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Hello Everyone! Today, I am sharing an old work of mine that I have been reorchestrating and revising: The Golden Lakes. PROGRAM NOTE: The Golden Lakes is a short and evocative work for concert band telling a story of night and day upon a lake. Inspired by the geography surrounding the home of the composer, The Golden Lakes evokes the glimmer and sparkle of light from the sun as it crests over the horizon into darkness. During the night, the lake is left vulnerable to the winds, darkness and more, ever waiting for the sun to come back and bring warmth. Originally composed in 2024, this work was commissioned by Kistler’s former band directors. In 2026, this work went under revisions by the composer in the early fall following a period of chamber works he created. This version presented to you is the piece he revised in 2026. Join the concert band as they take us into the landscape and paint us the scenes from The Golden Lakes. This work is set to be a Grade 3-4 for wind band. If you wish to know more about the work, check out the "About" section on page 4! Lastly, if you enjoyed this work, leave a reaction and a comment detailing your thoughts! AUDIO_Golden Lakes.mp3 SCORE_GoldenLakes.pdf

Hi all, I'm overjoyed to share a recording of this plece played by my dear friend @Vasilis Michael ! He completely captures the calmness and serenity of the piece with many details, and he plays the piece better than I do, and he understands the piece more than I do, and he excavated something from the piece I don't. What an honor to have such a great friend playing this great recording of my piece!! Thank you Vasilis! Henry

Wait, what? One of my favorite composers in this forum, Vasilis's piece is played by one of my highly regarded pianists, Henry? Great, this is a good day, I can say that, certainly. Hey, Henry, well done — this is well played and beautiful. This performance breathes life into the piece even more. As for the composition itself, Vasilis, as I said, amazing. So amazing. Thank you, thank you for sharing this!! Shout out to both of you guys! Best, Lithl.

Nice little waltz. Some pointers: this is actually simply in F minor, which has 4 flats in the key signature. The raised 7th is very standard in minor key music and part of the harmonic minor scale, nothing modal about it, especially not phrygian. All those G sharps and C sharps would be spelled as A flats and D flats as well, and those pedal markings would not work on a real piano because it would just muddy up the sound. Repedalling every measure is pretty safe here. You don't need rehearsal markings; those are for rehearsals with multiple performers, but this is for solo piano. "legato" being on both staves is unnecessary. "Normal" is not a marking that appears in piano literature anywhere; if you want the legato to stop, either remove the legato and slur the passage, or where you have "normal", put "non-legato". I also feel that since the chord progression and motivic content repeats ad nauseam throughout the piece, it doesn't really merit being over 5 minutes long, but that is my opinion. Since it seems you also feel it's too long, here's what I would suggest. Remove a section, or more. I think this could work as a simple Ternary form or Rondo for example. And make the different sections contrast with eachother Listen to this beautiful waltz for solo guitar by Barrios and pay close attention Agustin Barrios Mangore's "Vals Op. 8, No. 3" played by Raphaël Feuillâtre on a 2020 Julia Wenzel it has a very clear structure: an introduction followed by the A section in D minor, which goes twice. Then onto the B section, also in D minor, but notice how he switches the new section up, even when in the same key: completely different rhythms and motifs, different register, different chord progression, etc. This section also goes twice. Then a brief return to the A section, going only once. After that, he switches to D major for a huge contrast in the C section, basing itself on one of the motifs from the B section, and this section is itself in a mini ternary form, before it transitions back to the A section and closes. For your piece, I wouldn't attempt to modulate like this piece does, since you don't quite yet have the skill to do so successfully, so keep it simple in scope. I hope this helps.

