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Vote for the winners of the Landscapes - Soundscapes competition! Please note that the themed badges were created for the following pieces: Padovana et Gagliarda “Detta la Lombarda” by @L.S Barros - "Rustic Mood" Award Amidst the Clouds & Flowers by @InstrumentalistElle - "Nature's Garden" Award Morning On Whidbey Island by @BipolarComposer - "Peace of Nature" Award City Rail and Nightingale by @Wieland Handke - "Nature and Civilization" Award Alishan (for Flute Quintet) by @HoYin Cheung - "Forest Echoes" Award “Warmth” by @UncleRed99 - "Home and Hearth" Award Lamentare Ciobanului - “The Shepherd’s Lament” by @ComposaBoi - "Pastorale" Award We have decided not to create more badges because it was inevitable that there would be some overlap/competition in the theme-ing of the badges. For that reason we concede that although the above badges were created for those specific pieces, it is up to the voters at large to determine whether those pieces will actually win those badges. To listen to all the entries go to the submissions thread: And for the competition announcement go here:

If you intend to write romantic-styled piece, You may want a good melody to start the piece, like a singable theme which the listener can easily recognize throughout the piece. By good melody, in my humble opinion, should have "up's and down's" and good contrast other parts of the music. There are some horizontal motion but it is rather oblique and it does not stand out much from the accompliment. You may think it as a opera singer singing passionate tunes and interact with the orchestra. I would also expect more chromaticism in both the baseline and the melody. Candences. I would expect a stronger sense of cadences for the phrases in a romantic piece. It is like journey - you need some rest between the beautiful scenaries so you can stay energetic and focused. Your improvisation seems more modern to me as it reminds me of the never-ending minimalistic music with non-diatonic (non-triadic) lines. For the variety part, you may want to try with Change of tempos Change of baseline rhythms Change of scales/ modality ("colour") Change of timbre (high vs low register of the piano) Change of texture (Density of chords)

It’s a bit weird you are reviewing @ferrum.wav ’s work but mentioned him as a he rather than a you 🤪

I didn't know the ship sank

I wrote my first string quartet. I liked it while I was writing it, but now listening back I'm not so sure it would keep the attention of listeners. Maybe I regret opening with a slow movement. I think 2nd movement is best. I like the section in 3rd mvt. from 15:25 to 17:08, because of those chords and the counterpoint. And maybe I should have used more modern harmony in places to spice it up. 00:00 Movement I. 07:27 Movement II. 13:22 Movement III. Od. G. - String Quartet No. 1.mp3 Od. G. - String Quartet No. 1 [2026-05-29_06-41-34] .pdf

Thank you @Wieland Handke for the compliment. We are here to build each other up. That is why I ensure to continue to review as a member update their works here.

When I was looking at my submission thread today I was excited to see more than expected replies – after the reviews were coming in somewhat slowly in the last few days. The more I was surprised when I realized that a “battle” or a “rodeo” had broken out over my post! So I must first state the following disclaimer: I did not create the user D.V.Vanin to troll my own thread in order to have more replies, but however, thank you @D.V.Vanin for producing that amount of attention to my piece, LoL! 😉 Thanks to @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu and @PeterthePapercomPoser for wielding the sharp sword of forum etiquette to defend me against negative comments. But I must make it clear that I don’t take these personally or seriously. I’ve just seen, that D.V.Vanin has posted some short pieces to compare his compositions with mine. I will – after doing my work reviewing the submissions to the competition – give him feedback with a „counter review“ - in the way as I usually do: seriously, honestly and kindly. And thank you to all the „serious“ reviewers so far, @Kvothe , @Luis Hernández and @chopin for their reviews, I will come back to them later, individually.

Jealousy : Is when you want someone to STOP what there doing Envy : is when you want to DO what there doing

This should be treated as a sister piece to event Horizon. If not, A continuation of the story . As much as I don't wanna expose myself, I feel like the story behind This is very integral to what you're gonna be hearing, especially with a bunch of source material from event horizon. Five lacrosse balls is a story built on many experiences where I felt like I have been living in a fever dream from foreseeing certain relationships into people and having a whole entire room build up with a ripple effect of the US anthem. I find pure solace on the fixation of a random tangible object something that will keep you grounded through all of life's troubles. Yes, in many ways like most of my other works to some degree is a personal narrative Five Lacrosse Balls.mp3 Five Lacrosse Balls.pdf

Hello my dear friends. Here my latest binary Sonata no 24. I hope you like it.

This is nice! I really like when the strings enter at m 16, it’s a really nice color. If it were me I would move the Horn 1 part in m19-21 to the 2nd Trumpet. Then maybe bring the 2nd trombone at m22 down a fourth so it doubles the 2nd trumpet at the octave (or maybe even remove it altogether…?) Also, why does Trombone 2 have that part instead of Trombone 1? Overall really nice arrangement, I enjoyed listening!

yes! im still intending on submitting!

