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Hi all! This is the second movement of my Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor. It is set in the relative major E major to act as an (apparent) counterpart of the furious first movement. Pentatonics and Locrian scale are added in the movement, but the motive of fourth from the first movement is important here as well. Here is the Youtube video link: Here is the pdf and audio of the score: Final Draft Piano Sonata no.3 in C sharp Minor 2nd Mov.pdf Piano Sonata no.3 2nd Mov.mp3 The movement is set in a rondo form ABACA. Here is the structre of the movement: 0:00 Introduction & 1st Refrain: The Locrian scale is used capriciously at the beginning by a confused Henry right at thr start of composing the movement when he didn't know why he used it but still retained it to see what would happen. The main theme (00:23) begins in a quite beautiful pentatonic E major. I love the German Sixth used in 00:53 and I absolutely love the C-sharp minor contrasting theme, as it's beautiful but at the same time coherent by using the falling fourth motive from the beginning of the 1st movement! (Btw it is quoted in parody in my joking fugue) It then unoriginally modulates to dominant B major. 01:32 repeats the whole process apart from some embellishments. 2:34 1st Episode: The beautiful (I think) 1st episode is actually composed the second last one, only before the last refrain. It's Chopinistic here, but I think it's quite beautiful! The theme is roughly the inversion of the 1st theme. I had the inspiration of this beautiful theme when waiting in a queue in my ex-company's canteen LoL! I love the counterpoint in 03:43 as well, again using the falling fourth motive. The C-sharp minor is never solved and merely forced back to E major with a quite beautiful G sharp major transition to the 2nd Refrain. 4:29 2nd Refrain: The first theme is turned to a bell texture which I must have taken inspiration from Brahms's op.117 and Prokofiev's Sonata no.6. The serenity proves short-lived as the mood starts to become agitated and the falling fourth motive starts to attack. 5:12 2nd Episode: The Locrian scale starts to disturb and the keys start to moving all around, again in 05:30 the agitation proves itself it is not going to be covered at all, and with octatonic modulation it ends on G minor which sounds like the beginning of Chopin's 1st Ballade in 05:41. The first theme enters in 05:53 but is only a false recap as the stirring continues once again in a semitone higher in a Schubertian fashion. The first theme re-enters in 07:07, this time in C-sharp major, the global tonic major but with undercurrent underneath. F minor disturbs once again as in earlier as well as the development of the 1st movement, and the Locrian mode is finally forcefully purified to a pentatonic. I think the retransition here is slightly abrupt and forceful. 8:16 Last Refrain: First theme appears with the purified locrian scale turn to pentatonic crystal in the upper register of the piano. The contrasting theme is set in F-sharp minor this time for the E major confirmation. The C-sharp minor is not answered at all again in 09:17, and only forcefully shut up, and the piece ends in E pentatonic. At least a momentary serenity can be achieved before facing the disasterous 3rd movement. This movement starts in 2023 June right after the completion of the 1st movement, but was abandoned since I had to focus on composing the 2nd movement of my Sring Sextet. Then after a personal crisis in 2024 I had no energy at all to compose, and I hoped to use this movement to pick up my creative energy. It succeeded and the movement is quite beautiful in my opinion. I expanded the movement from a ternary one to a rondo with the addition of the 1st episode and completion of the last refrain. The movement may sound too Chopinistic and less original, but I definitely pour my heart here. I just maintain the “write-what-I-want approach” in the whole Sonata without much thinking, planning, or trying to be original. I just don’t want my emotion disturbed by the chasing of originality when expressing my feeling is my ultimate concern in the whole Sonata. The recording is played by myself. I buy a new microphone I hope the recording quality will be better and not to be roasted by @chopin anymore! Feel free to comment or critize this piece below! I will be more than happy to hear any opinion whether it's positive or negative! Hope you enjoy it! P.S. Here is the link for the YC post of the 1st movement from the same Sonata: Henry

