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I like how the preview totally disregards my spoiler tag

Hey everyone, Just wanted to share a piece that I recently finished. If you'd like some context and a musical breakdown, feel free to pop out the spoilers; if not, have a read/listen and let me know what you think. I'd like to get some feedback on this before I polish up the score!

I made these fugues for @chopin's "Short Fugue" challenge: They're all 3-voice fugues for Organ/Keyboard under a minute long (since the whole purpose was to get people to try out Music Jotter). The Bb major fugue's subject is a little too acrobatic for the pedals. I don't think I'll be making any more fugues for this challenge so I thought I'd share them here to see what kind of constructive comments/critiques/suggestions or just observations I can get about them. I am in the process of reading Kent Kennan's Counterpoint book and just happen to have finished the fugue chapters as well. Thanks for listening! Edit: also a big thank you to @chopin for having made these renditions with his Kontakt Organ sounds (which are, apparently, totally free once you get Kontakt). Thanks a lot Mike! Edit no.2: I just realized that the subject to the C minor fugue below is heavily influenced by @PCC's fugue which he wrote for the challenge as well (and is actually derived from a theme from the video game "Kingdom Hearts")

Hi @PeterthePapercomPoser! Thank you for your honest comments, very refreshing and useful! I agree, unfortunately! Believe it or not, I had a thought very similar to yours in mind when I started writing. Then listening and re-listening to what I was sriting I think I kind of fell for what was coming out and thought it was so good 🙂 But indeed, at the beginning, I was thinking of a few examples (Schubert, Brahms) in which the slow movement beging with a very simple melody, a very uneventful rhythm, but there's a catch, a diminished 7th, some kind of harmonic surprise that makes the simple theme memorable and the monotonous rhythm shine. In my theme, I was hoping to achieve some effect with the second beat of each bar, in which piano and cello fall in a grave register and - or so I thought - characterize the theme. (The second beat tries to stay relevant also in the B section, where the 8th stop on a dotted 4th, and in B' in which the 16th triplets happen.) Yes, I did like the simplicity of the melody and thought that the feeble accompaniment of the strings was enough to make it interesting... I'll think more about that. Hm. Here I took a three note element from the first few bars (bar 5 I think) and built a simple imitation with the duplets for effect. The melody is admittedly limited (G, F#, D on the last note, B, A, E, on the last note, C, B, E, etc.) The idea here is to take the simple A and expand the three descending note element. But it's true that it's less a melody than an experiment in using poly-rhythms Are you referring to the Bb major section? If so, a bit like with the beginning, I wasn't too sure about the rhythm with the strings kind of off-setting the piano. But then after many listens it grew on me and I found it... great. But it seems that I was right in my first impression instead! Ah, can you say more about this?! Thank you very much for listening and taking the time to comment. I'm going to not play the piece obsessively for the next couple of days and then try to listen to it with "fresh" ears and your comments in mind.

I really like the sound of this. It's constantly going somewhere. No directionless noodling. Not a dull moment. With that it did leave me wanting more though... So I agree that the end is a bit sudden and could really do with more winding down or more of a climax. So I really liked it, but wish there was more.

@PeterthePapercomPoser Thank you for your feedback!! You know, I was thinking that I was getting myself in trouble with those glissandi and lack of concern about breath. I admit I am quite ignorant with regard to technicalities with wind instruments. For instance I know that a violin can play long legato phrases even if the player has to change bows since the changes can be disguised with technique. I guess I sort of ASSumed a similar thing with the winds. The trill part is particularly egregious. Maybe I'll try a more dynamic staggered sequence of trills where the 3 trilling players cover for each other between breaths. It might even be a more interesting effect as opposed to the straightforward held trill. Now with glissandi I might have gotten even more carried away. They sort of solved a block since they're so different that they work as a sudden transition (I think). Looking more into it, if I got it correctly, the clarinet is best for glissandi. Flute struggles a bit more. Oboe and bassoon ever harder. They're currently chromatic. I might just notate something more precise. I suppose the glissandi at the end are even more problematic. I'm thinking I have to listen to more wind music with attention to these issues to get a better intuition. Oof, I'll have to give that another look! It's definitely meant to be more on the uneasy side of the spectrum. Though it's possible you detected something unintentional. Do you mean the ratio between dissonance and consonance - as in I might have added a dissonance I hadn't intended? Or perhaps something less definite?

Hi @Giacomo925! I perceive this as a piece without a theme. Clearly, when you wrote it you perceived that you were writing themes/motifs/melodies, but to me as a listener they are very dissolute. Like the same way as if you dissolve something in water to give it taste, but it's not enough to give it any flavor so it's "dissolute" or "diffuse". One explanation I have for why this is occurring is that in the beginning, you don't hook the listeners interest with any recognizable characteristic of the material presented, whether rhythmic or harmonic or both. Your rhythms are especially monotonous and don't provide the listener with any surprising or interesting characteristic that they can grasp at and imprint into their memory. In the first 4 measures the rhythm of the melody is just dotted half note followed by dotted quarter, consistently, which is bland. Then you switch to just dotted quarters. There is so much more possibility for variety! And when you do utilize shorter values you seem to default to quick scalar motion (in the melody). Or, the passages with 8th notes and duplets I don't perceive as melody either but just notes. There are some syncopated rhythms in this too, which seem to change the metric groupings of the measure entirely (and hence confuse the listener imo). There are ways to make redefinitions of the metric groupings in 9/8 work but you'd need a melody to lead the changes deliberately which I don't think you've done here. The pizzicato passage for the cello in measure 140 is too rapid to be practical for pizzicato. That is my perception of this piece - sorry I couldn't be more encouraging. Thanks for sharing.