Yes I still intend to submit a piece :) I also have a question: will there be a period after submissions are done to allow me and others to review the other pieces?

@MK_Piano , @UncleRed99 , @MrBelegro , @Luis Hernández , @Some Guy That writes Music , @ferrum.wav , @Monarcheon , @mercurypickles , @apple , @ComposaBoi , @HoYin Cheung , @Oak , @Brandon S Could you let us know if you still plan on submitting music to the competition? The competition will close to further submissions on Tuesday!

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9.5 8 10 10 10 8 10 8.5 Avg: 9.25 This piece definitely captures the anxious commuter during rush hour I think. You captured the forward momentum beautifully during the train ride sessions. The score presentation is a perfect 10 because of your annotations, which helps the listener understand your intentions much more clearly. Your usage of dissonant chords to designate the train's departure was excellent, and the trills to portray the nightingale was really creative. And on top of all of this, your theme was extremely coherent / catchy. Overall, between your director's cues (basically, your score) and the music itself, this was a coherent, creative and beautiful piece to listen to. And you weren't afraid to take chances, which I feel, paid off very well.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 8.5 8 9 9.5 9 10 9 Average Score: 8.8 Review: Melodies/Themes/Motives - There are many recognisable motifs, quite a few of which take the form of trills, etc. Harmony/Chords/Textures - The texture feels rich yet dynamic. Form/Development/Structure/Time - Performed as described and for an appropriate duration.. Originality/Creativity - The choice of instruments, particularly the two pianos, is unusual, but having listened to the piece and looked at the score, I believe it is entirely justified. Score Presentation - The score is correct and easy to read. Instrumentation/Orchestration/Playability The score is very effective, but it seems entirely playable. Execution of Given Challenge - I think the author has succeeded in achieving his aim. Taste - I like this piece because of its unique flavor.

Dear fellow composers, I’m pleased to present you today my submission to the YCF 2026 Spring Competition! Here is the picture showing a historic city rail (S-Bahn) train and a nightingale capturing the sounds of spring in Berlin. The idea behind the piece is to describe the contrast between the noise of the big city and the tranquility of nature. I know that some of you, especially if you’re from Asia or the U.S. will smile when I refer to a city with not even 4 million inhabitants as a “big city.” And yes, that’s actually the case: Berlin is indeed a “huge village” with a surprising number of green and quiet areas. The piece tells the story of a journey with the city rail from the crowded city center to a suburb where are allotment garden communities are located. Since modern trains are more or less „sterile“ and lack their unique sound, I imagined taking this trip on a historic train, like the ones that ran in Berlin from the 1920s through the 1990s and were known for their characteristic noises, such as the slamming of doors and the typical hissing sound when compressed air escapes. Once you’ve arrived in the suburbs—so the story goes—you leave the station and head to the allotment garden complex. As you stroll along the garden paths, you’re surprised to notice nightingales giving their evening concert. And yes, it’s actually true that throughout Berlin, from April through June, you can hear many nightingales every evening and every night. The nightingales are really loud and have a distinctive song, so I’m very surprised that there are so many people who tell me they’ve never heard a nightingale before. The piece is a string quintet featuring a violin, a viola, and a cello, accompanied by two pianos. I have decided to use two pianos so that they can share the extensive tremolo and trill passages, which improves playability. It has an A–B–A form, with the A sections representing the S-Bahn ride. I’ve chosen the unusual 13/16 time signature—initially as a challenge to myself— but while working on it, I realized that the 13/16 time signature can be considered as a compound meter of 3 + 4 + 6, which evokes the idea of acceleration (of the train), and, when reversed to 6 + 4 + 3, that of deceleration (as the train enters the station). The B-part is in 12/8 time signature with a lovely, lulling siciliano rhythm, thus emphasizing the calm scenario while walking through the gardens. I hope you’ll enjoy the piece as much as I enjoyed working on it (although I somewhat underestimated the effort needed …). The YouTube video is coming soon. Thus, stay tuned! Praeludium-XVII-A-flat-major-quintet-mix.mp3 Praeludium-XVII-A-flat-major-quintet-with-coversheet.pdf