Hello! I need to go to sleep, so I will just tell you my first impressions! (I will come back, probably) Very good, thick textures! I like it! Seems very American in style, I love the flute part and the timpani part. The timpani part reminded me of Shostakovich 7th Symphony for no reason. The second theme seems interesting, it definitely feels fun! Igtg tho or my dad's gonna kill me... Bye! -TristanTheTristan (unfinished)

Hi! Thank you very much for your thoughtful comments. I only started posting pieces on forums a couple of days ago and it's a real thrill for me to get indepth commentary such as yours. I love that you share your intial reaction of surprise about certain aspects and that you then see how these aspects make more sense as the piece develops. I say this because it mirrors my own experience: when I write pieces I play around with a lot of ideas and it's all a bit disjoineted and messy and then I gradually find ways of threading everything together and end up with results that surprise me, or take time to make sense, and also find myself doing things I wouldn't have ever done deliberately in order to adapt to the needs of the piece that's emerging (like these slightly "empty" bars in 10, 26, 36 and right at the end.) I also got the sense that the end was a bit short and I could have doubled it, making it more dense in the second part, but I tend to err on the side of caution in terms of keeping things simple and limpid and it might be worth reassessing that habit in this case. Most of all, I loved that you got this sense of it being "lifeless, but in a good way." I must say I was a tiny bit piqued for a few seconds until it struck me that it was spot on, another way of describing my overall feeling about the mood of the piece which is something like "surveying the first rays of dawn after having been up all night..." In fact I could have integrated that idea into the title somehow instead of opting for one which is perhaps a bit enigmatic. Anyway, thanks again for your comments, very much appreciated.

Hello, Welcome to the forum. I'll share some thoughts, having listened to it 3-4x now. I was very confused in the opening bars when you go I/V and then hit the listener with a very sudden i. But then, this decision seems to pay off when the piece takes off and like 75% of the piece has this idea of shifting maj/minor tonalities. Bar 9 seems a bit empty, though as the piece progresses, I think the idea starts to make more sense. So, you do something similar at bar 26 and again at bar 36, and you sort of finish the piece with this idea. So I want to be careful with my feedback...since this seems integral to the structure of your piece. m21 sounds pretty cool. m28 things really start taking off, the opening bars start to make more sense now. m48, the LH part of the chord is real nice. Personally, the ending seems way too abrupt. In my opinion you got this nice, almost hyponotic sort of pulse going and it just ends all of a sudden. Even if you just faded out (which I guess is more of a modern convention, they probably didn't do fade outs in Beethovan's day), that might work better. Someone recently posted a piece about trying to make piece about a lifeless doll. I don't know what it is about your piece...but it seems sort of lifeless? But in a good way! Hope that helps.

As of now, my best work! Hope you enjoy

My dear friend, indeed, this collaboration was a dream come true. It was an enormous honour and joy for me. And, as always, I want to thank you for your support and your wonderful words. May you always be well, my dear friend!

I can see a lovely collaboration here! I enjoyed it. I didn't check this piece of yours, Henry, but it sounds awesome. I love your performance too, by the way. And... Vasilis — your interpretation is right in the middle. Your touch and Pianoteq make a wonderful, gentle atmosphere. I don't know why, but when I listen to your playing, I feel warm vibes like autumn colors or something like that. Hey Henry, this piece is now under Mr. Vasilis Michael's magic, huh!? Beautiful, both of you guys! Please feed me such stuff if you guys have an opportunity in the future 😊 Best, Lithl.

Hi @Lucky ! Thx a lot for your engraving suggestion! I know it’s one of my major weakness and I look to improve it! I even got a copy of the book myself! Thank you! This complement is more than enough for me! Henry

Seeing as how a lot of the pieces posted here are more classically based...I will share something that I wrote during my own "romantic" era. For many years I did not listen to these pieces...aside from the music, there are events/stories that happened in my own personal life related to the music that made thinking about pieces too painful. But I think that it has been therapeutic to discuss and share music with you all in the past few months. So here it is. I wrote this when I was much more younger, much more angsty and had more hair. I am most proud of movement 3...if you only had time for one of these, please listen to no3. It's my baby. It's one of those pieces where I can die happy knowing that I did at least one nice thing in my life. Sadly I don't even know if I have the actual sheet music anymore, might have been lost to time. But the bare bones notation remains. I was a bit obsessed with the Chopin ballades when I wrote these, I ended up learning Ballade no 1, no 3 and no 4. So I've always felt like movement 1/2/3 sort of corresponded with the 3 ballades I learned. Anyways, hope that you guys enjoy...my technique has not been great these days, probably can't really play these pieces anymore in my old(er) age.