Hi again @UrKr! I like the conceptual construction of this piece! In many passages there is an underlying undercurrent of unease which seems to me is not necessarily a deliberate vibe you meant to create for the whole duration of the piece but an occasional occurrence. You already mentioned that some of the accidentals/chromatics need to be fixed so I won't go into that save to say that you have the correct enharmonics in the latter half of the piece. The glissandi sound really artificial and would be impractical to play at the rapid rate you have in this rendition. They go by so fast that I can't even tell if they're being played as chromatic glissandi or diatonic. If you haven't already, I'd suggest switching them to diatonic. There's also the issue of breathing - some passages call for the performers to (for example) perform really long trills which they'd need circular breathing to execute. At measure 123 - 124 you have the flute doing a half step trill from G to Ab and then the oboe a trill from Ab to ... B natural? I think you probably also meant for that trill to go to Bb as it sounds really strange when it's a trill of a augmented 2nd (which is technically more of a tremolo LoL). The bassoon in measure 126 doesn't have a chance to breathe for .. 24 measures! Really encourage you to rethink that passage. Thanks for sharing this interesting/cerebral/stimulating piece!

Hello @Frank Normandy I like the ideas for the thematic material with the hemiolas and dotted rhythms, but I think the ostinato figurations that you are using are are just not to the same level as the rest of the piece, the same ostinato over and over again gets monotonous and deprives the piece from contrast. I think you should try more complex figuations with a wider variety of pitches spanning more octaves, with different directions, different rhythms (you could try triplets, as you already have them introduced in your melody, and combine them with the normal quavers) more or even including non chord tones. On top of that, the main purpose of adding spread out accompaniments in the lower register is usually to maintain the bass note with the pedal, I think, this piece should have pedal. Could you share the score for more detailed feedback on the harmony and motifs? Thanks for sharing Manuel

Hi everyone! Long time for posting my last composition here. I am going to post the Lamentoso from my String Sextet 2nd movement here finally. Here is the pdf, mp3 and YouTube link of the piece: Lamentoso from String Sextet Movement 2.pdf Henry_Lamentoso.mp3 Here are the previous posts from the String Sextet: First movement: And here is the fugue after this Lamentoso: Here is the structure of the movement: 0:04, b.1-33. Introduction, setting the heavy tone of the movement by immediately using the low register of the violas and cellos. Focus on the first three notes of the opening theme of the first movement, but in minor version. 1:35, b.33-60. Agitato. Use some polyrhythms and tremolos here for my agitation. The melody comes from the minor version of the opening theme of the first movement. I like the yearning from second cello and first violin here! 3:23, b.61-93. Più mosso. Variation on the arpeggiating figure of the first movement first introduced in b.19. The sudden modulation to C minor is to echo the C major modulation in the first movement, b.226, and also augur the C minor modulation in the subsequent fugue section. With a solo transition to the next section. 4:58, b.94-122. Agitato. Again features tremolo here but with metre as rhythm. At first it’s a variation on the first three notes of the opening theme, but in b.108 the theme from the next section is announced early. Modulate to dominant C sharp minor, my favourite key! 6:01, b.123-139. Tranquillo. A cello recitative against the bass notes and the fleeing upper strings. The theme here comes from the Db major of the first movement in b.115, again the minor variation . I quite like the texture here, since the cello is really beautiful in its high register con sordini. Modulate to F sharp major to the next big section. 7:05, b.140-198. Marked “doubtful” at first since it’s the reappearance of the original opening theme of the first movement but harmonized by strange keys and then surrounded by dissonant chords (b.148). Enters into Misterioso passage, maybe trying to find ways to connect back to the world of the first movement. Bartok Pizz. is used as a signal for something enlightened. B.179 starts my favourite section of the whole Lamentoso or even the while 2nd movement I have written so far. It augurs the subject of the fugue which comes next, but for me it’s honest and very beautiful when getting back to F sharp minor. Definitely one of my best passages ever written. 10:43, b.199-end. Coda and transition to the fugue. A recalled memory from the heavenly first movement, but laughed off by the evil sul ponticello 2nd viola. Exhausted, the music gets into the second big section, the six part fugue which I composed earlier. I’m afraid the structure is a bit disorganised, but I like how direct it is emotionally and the contrast it brings with the first movement and the subsequent fugue. I definitely write with my honest emotion here, even though it’s quite sad. Hopefully I’ll finish the whole movement and while piece soon! Hope you enjoy my sadness here! Edit: I forget to mention the audio is made by Vince @Thatguy v2.0! Thx my bro! Henry

Piano Sonata no.1 in A major Pastoral First Movement 13-01-2023.pdf This is the scored version of the first movement of my Piano Sonata no.1 in A major, Pastoral (2015). It's called pastoral since I subconsciously use the theme from Beethoven Symphony no.6 in the same name. It's more influenced by Beethoven's op.101 though. This movement and the whole sonata is basically a practice on using one single motive throughout the piece. In this movement sonata form is used. The prime motive is used as the first subject and the inverted form is used as the second subject. Hope you enjoy! I personally don't value this piece highly though. I plan to record the 2nd movement as well, but the 3rd and 4th movements I am in doubt of their quality, so I probably won't record them. P.S. Please find the youtube video, mp3 and pdf file! This recording is recently recorded and the score is polished a little bit. Henry P.P.S. The second movement of the work is posted on YC with the link below: