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Hi @Tunndy, Just beware of the parallel 8ves like those in b.1 between violin and viola (A-G), b.2 (F-G and F#-G!). And those dissonance of minor 2nds like in b.5 wouldn’t sound good as well. Henry

Hello folks! Been a little bit (always is a little bit between when I talk on here it seems) I've been hard at work at college writing all sorts of stuff, but amid all the music I'm writing and playing for school, I've also been working on a personal piece for solo piano. Dedicated to someone I love very much, the piece is an exploration of love. Movement 1 is the only movement written so far, and it is about passionate love (maybe I'll call it Eros. Still figuring out names or if I even want names for the movements.) I'll explain the movement's structure so you can maybe understand what I'm trying to do. Intro: It starts floating on an A dominant 7 chord, overtop of which soars a delicate but sometimes dissonant melody with huge leaps. It remains in this uncertain space a little while. Then it bursts into arpeggios and a fanfare-like triplet motif in F Major, gradually building more and more, before collapsing into the exposition. Exposition: The first theme in F minor is fiery and built from two motifs, the passionate right hand and the rumbling left hand. Cadencing in the relative major, the motifs then set off to transition to the next area. The second theme is in the distant key of D major and is a beautiful transformation of the melody from the introduction. A recurring turn motif brings the melody to its PAC and the closing theme commences with triumphant arpeggios (you will hear the inspiration from Chopin Ballade no. 4) but is suddenly overturned by D minor with the rumbling left hand motif of the first theme, ending the exposition dramatically in Bb Major!! Unlike I think literally all of my other sonata form pieces, there is no exposition repeat before the development. Development: In the soundscape of the exposition's closing chord, the developed introductory melody quietly emerges, again unsure, interwoven with fragments of the first theme. Eventually the second theme's rumbling motif takes hold, and a series of violent sequences commences. At its climax, it collapses again in a whirlwind. Out of the bleak, emerges now the second theme, in a hopeful manner, modulating from Ab Major to E minor, and finally culminating in the most passionate and beautiful variation in G Major, with repeated chords and heavy rubato. It reaches its turn motif and PACs in G Major erupting into the closing theme arpeggios, but now being derailed again, even earlier than last time into C minor! And now we're at the Fugue, based on the same rumbling left hand motif that's been so persistent in the development. After reaching its peak, it sequences a little more and is now in C Major and has successfully set up the dominant retransition to the tonic F minor! Recapitulation: First theme is mostly the same as before. The transition is however different and more "bravura" than before. The second theme tragically is now in F minor, and doesn't get its old turn motif to cadence, and instead prepares to close the movement in the drama of the first theme. But it's diverged! We move away from that extreme low register now into the highest register as we hear one last time the full second theme in F Major, much barer and more suspended, but again with its cadence motif. But it doesn't finish quite yet. It repeats the motif, before slipping back into an A dominant 7 chord for the coda. Coda: Largely an exact repeat of the introduction, but what was before a solid dominant pedal, is now broken up by the tonic in the bass, giving a more resolved sound. With no more burst into F major, the movement closes on low D Major chords. Now the reason I really want your guys' feedback is because I want to play this for the dedicatee soon, and I just want to make sure it's perfect before I present it to him. I did show the piece to my professor, but he said it sounded too traditional and suggested I listen to Sciarrino for inspiration 🥲 Let's just say I have different taste than him lol. The performance isn't perfect, and the score is very unpolished! But everything should come across pretty well hopefully. Thank you in advance! 😄

Hey Jonathon @ComposaBoi, I would have commented earlier if not 1) for my consistent illness 2) The tragic HK fire. Very passionate playing and forget all those wrong notes, as the power really reaches me. I will just take note from start to end. The whole first D Major section sounds like a Barcarolle to me with the dominant pedal, and b.3 and b.5 flourishing sounds like Hisashi to me with the dreamy mood. For the b.21 section with that agitato mood I won’t write Lento on it with 32nd notes. I may just augment on the notes by 2 and put an allegro agitato there. Like the solemn and furious F minor theme. I actually find the 2nd subject too short and the triumph arriving too early, and then the breakdown to D minor too early. I love the key changing in your development (for example to C minor), but I do think that left hand triplets motive can be used less frequently, since it sounds a bit predictable at the end for me. I like the Ab major section but again I think you can augment the note value and put an Allegro there. Like that you bring the triumph of the 2nd subject before the fugato. I feel like the fugato here not developed enough just like the fugato in my Nocturne lol. And basically that triplets motive dominates the whole development and maybe you can use a different subject? I really like the Grave Mystico (or Misterioso?) passage with the higher register melody, contrasting the middle to low register used mostly in the piece. I only feel the D Major ending unsatisfied since it’s really unrelated to what happen between. But maybe it’s right here with later movements. Thx for sharing. Henry

After undergoing plenty of struggle to find a proper textual setting capable of matching the rhythmic patterns of this vocal fugue, I decided to settle for an altered version of the "Libera me" movement commonly found on Requiem masses. Despite the minor changes required for the text to fit the subject of the fugue, its treatment throughout has been a conscious attempt to make it as audibly intelligible as possible, as opposed to the vast majority of my previous vocal works, where any regard for the text was completely secondary to the music. YouTube video link:

Hey Pabio @Fugax Contrapunctus, I really enjoy this older style counterpoint. The subject strongly reminds me of the first subject of Contapunctu XIV in Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge. May this piece also dedicated to the victims of the Hong Kong fire recently happened. Henry

I've taken the Christmas Carol's "Angels we have heard on high" and "Gdy się Chrystus rodzi" (a Polish Christmas Carol which translates as "When Christ is being born"). I wrote two variations on this Polish Carol last year and you can find them here to become more familiar (if you want): There was some confusion in that thread about which Carol I was actually working on (LoL) owing to the fact that both of these Carol's prominently feature the Latin lyrics "Gloria in excelsis Deo". But that was basically the inspiration for putting them together in this mash-up. I painstakingly entered multiple stanzas of the Polish, English and Latin lyrics into the pdf score with all the correct accent marks and whatnot so let me know if it's clear! Thanks for listening and comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations are always welcome! Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy listening! ☃️

Hi Peter, Really enjoy this one and it sounds especially calm when it’s much needed. Like Mike noted the two Melodies sound so well together just like any good counterpoint. Adding those flats near the end of each phrase really helps push the climax. Thx for sharing. Henry

I also might not be able to complete it by the deadlines... Guess I will do the same as you.

Consider this the official announcement of the MMC. If you are wondering what this, you are in luck. The MMC is aimed for those who are new to craft or want a redresser. It will be broken into several parts, and each part is broken into different units. First question: why this forum? Answer: YC is the perfect community. It has perfect balance of both seasoned and new composers. Second: Will there be assignments? Answer: Yes. As the MMC progress, you will be asked to assignments. They will get gradually increase in difficulty. Third: where should assignments be submitted Answer: Do the same as you would for contest...that way reviewers can easily find your work that is part of masterclass. Fourth: How will be submitted assignment be reviewed. Answer: on a scoring system 0-10. Similar but different to challenges. This topic was just announced the course. P.s. If you would like participate, please reply to this by saying: I am interested or something. Once I know how many, we can start.