Nice, I listened to both. I think I prefer your version Vasilis. I don't know why, but measure 15/55 sound off to me. Measure 55, more than measure 15. I was wondering why and thus looked a bit closer at the sheet music. Perhaps it's because you usually change the chords around for the 1-2-3 (quarter/quarter/half), set up...but on measure 15 and 55...you skip that pattern and simply go for a pure repeat of the chords with no variation. It's like my brain is expecting it to have a slight Schubertian change in the chord, but it doesn't happen. I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing, but something that stood out...a little bit when I listened. Since you are obviously a talented composer, I thought that I'd be a bit more nitpicky than usual with my feedback. Hope it helps in some way. Loved it overall. Classical music lives on!

My dear Henry, I am truly touched by your beautiful words and by this lovely gesture! ❤️ It is such a joy and an honour to have the opportunity to share your music with others. There is something profoundly moving about this particular piece, something that touches both of us so deeply. Perhaps it is because it carries within it a glimpse of Schubert’s world — that delicate mixture of tenderness, longing, nostalgia and quiet melancholy that speaks directly to the heart. It feels as though a little fragment of that beautiful Schubertian universe has found its way into your music. And I think this is something we both feel and cherish so deeply. The more I explored your composition, the more little details and emotions I discovered within it. I believe that when we truly connect with a piece of music, we can sometimes reveal things that perhaps even surprise its own creator. But all this beauty comes from you and your wonderful musical imagination! Thank you, dear friend, not only for your beautiful music but also for your kindness, generosity and friendship. I feel very fortunate to have met you through music. Sending you my warmest wishes and a big hug! ❤️

Throughout my experience as a student and as a self-taught musician in various areas of music, one thing has become very clear to me. There are two types of educators, of teachers: those who theorize endlessly (and have never composed anything) and those who are actual composers. I don’t mean to say that just because someone is a composer, they’ll automatically be a good teacher. This year, I’ve been fortunate enough to have a teacher of orchestration. He’s also a composer by profession. And he doesn’t follow or directly recommend any book, treatise, or anything of the sort.... He says—and he’s right—that the real learning comes from the scores themselves. The most valuable thing I’m learning is how to find solutions to the things I want to orchestrate, rather than formulas for instrument combinations, etc. And I want to give an example that has caught my attention recently. I was listening to Otello by G. Verdi. And I noticed that, no matter what’s happening in the score—which is a lot and quite complex—there’s a pedal in the low register of the organ with three notes in a cluster: C, C-sharp, and D. This pedal lasts six and a half minutes!! And you can hear it in the background, especially with headphones and, I imagine, in a live performance. Why did Verdi write this? Why doesn’t it clash horribly with the rest of the music? These are the questions I’ve learned to answer. What do you think of this musical device?

My dear friend, thank you so much for your kind words and, above all, for your wonderful support. I truly enjoyed it immensely. There is nothing more beautiful than hearing your compositions performed by such fine musicians and seeing them appreciated so much. Once again, thank you both from the bottom of our hearts.🙏🙏🙏

Hello fellow composers! I wanted to share a short piece I wrote called Forest Path. With this piece, I was trying to evoke the feeling of walking along a quiet trail through a dense forest — something intimate, peaceful, and reflective, with a sense of gentle exploration. As with my previous pieces, I’ve been trying to focus on melody, orchestral color, and restraint. The goal was to create a warm, lyrical atmosphere using relatively transparent textures and gentle harmonic movement, rather than relying on large dramatic gestures or extensive development. I’m continuing to experiment with writing short, self-contained pieces that establish a distinct musical character without becoming overly complicated. One of my goals with this project is to improve my ability to write memorable melodies and use orchestration to support the atmosphere and expression of the music. I’m particularly interested in whether the musical ideas feel engaging throughout, despite the relatively simple structure and restrained writing. I’d also welcome any thoughts on areas where the piece could be developed or refined. Thanks in advance for listening! Forest Path - CONCERT SCORE Ver 1 YT.pdf