Originality will continue to seep through your music if you have this approach. Sure, we've all looked at works from the past as a framework, even the masters have done that. But writing what you want without outside interference from the world I think is the goal we all should have. It's WHAT will make your music individual and uniquely you, since no one can tell your story other than yourself. I think you've succeeded in that. You've embraced your heritage and culture with your knowledge and learning, and if you continue that my friend, you'll find that you'll think of what or who your music sounds like less and less. You'll continue to focus on you and your goals with music, and by happenstance if there are similarities with another's work (which I guess is inevitable), it's by mere coincidence and not even a big deal. I listened to this several times, not because I wanted to craft the right response and get every little detail right, but because I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it the same way I would enjoy a Beethoven sonata or Chopin nocturne. I just like them. Even though I've heard their music hundreds of times by now, I still always come back because of the enjoyment. And your 3rd sonata is no different. I even re-listened to the first movement to better grasp the story you were telling, and I forgot how much I enjoyed that piece too. The power and passion in it is dripping with fire, and the somber and sweetness, equally as passionate, of the second movement is a delicious balance. This movement was stuck in my head last night, the themes are just so simple and beautiful they found their way into my thoughts. There were so many moments that I loved. The Locrian intro into pentatonics, the syncopated falling next motif, the organization of craftsmanship in developing, the clever balance of technicality and simplicity, the gorgeous way you ended it, I could go on and on. To top it all off, you labored hours of preparation to present your music in the highest way: a wonderful performance by the composer. There were barely any moments I didn't like. Maybe it got convoluted and heavy in spots I wouldn't have done, but that's what makes this your music, not mine. This is a lovely piece, angelic and ethereal at times, that have inspired my future music as a new reference for me to check back on. I love that you poured your heart out in this, and oh how it shows. Your heart yearns, and I heard it in this piece. The world doesn't deserve how good of a man you are and to all of us, yet you still give us more music to enjoy. Well done Henry, this sonata as a whole is a favorite of mine from you, I can't wait to hear how you end this. 🙂

idk, bars 76-112 seems intimidating and you have to do it in one continuous motion though bars 69-75 is technically more musically difficult imo your slow movements are miles ahead of mine lol... and to actually play it

Henry, you've really changed the way I view the pentatonic scale. The structure of this piece is insanely organized, and right off the bat, we know this piece is playable! Let's break down some sections: Your intro, is fun, and stands out from your entire piece. This is equivalent to Chopin's intro to his 4th Ballade. I love it! The opening after the intro has a beautiful Chopin-like melody. This style reminds me a little of his waltzes, but in 4/4 time instead of 3/4. How did you manage to do that? 😅 Love 2:40, where you introduce some key changing, then we get into your secondary melody. This is perhaps one of my favorite parts of your composition. There's just so much feeling and excellent chord changing going on here. 3:40, I hear the counterpoint you are talking about. Well done! 6:10, is another favorite of mine, as this seems to be a recap of your secondary theme? And I love how you go through a series of subtle key changes here in a matter of seconds. 8:35, I anticipated you finishing the melody in the left hand on the next bar, but you didn't. This is an excellent anticipatory move, and very clever 😍. I listened to this about 3 or 4 times so that I could give you a proper review. There's just so much to learn from this composition and performance. One thing is for sure though...this sonata teaches the importance of structure, which I think a lot of new composers forget about. I would definitely recommend others to listen to this piece, not only for the fun melodies, but also for the key changing techniques and well organized nature of this sonata.

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu! I know you've been working on this movement for a while so I'm glad that you've finally finished it! I am a bit surprised by the isolated Locrian opening (that almost sounds like some kind of chess opening LoL). The dark Locrian opening is immediately followed by the E major pentatonic ascending figure which is a very bright sound. The juxtaposition of these two dark and bright figures really doesn't mesh well for me. And as far as I can tell, the Locrian scale never comes back in any other part of the movement. Also, the parts immediately before the "ritenuto" markings in the score for me sound overly thick and chaotic (m. 86, 98). But what I really really enjoyed about this movement is when the melody imitates itself canonically and you somehow managed to play both the melody and it's canonic imitation in the same hand! (m. 56 - 59) Also, why did you omit the melody for a few beats in bar 126? It seems empty with just the high pentatonic flourishes in the right hand! I also like how you end the piece by extending the pentatonic figures out through progressive rhythmic diminution. The combination of the pentatonic figures with the melody being played in the same hand in m. 69 - 72 is also a very cool idea and creative combination! Thanks for sharing this virtuosic movement!