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Many thanks indeed for listening, looking at the score and commenting. Most appreciated. I’ll rightly apologise about the score. To be honest it may be worth a topic in the “Headquarters”: Should a score be submitted or not…? When working from paper through a DAW to an engraving, it's the engraving that takes masses of time. Far easier for those composing into notation software which is integral to the act of composing. Not so, the way I work. Engraving can take anything up to 20 times as long as composing. All the dynamics and instructions have to be added plus dealing with midi interpretation errors. E.g., the software isn’t always clever – particularly with things like tuplets (that are declared as such in the daw). Worse that the software can’t handle voice changing with tuplets. The new voice is all over the place and throws the rest of a phrase out of step, so the only remedy is delete the phrase and re-input it note by note. Just one of several problems that I find so frustrating hence the sarky remarks! It’s not a score I’d submit to professionals! As for the cello, it’s the standard VSL solo cello about which I can do little except perhaps take more care with the rendering. I think your comments are indeed valid and appreciated (it's why I've posted no "major" work of late). I’m only too aware of repeating myself across new work hence trying to develop a new direction which means toward more abstract form (that still presents some meaning within reach of a listener other than me)! These smaller works were a break from a near ‘giving up’ through frustration. I suppose it’s the nature of semi-atonal music (or modern music that hangs between tonal and atonal) to sound uncertain and/or uneasy – but at least that hints at it saying something: it doesn’t come across as just a mass of random sounds. But it’s too easy to get in a rut. Hopefully my latest work is less uneasy, a brighter inspiration and one that will come with a decent score. It’ll probably take another month to get it in shape. Again, thank you.

The finale of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 in E-flat minor

Hi, Nazariy! Very elegant. 5:02 was an interesting section; so much motion and character. And I really like the illustration you used in the video.

Quite possibly - although Lutoslawski has his fine moments to be fair. I seriously believe I can never get tired of Tchaikovsky - but honestly I have to switch from one piece to another, and perhaps find something I haven't heard before from him (don't take me back to 1812!)

Ooh...an eclectic selection, Mitchell! I'll have to look most of those up, but... Have Poland, will travel! Poland's anthem is one of my BIG TIME favourites. I cannot hear it without weeping. For those not familiar with it, it's known as The Dabrowski Mazurka. That's right: Poland's national anthem is also one of it's national dances - one of the few I know of that is such - and it's a grand one, with really stirring, historic lyrics about Poland's struggle for freedom and national identity. Composed in 1797, it is named for Jan Henryk Dabrowski (1755-1818), a Polish general who, after the Third Partition of Poland, organised a legion of Polish exiles in Italy to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. Here's my favourite recording of it: An English translation of the stirring lyrics: Poland has not perished yet So long as we still live! What foreign force has taken from us We shall take back with the sword. REFRAIN: March, march, Dąbrowski From Italy to Poland! Under thy command Let us now rejoin the nation! Cross the Vistula and Warta, And Poles we shall be. We've been shown by Bonaparte Ways to victory. (REFRAIN) Like Czarniecki to Poznań After Swedish occupation, To rescue our homeland We shall return by sea. (REFRAIN) Father, in tears, Says to his Basia, "Just listen! it seems that our people Are beating the drums!" (REFRAIN) In light of Poland's centuries of suffering at the hands of mighty enemies on all sides, and particularly after the horrors she endured during World War II and the privation and stagnation of the Cold War, these words take on altogether greater and emotional significance. In proud defiance and against all odds, Poland has emerged from the ashes of its past and moves toward a brighter future, more prosperous than ever!