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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

Good job my dear Henry. Always aprecciate your work. Well done

I would get to Transcendent rank in a much quicker pace if I posted like you haha.

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

Hi @Krisp Papa Jean! I always enjoying your composition and singing and this one is in no exception. I really love the color you use in the whole piece. The chromatic harmony is fascinating, the low register secco marcatos and stacatissimo from the piano in the first section, the more diatonic and flowing passage in 1:26 gives a really great contrast to the previous section. It's interesting in 0:58 when the lyrics is "Scales Old scales" there is a scale playing from the piano. The repetition of the Digadoden with the secco staccatos and low register notes (and later sweeter legatos) is very well managed. The ending is really nice as well, as I thought it would end in a false dream and serenity but finally it ends with what begins the piece. Thx very much for sharing! Henry

Hi @Markus Boyd ! A nice Classical String Quartet which displays great writing skills for chamber music, I like all those passages when all instruments are given their voice. B.99 of 1st movement sounds really interesting to me for a delaying of the recapitulation. It's interesting to revisit an old work for a revision right? I only know that when I'm revisiting my Clarinet Quintet in recent days. One sidenote: I still enjoy Noteperformer more than Musecore sounds especially for strings---Musescore always automatically add slides between non slur notes in different strings which sounds a bit off to me. Thx for sharing! Henry

As stated in the title, I've been recently experimenting with ways to add more voices to Bach's 14 canons (BWV 1087) based on the multiple contrapuntal transformations of the harmonic bassline of the Goldberg Variations' Aria. Despite being derived from the tonally transposed inversion of that main theme, the so-called "Theme 2" has been kept separate across this whole compendium since it isn't contrapuntally compatible with its inversion when also retrogradated, syncopated or played with "per arsin et thesin" imitation simultaneously. Had the latter not resulted in whole segments of parallel ocatves, an 8-voice "omnibus" canon might have been possible, but that seems to be out of the scope of these musical materials without significant alterations that would render their canonic accompaniment non-imitative and thus, non-canonic at all. There is one canon from the original that is conspicuously absent from this recollection and that is the penultimate, 13th variation: a triple canon a 6 so densely packed and finely tuned in its original conception that adding more voices without irrecognizably altering the basic structure of the others turned out to be practically impossible. Almost like Bach himself knew this one canon, in its apparent simplicity yet brilliantly complex counterpoint, was the worthiest and most perfect when he chose to be depicted holding it for his portrait. Admittedly, this video would have been better suited for this year's 276th anniversary of Bach's passing (July 27th). However, due to my tightly packed schedule this summer, I find it highly unlikely I'll be able to post anything in time to commemorate that date, hence why I'm posting this video as soon as possible in order to leave room for focusing on my final exams. Lastly, it would be short of an understatement to recognize late Gerubach's video on the 14 Canons proved invaluable to my understanding, research and tinkering with these canons, as well as the core material of much of Bach's repertoire as a whole. Some of his most laborious contributions have since been taken down after his passing more tha three years ago now in 2023, such as for example the scrolling video on the Art of the Fugue. The quality of my scrolling certainly doesn't come anywhere close to his standards, and yet, as poor and humble a homage this may be, I have chosen to honor his memory and the tireless spirit of his countless contributions by acknowledging at the very least the gargantuan influence he has had on the accessible spread of Bach's music and its myriad intricacies. YouTube video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g00QMPNDyY Google Drive folder link (full score + audio): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1J8NblMrM6T-3muEjVO4j8TKspVfyzDuk?usp=sharing J. S. Bach - 14 canons Vocibus Pluribus Additis.mp3 J. S. Bach - 14 canons Vocibus Pluribus Additis.pdf

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

Hey Peter, I enjoy this one more than the no.1 one, probably since if I were Julia, I would enjoy a more sugary Rachmaninoffian style than any compositional thoughts haha *0*. This one sounds Brahmsian to me though because of how you handle the motive with saturation. Nice ending as well. Henry

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

“Good evening, dear friends. Here is the scherzo from my third Sonata. I hope you like it.”

NEW TEMPO AND MATERIAL! NEW TEMPO 4=140!!! Exposition done.