Hi Music Maestros! Just wanted to post my latest orchestration, which I only started on Thursday: so it every rough and ready. This is from a piano piece in three movements by Frank Bridge, and I've so far tackled only the first movement. Planning to do the rest soon. I think it's a beautiful piece, that's not very well known, and has, to my knowledge, never been orchestrated before. I'm hoping Peter may be able to give some advice on whether my French horn parts are playable, because they go a bit high. Also my trombone and viola parts are sometimes in the uppermost range. Have taken quite a few liberties with my arrangement, including tempo adjustments, additional notes, retiming transitions, and new counter-melodic lines. Without these changes, the orchestration doesn't work well, as it's quite challenging to adapt from piano. Some of my fermatas will be replaced by ten. markings (which Bridge himself uses in the original). Dynamic markings are intended for midi playback only: so I will be adjusting those. My flute is getting buried in the mix towards the end: so I will be adjusting that. But any other mix advice would be very helpful. I wonder, should I lower the threshold on my compressor, as the dynamic range is very wide? Anyway, hope you enjoy, and hopefully I've introduced some new people to this lovely work. Frank Bridge - Dusk #24 (added ZL compressor).mp3 Frank Bridge - Dusk #24 (added ZL compressor).pdf

Dear Henry, Thank you very much for your kind words. I’m delighted that you enjoyed it. Haha, regarding your handwriting, what matters is that it is genuine and authentic. After all, Beethoven was never famous for the beauty of his manuscript scores, yet even from his handwriting one can perceive the uniqueness of his personality and the genius that he was. Best regards, Vasilis

Hi @Alex Weidmann ! I really enjoy your arrangement here, especially on how you create sparse atmosphere with flutes and harp (which is also your favourite style). The Strings passage in b.16 sounds amazing and I absolutely love the parallel 5ths there to create the hollow and ethereal effect. Yup i really agree with you here, two trumpets may sound a bit too loud to me especially when the strings are up high in the sky playing that etheral melody! The weaker power of horn conversely becomes an advantage since it acts more like an overtone of trombone there, just like what you do in the strings section when the 2nd violin as overtone is sandwiched between the 1st violin and viola. Given how you pair up an English horn with flute in b.30, would you also pair up a clarinet with flute in b.32, and drop it in b.34? Thx for sharing this wonderful arrangement! Henry

Hi @Vasilis Michael ! Lots of nice harmony like sudden nepolitan chords, modal borrowings (usually from minor keys) and unexpected modulation throughout the work, in a nice hunting rhythm. Thx for sharing! I haven't written a score for many years given my bad handwritting haha, unlike our PaperthePetercomposer a.k.a@PeterthePapercomPoser lol. Henry

A little Feedback on Melody lines :

Sorry, I kind of ran out of inspiration and even though I never forgot about the competition and even composed a draft I couldn't really go any farther than that. Thanks for understanding in advance.

Yusss... Have been quite behind, juggling my attempt at this score, and "life". It'll be in, on time :')

I'm 100% sure our Boss @chopin won't make silly mistake like this in Music Jotter ^0^

You're welcome. Musescore is wrong. There's some kind of glitch in the horns where if you go up to concert Bb in the treble clef it marks it as outside the range. It's because someone programmed it wrong where a concert F should be the top of the range rather than the written F (transposed into F Horn). It's just a mistake they haven't remedied yet.

If you can't listen to it fully because you aren't masochistic enough, then you should better just stay out of it instead of making rootless criticism, as it won't make us happier seeing someone not enjoying their masochistic play. Henry

You don't explain anything by posting your own music in other member's post. Also since you are a new member here, please check out the forum etiquette in the link below: Forum etiquette and Code of Conduct - Advice and Techniques - Young Composers Music Forum If you click into it please check out rule 2b: So you should post your composition as a new dedicated topic, and then you explain why @Wieland Handke 's music is "bland and forgettable, have nothing enjoyable and is not interesting to listen", and maybe then quote your own work here, instead of just posting your work here with zero explanation. Henry

But it is just your subjective feeling, you will have to elaborate more on why the themes are bland and why the music is forgettable and there's nothing enjoyable.. Maybe you are a new member here, but in this forum we only welcome constructive feedback like @PeterthePapercomPoser said. We are not like YouTube or reddit or discord where you can just leave a negative statement without explaining and get away with it, because what we want to achieve in this forum is to allow beneficial interaction between reviewers and reviewees so that both can progress in their own musical journeys. Clearly leaving just subjective statement without any analysis cannot do that at all. This can be really detrimental to many of our members because what they need is constructive feedback, not rootless criticism which won't help them grow and might harm their confidence in composing, just hope you understand that. Henry

Those are just your opinions offered without anything to substantiate them. Do you have any constructive feedback to offer? Perhaps you could use the Reviewing Template to justify your opinion?

No, unfortunately not this time. I am away and unable to finish the work I started.

Why so? Could you explain and elaborate more on that? Henry

Great! Looking forward to hearing it! You will have a week (until June 9th) to review and vote for the winners.

