Well, I thought posting my demo for the PQ Andante was helpful, and \i am superstitious regarding composition so...
Here it is.
As with all things chamber music, it didn't come easy. At first I wanted C Major, but my mind was insisting on minor, which will work fine with a C minor, \G major \ C minor key plan.
The music:
First off, this is a demo of the themes, not a piano piece. I do believe this is only playable in parts by the 6-fingered man! The first theme is the "HEROIC" mode A theme, which I rather like, though I recognize it's a bit prosaic. When I set it to the accompaniments, it worked well. The "soft" B theme is a rather tranquil romance/nocturne type. I was very focused on breaking the rhythmic pattern of the A theme here. It should sound quite nice with long value notes from the strings--the arpeggiations are a stand in. The repeat of the b theme begs for some elaboration, but I can do that in the actual composition phase.
The modulation back from F to C minor drove me nuts for whatever reason, but it is pretty close to good now. I figure I have about 4-to 4.30 min for the exposition, so I will have to be very strict with the material--I would like a few motivic digressions along with the standard passing of the melodic material around....
This movement will be a modified sonata form. Once the exposition is done, I will work on the development. Likely a third theme will be involved either here or in an extended coda...
The accompaniment figures are trials only. I know there will be HUNDREDS of alteration, deletions, changes in the next 2 months or so. But generally, the idea is to increase the tension/intensification as the movement goes on. The allegro will be through-composed--NO repeats I want the audience to be a bit winded at the end, and the chorale-like andante seems like a welcomed relief, not a bore.
This will be the first piece composed with the Vienna symphonic library SYNCHRON-ized solo strings and Steinway D-274. I'm excited to get going. I want to work on some countermelodic material and develop and detailed movement form roadmap--then its GO time!
Any comments are welcomed!
(PS: the DEMO is done with Garritan's Yamaha CFX "lite" sample library--quite an improvement over their stock sample.)