Here I am delighted to share a recording of my sonata, beautifully performed by my dear friend @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu I feel truly honoured by this wonderful gesture, and I cannot thank him enough for the time, care and generosity he has devoted to bringing my music to life. Dear Henry, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are not only a remarkable composer but also an outstanding pianist, and knowing that you have chosen to perform a sonata that I dedicated to you makes this occasion even more special and meaningful to me. I feel deeply grateful and honoured. Thank you, my dear friend! Vasilis Sonata no.27 1st Nov 2026.mp3

Hello. It's been a while since i last posted here. Today I am back with a new piano sketch. Hope to get some good honest constructive critique on this work in progress. Thanks :) The Day Tomorrow Died draft2 wip - Bjarke Tan - Flow 1.mp3 The day tomorrow died revision 1.9 score.pdf

I enjoyed listening to this. I’m far from the best person to analyze other people’s music, but here are some thoughts on what I heard. First, I think you should just call this f minor and write it as such. Phrygian dominant would have a g flat, I believe. (But I haven’t worked with modes in years and you might have a different reason for not putting this is f minor.) Add accidentals for the natural minor as needed. It will still give the sound you are looking for and make it much easier for a piano player to read. Also, is that a tie on the top note of each pair of notes on beats 2 and 3? It doesn’t sound like it is in the recording. I think they are not necessary and I found them distracting when playing through the piece. I like the themes. They are pleasing to the ear, at least to mine. There could probably be a little more variety. Measures 13-14 do reverse the direction of the tune, but it’s still rhythmically the same, and I wonder if that is giving enough sense of “new material”. Also, it’s in the same key. (This is a problem I have writing music — trying to keep things familiar but not beating any dead horses). How about putting something in a related key, maybe a major or try reversing measures 13 and 14, so you would have the new phrase start with three quarter notes. How about putting in some theme that has wider intervals. You have mostly step-wise motion the whole way through with the exception of a few jumps in the octave section. I think measure 39 and following have the more successful new material. Good variety but the key is still intact, so it’s provides some connection (again, for my ears, can’t speak for others). Maybe don’t use repeats for measures 63 / E section. The listeners’ ears will be well-familiar with the ideas by that point. Finally, I vote for an authentic cadence to at the end. It sounds unfinished. Like I said, just some thoughts I had.

Hey my Vasilis! I feel bad not to reply earlier since this piece is dedicated to me! For me at first I find the piece humorous to listen to, but only by playing it I realise all the details and contrast of different passages. This piece is again primarily Scarlattian and Schubertian, the energy and phrasing is Scarlattian while the harmony, like the modal texture and Augmented sixths, neopolitan sixths are Schubertian. I really enjoy playing it! It’s much more difficult than the score appears since there are lots of details. Also I occasionally ignore your markings because I feel the piece in a different way haha. For example in section B I feel like the piece can be more dramatic, so I ignore the decrescendos. Thx a lot for dedicating this piece to me! Henry

Thank you so much for your wonderful words, my dear friend! I truly appreciate your kindness and the time you took to listen so carefully and share your thoughts. I would also like to make clear that my intention was never to create any kind of comparison between Henry and myself. Quite the opposite! My only wish was to serve this beautiful piece as best I could and bring out as much of its beauty and musical expression as possible. It was a genuine pleasure and privilege to perform it. Thank you once again for your lovely words and your friendship. It means a lot to me!

I've written many love songs over the years for specific individuals. This is...really just another love the song. The opening notes are supposed to represent how my heart stopped and fluttered when I saw her and hopefully my feelings for her will now be immortalized on the internet. I noticed that people don't seem to post too many love songs on this forum...but which one of us have not written a love song at some point in our lives? I wrote this one earlier this year and got around to recording it last weekend. Trying some new formats. I notice that a lot of people here don't tend to post live pieces. Do people like having the sheet music, vs watching someone play? Let me know....Recorded on a Bechstein Grand. I might try to add the sheets in so you can see my hands playing and the sheet music, if people feel this is a nicer format

Thanks for the kind words, friend. Once again...very humbled to have conjured up images/feelings of Bill Evans for you. I have not heard of Living Time. I had a listen on youtube...it sounds a bit more avant garde, perhaps more up your alley! For some reason, it reminded me of parts of the SimCity2000 sound track. I love the track titles... Event I/Event II, brilliant! I am going to have to take some to digest it all. Once again, thanks again for giving me something to chew on. For now, really liking Event VI. Very funk/rock and roll jazz feel! You bring up a great point about sheet music. This is something so obvious that I did not even consider. I really appreciate you sharing that point, it helps me much more than you might know. If you ever write a love song one day, please do share it! This forum needs more love songs (in my opinion).

Hello, This is great. I usually try to listen to your pieces when you drop a new one. This one feels a bit different, in a good way. Love the out of tune piano to start. Really digging the rapidly shifting colors that you are putting out there. I almost feel like I am listening to impressionistic music with through the lens of a solid classical music foundation. I could be wrong, but it feels like you are perhaps experimenting a bit? P.S. I personally adore Schubert D960.

Stunning stuff from what I hear! Some people seem to complain a little bit about it not going anywhere, but I think I can see the very slow development of it from my perspective at least, and I don't got any comment on the actual composition. Generally, the composition is great I just have some small nitpicks on the engraving that I think would go a long way in making the score look more professional/ be more readable to others. All of this is easily fixable, like changing how the instruments are displayed on each system. From movements 2-3 there's a small line connection thing that joins like instruments, but that aspect isn't consistent in the first movement where like instruments aren't connected to each other. Consistency in that, in my opinion, would help in making sure the score looks like one full composition. I would also note some collisions. There are places throughout the score where the slur comes fully in contact with the notehead or articulation, and this leads to less clarity in the engraving. Dynamics are also not aligned consistently. There was a spot (forgot the timestamp) where the middle dynamic was positioned far down from the hairpins which might result in less clarity for musicians reading this piece. Dynamics are also on occasion closer to the part below it or so close to its part that. In fact, there's a lot of compactness in the score and not a lot of room for conductors or performers to write down notes or see things quickly with clarity. I think a potential fix here is to increase vertical space between parts and decrease vertical space between some systems where there is a large blank space (nothing crazy though to make sure each system is still separate. If possible, I would also add a system divider.) You could also scale staff space down by some small amount to make for more space, but don't go crazy otherwise it might be so minimized it's not legible at a distance. If you would like, I have a full engraving book pdf called "Behind The Bars" that I could send you just to look through. I think doing this would help in getting your, quite frankly, amazing work get played live or be published professionally. Again, amazing composition, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from you!

“Moreshka” is one of the musical illustrations to Max Dalin’s novel “The Bonfire and the Salamander”. It is a folk dance of the Coastland, one of the countries in the novel’s fantasy world. Imagine a southern port city at the beginning of the 20th century: its people, its life, and of course its music. What you will hear here is the music of the city’s lower classes, the kind that was played in the streets, in taverns, and on town squares. A dance of fishermen and sailors. In terms of melodic character, I deliberately tried to create something that sounds both familiar and national, yet at the same time neutral. Of course, you will hear echoes of Russian, Moldavian, Jewish, and Romanian melos. However, I avoided any overly obvious stylization. Imagine some folk festival where ordinary people are celebrating. And tell me, did it work? =)

This is my piano miniature. In this music, I wanted to capture the image of a doll or a figurine: a cold, lifeless kind of beauty... But is it really lifeless? =)