Hello everyone, It's been a few months since I wrote anything. My last cycle on Laforgues poems had left me a little dry! But this poet has not said his last word and continues to haunt me. So here is a new piece, black, full of soot... Note, you can activate the subtitle in English. Good listening. https://youtu.be/jXMz3lu6Jfk?si=tYOpdEBtnVSJVlfe

Hey Pabio @Fugax Contrapunctus ! I thoroughly enjoy this one! I love your Die Kunst der Fuge like treatment of the canon themes when you keep adding complexity to the piece progressively. I don't calculate the counterpoint you use at all but only enjoy it without thinking. It's sad that Gerubach passed away this early. His contribution is significant since he may be the first one to post score videos on youtube which lots of people follow his tracks later on. Henry

I wrote another Romance for my girlfriend Julia's birthday. I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think! Romance No. 2.mp3 Romance No. 2.pdf

Hi @Wieland Handke , I like the descriptive effect you used for both the train part and the nightingale part. I enjoy the train part more than the nightingale part, but only due to the rendition, because the should-be soft trills and glissandos representing the nightingales sound too hard to me haha. Thx for sharing. Henry

Wow even more attractive haha!

Can be Fattening.................................If you have more than 10 Packets a day

Hello I’ll share my experiences as an amateur ‘composer’, though I do have extensive training (both self-taught and formal) in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, etc... and I’m currently working on orchestration. At first glance, it might seem that a concerto for a solo instrument and orchestra is easier than writing for an orchestra on its own. Because you think: “Ah, as there’s a soloist, it’s easy for them to take the lead and develop everything, etc.” But I believe the opposite is true. With a solo instrument and orchestra, the compositional difficulty multiplies, unless you want to limit yourself to a soloist and a few instruments playing chords. I think a good progression for composing is: 1) Write for piano. Even if it isn’t your main instrument, get hold of a MIDI piano, study how the classical composers wrote, and keep practising until your piano writing sounds natural (like proper piano music, not just a series of chord blocks). I see it this way because the piano is polyphonic and allows you to sketch out anything. 2) Write for small ensembles: string orchestra, small early classical-style orchestra. 3) Expand your palette by thoughtfully enlarging the orchestra. More instruments doesn’t necessarily make it better. 4) I always study the orchestration. Know about each instrument, its origin (which explains a lot about why an instrument is the way it is), what dynamics, ranges and articulations are possible, and at a ‘normal’ orchestral level. It makes no sense to write extremely difficult parts for orchestral sections. 5) And finally. Add a solo instrument. You can write short pieces. That’s what I’ve done so far with soloists. You need to understand very, very well how an instrument works to develop it as a solo part. Even Brahms consulted the violinist J. Joachim on his violin concerto.

The YCF chocolate looks really yummy!

@BipolarComposer Hello, perhaps I didn’t explain myself clearly. I didn’t mean that the register is too high for the bassoon in that passage, but rather that in such high passages, the part is usually written in tenor clef.

Also for @Luis Hernández bringing up the instrumental issue, I think Stravinsky intentionally used the high register of Bassoon for that nasal timbre, which works really well for being the “Augurs” of spring in the introduction and for later movement. I think Stravinsky works really well there. I don't think it's hard for Bassoonist to play mp in high register, since in the high register it’s easier for them to play mp than f, given the nature of double reed instruments (same for oboe and cor anglais.) Henry

For the Bassoon, I get your point, however, in the Rite of Spring, Stravinsky has the Bassoon start on a high F at mezzo-piano and in the “Kiss of the Earth” section, he has it hold a high E for three measures at piano. So, it is possible.

Entry: City rail and Nightingale Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 9 10 10 5 6 8 8 Average Score: 8 Review: I definitely could hear the imagine you were trying to capture in this piece.

@therealAJGS One question, do you have an intended title for this piece? We can change the title so it better represents the music.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 8.5 10 10 5 8 9 9 Avg: 8.4 Rough crowd with this one lol. I have a very different take. While I'm not sure this reminds me of rain, this DOES remind me of meditation with an Asian influence perhaps. I'm not sure if you were going for that, but that's how I feel. I love the mood you portray too, even though it's dark sounding, you were able to portray a sense of peace and contemplation in my opinion. Very nice work, and creative!

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste - - - - - - - - Average Score: No calification Review: The truth is, I don’t think this piece can really be judged, as it’s always being compared to others in some way, and a certain minimum standard is expected. And I’m not so much referring to creativity, which is evident at times. There’s a certain rhythmic pattern, a few clichéd lines. But overall, it lacks coherence and the score defies all logic.

Entry: I do not what to put here? Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 1 2 1 5 1 0 0 1 Average Score: 1.375 Same reasons as @Kvothe

Entry: I do not what to put here? Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 Average Score: 1 Review: Score presentation: The score was not well presented. You did not know what the instruments were playing! Playability: This is impossible to be played by anyone. Execution: this failed to meet the goals of the competition Form: This piece barely any proper form or structure. Taste: sadly, this is not with in my musical taste. (Note: It hurts me score a piece this low)