted the second movement of my second Piano Sonata here: Now I am posting the first movement of the work! Here are the pdf and the mp3: Piano Sonata no.2 in A-flat Major First Movement.pdf Piano Sonata no.2 First Movement.mp3 I've also included the YT video here: I didn't introduce the inspiration of this sonata in my post in the second movement to have it here. Piano Sonata no.2 in A-flat major (2015) is composed right after the completion of the first Piano Sonata. It's the quickest composition at all since I had only used 3 weeks to finish the first draft of it.(It's very quick in my standard since well, I can use 6 years to compose my clarinet quintet...) I adopt a freer approach here to contrast with the first Piano Sonata which is very cohesive. Here I really just write what I want and this may result in less tight structure of the overall work. But it's definitely more akin to my emotion and feeling here! I only use 2 days to finish the first draft of this movement in 6-7 May 2015. It begins in a Schubertian manner and several episodes in it, stimulating the later movements and transformed into a Beethovanian one, akin to his op.110 in the same key. I really love how serene this movement begins and motivational at the end! The overall form of the piece can be considered as follow: B.1-32 (00:00-01:18): Main theme, serene and Schubertian in A flat major. Backbone of the piece B.33-81 (01:19-03:16): Secondary theme begins in f minor but confirms the A flat major. Inspire 2nd movement. B.82-98 (03:17-04:00): Doloroso in C sharp minor my favourite key! End of the first part. Inspire 4th movement. B.99-135 (04:01-05:00): Struggling to create power in a Beethovanian manner. B.136-159 (05:01-05:42) Reprise of the opening theme but in Beethovaian manner especially with influence of his op.110 in the same key!!(My favourite Beethovan Sonata too!) B.160-183 (05:43-06:25): Crystallization of the opening theme? Inspire fifth movement esp. its coda. B.184-194 (06:26-06:57): Affirmation of the opening theme though weakened at the end to pave the way to the denial in the second movement. I am very happy to have composed this sonata as I feel like I am free flowing during the process. I also love how the emotions flow within it whether it's serene, hopeful, tragic, agitated or transfigured. I just ignore all those parallel 5ths and 8ves since the sound is great. It may suffer from the lack of coherence though especially in the first movement, but it helps inspire the later movements with the episodes so I am very grateful I make this! The recoding is made in 18/03/2023. There are two obvious slips in 04:06 and 04:12. But the rest of the recording is quite beautiful and faithful to the music so I retain it. Hope you enjoy this as well and thanks for listening!!! P.S The post for the third movement is attached here: The post for the fourth movement is attached here: Henry

Your beginning jubilant and joyous piano chorale is quite impressive! I like it a lot and all the harmonic changes are quite lucid and bring a great mood to the music! I especially love the harmonic change from E major to Ab major 6/4 in bars 48-49. As a performance note - I feel like the 16th notes in this section whenever they follow a dotted 8th note aren't short and rapid enough. I would have performed them more in a way akin to martial music, but that just might be my own personal taste. When the rapid arpeggiations come in, in bar 99, I feel like they are too fast for the tempo (at least eventually they seem too fast and make the piece feel unnecessarily rushed when they become 32nd notes). I think you could have stuck with 16th notes at most and the piece would not only be easier to play, but would also sound not as hectic and break-neck. It is a great idea to have the same harmonic and melodic material reprised in this way with a more elaborate accompaniment, but I think it was just too fast in this rendition. Then again, if you slowed the whole piece down, then the beginning piano chorale might sound too slow and boring. But I do feel like you added those really fast notes into the piece purely as an exhibition of virtuosity rather than for a musically cogent reason. But overall I enjoyed this sonata movement! Great job and thanks for sharing!

This is a little minuet I wrote a few years ago. I was going for a very Classical period feel with it. Update: changed the heavy part in the middle section and rebalanced the instruments .

Hi @Nazariy, That's a nice romantic character piece in rondo form for me. I find the A part quite Brahmsian with those 2 against 3 notes and thicker chords. I like how you modify the length of the A section too instead of having it appear all the time in its entirety. I especially like the coda with those thicker chords and rit. Section B provides contrast with the A major and duplet rhythm, while Section C with tonic major, piu mosso and dance character. That's for sure an enjoyable piece and thanks for sharing! Henry

H I'd like to stand up for your choice of 4 trumpets. There's no doubt it would sound quite different with a brass quartet or something like that. But the 4 trumpets make it sound "ancient" and with an organ texture, which I like. Also, it helps the fact that rhythmic figures are not complicated and that at some points, some voices run in parallel motion. The subject is jumpy and it took my attention.

HI, I would locate this music in a middle romantic field. It's not important. Good music and a proper orchestration for the style.

I must agree with everything Henry said here. While some passages are alright, some others are too "messed up" due to the little distance between voices we have here and the equality on timbre. Henry's suggestion and/or adding different mute indications for each voice. As a suggestion outside of the musical aspect, I would paste the Youtube link directly here instead of what you did so users can directly listen to your piece without opening another tab. Welcome to the forum BTW! Kind regards, Daniel–Ømicrón.

Hi @Nazariy, I love how you use the head and tail of the subject for the episodes and fill ups which is great craft! I love how you use countersubjects here since I always find it easier to write with countersubjects anyways as I can just copy and paste if there aren't the errors by invertible counterpoints haha! B.15 beat 3 to 4 btw Tpt.1 & 3 and b.17 btw. tpt. 2 and 4 beat 3 to 4 is very close to a parallel octave. Nice stretto in b. 34. The stretto in b.49 doesn't seem very satisfying for me as there is a parallel fourth there in b.50. I hope in the episodes there are more different patterns. In many passages you have two voices double each other in thirds or sixths as it is in the tail of subject and countersubject but I think you can add more variety to that! In b.46 the faxbourdon is a bit strange with A natural in tpt.2 right after the establishment of C minor with an Ab and I think you can add more passages for the modulation instead of having the A natural comes back in a rush. However I do like the ending! I think one of the shortcoming of the piece is the choice of using the 4 trumpets. The difference of the register between the instruments is not apparent and you use dynamics to signify the entrance of the subject which is good, but sometimes the counterpoint mix up due to their close range and same timbre. The parts keep crossing each other especially that of the tail of the subject and countersubject which may sometimes cause confusion for the independence of voices. Maybe having a brass quartet will be better for the variety of timbre and independence of voice? Though some of them are not necessarily able to play the quick tempo and the timbre needed. Thanks for sharing! Henry