Thank you. That’s a very interesting take: a doll playing on winter nights. I love it :) Best regards, Alex

Yup, they are 陸王心學 instead of Zhu XI's 理學. And I really love them! I didn't go through them one by one, but I did read some Chinese philosophy books so I can basically grasp their thoughts. And their thoughts are essential in this piece of music. Thank you! I love that section too, it's definitely the climax of the 1st movement! I'm not that knowledgeable about Chinese music either so I don't know why I write like this, but in case the product is good it's good haha. But the Chinese spirit is true, I write this piece totally because I'm inspired by Chinese philosophy. Yeah again I don't know how I wrote that! Thank you! Thank you! Henry

I've already listened to this piece of yours, but I didn't give you feedback. Now, it's time to do so! My first impression was, "Tasty, this is a great composition." Really great, man — you've composed a great one! Around 12:35 was a so shining and beautiful section throughout listening to the whole piece. I don't know why, but I felt some kind of Chinese music spirit in that section. (Sorry, I'm not knowledgeable about Chinese music, but, you know.) Also, I loved how 40:00 was unique. I liked it. Nice, man, hats off to you, Henry! Oh! I know Lu Jiuyuan! He eventually influenced Wang Yangming, right? And... I know Zhu Xi, Zhou Dunyi, Xunzi, Zou Yan, and Song Yingxing, haha. I knew about them through learning history. Best, Lithl.

Me. I've never written a single love song in my life. That is because no one wants to receive my noisy music 😅 But maybe someday? If I get a "beautiful musical spirit". Honestly, watching someone play is better for me. One reason is that I can glimpse their individual spirit a bit. On the Internet, it is difficult to get their character, so it helps me to understand not only their music but also themselves even better. Another reason is... "I CAN'T READ SHEET MUSIC!", haha. It's very personal since most of you guys can read it. As for this piece of yours and the video itself, I have already commented on your video, as you know. Have a wonderful day, grant. Oh, also, glad to know you love Bill Evans. I really love him too. He definitely has — hard to explain — unique and lovely, gentle, harmonic textures, touch, and tone, really great. I love him... He is one of the few musicians whose music, even when I hear clipping in his album, I not only don't care, but I couldn't care because I am totally indulged. Have you ever listened to the album "Living Time"? That is different from his main musical spirit, but it is also an amazing one. I talked too much, sorry, haha. Best, Lithl.

Hello, Since you are looking for feedback on the images your piece evokes I will share some thoughts. measure 1 - it feels very playful for me. measure 17 - I get this very specific feeling of a sense of wonder and hardship measure 25 - this part feels especially dance like measure 36 - it gets a bit goofy here measure 52 - it ends on a playful note for me. The piece is very nice, it doesn't feel too lifeless to me.

Hi @MinGry , thanks for clarifying the intention. Of course, with that in mind, many of my comments become irrelevant :-), but it was a fun and interesting exercise anyway. And yes, I agree that if it gets played, that's finally an excellent achievement, I agree! Take care, Julien

@mazeth Thanks a lot for taking the time to play through the pieces and write such an extensive review! Did want to clarify something regarding the simplicity of the accompaniment. That was quite intentional across the collection. After working on more formally structured sonatinas, I enjoy writing something more simple in between. It's especially fun to think pieces like this might actually get played by someone which is exciting! To address measure 6 of the first piece I am actually curious about what people think about this. From the perspective of harmony you are absolutely right it should be an F# instead of Gb. What made me write Gb is just creating visual stepwise motion between the lines. I am not sure if my logic is justified in that haha! To address the measure 10 G natural. I tried to play around with minor melodic scale which is why I decided to go with G natural. While using a Major V to have a stronger pull back to i. I am not sure how classical this is of course, just trying to explain the thought process! Thanks again for the comment!

A "witty" "charming" work with a nice friendly "glow"! Mark

A lovely song. A very passionate composition that suits this style of romantic song perfectly.

Hi @MinGry I put myself behind the piano and tried jamming a bit on it. Here are my first impressions: Piece 1: - mm. 1-23: - The melody material is interesting. - I found the accompaniment too simplistic: the chords are too obvious and they lack some "colours". What I did while jamming was to create a pedal, by keeping the A at the bass (along with the chords you use, E, Dm, Am), and adding some colours on the way, e.g.: Dm6... I would also make it more "lively" by replacing the half-notes at the bass by continuing the eigth progression. I always found that creating a good accompaniment - one which is interesting and that "promotes" the melody - was the hardest part, so don't dispair, you're not alone. - mm. 24-28, I liked the transition: simple and short, with an interesting third voice. - mm. 29+, good to fall back on the melody, but I felt it was a bit too early to repeat the exact same pattern: I would recommend to add a bit of variation (either in the rhythm, the accompaniment or the melody itself) - m6: I believe F sharp would be more correct than G flat (as you're temporarily in the A scale) - m10: last note of the treble, I felt G sharp would be more appropriate than G? Piece 2: - overall, pleasant simple piece, with an agreeable melody --> I feel it had less potential than in the first piece, it didn't inspire me as much. - the accompaniment is also very simplistic, which makes it an excellent piece for beginners. - the end of the score doesn't correspond to the music Piece 3: - again an interesting melody. - the bass is more elaborate, but would deserve some more colours. Typically, when you play a chord e.g.: m. 11, try not to start with the same note as in the melody, and try as well to not always start by the fundamental of the chord (F is this case, which you could have replaced by an A - also part of the F chord. In m. 12, the bass could start with a B flat, making your chord a C7, ideal to then reach your chord F in m.13 - also an interesting chromatic progression at the bass) - in m8, you introduce some dissonances (C and C sharp), that may well suit a jazz piece, but I felt it didn't fit very well with the overall athmosphere of the piece. I tried a C9 - starting with a D and descending, I felt it fit better. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed discovering your work, and playing around melodies of pieces 1 and 3! Take care, Julien

A curious and lovely piece. You’ve made good use of the piano’s range. At first, the very high register can be a bit tiring, but this is soon offset. It would probably sound good on a celesta, an instrument we associate with this sort of scene.

I listened to your composition and really liked it. The melody is expressive, the texture is interesting, and so is the orchestration. It turned out to be an excellent piece!

“Vampiress” (a city song from the cycle of musical illustrations to Max Dalin’s novel “The Bonfire and the Salamander”) Music by Alexander Khomenko Lyrics by Konstantin Chiganov Lyrics: They told me: “You love a corpse, you fool.” Did you think decay would make me flee? The bite of her lips, so cold and cruel, And I will have the last laugh, you’ll see. The graveyard is a twilit garden’s gloom, The tomb, our bridal chamber, waits. Her hair’s sunset lights up the coffin’s room, And on that bed my strength abates... Her fangs gleam sinless in the night, Her crimson eyes make a vow: Undying love, and by their light Hell and heaven are nothing now! Our wondrous path, our frozen sleep, To catch the thread of fate and blood! Love Twilight’s princesses, love deep, And drink not wine, but life, a flood! (translation by Claude)

Nice work, I’m doing this on my phone on the way back from a performance so I can’t really do much in depth at the moment, But there are some nice moments in the music with the winds and the ambient pacing. I would put more things to add texture if I were you though

Thank you very much – and, haha, I do not recognize the dissonances that much. But good to know that I’m just far enough away from „simple harmonies“, so that I must not exaggerate with dissonances much more! That’s nice to hear. At first, I wanted to develop the fugato further to a usual climax and ending. But, since its flow had already been „disrupted“ twice by the second and third stanzas of the poem, I decided to conclude the piece with a recapitulation of the opening „improvisation“, to finally come home to the key of Bb major. I was not sure about that decision, since that recap has a much more melancholic mood than one would expect for the task to depict a bright summer day. So I really appreciate that you – and some others – enjoyed that particular section. Yes, this kind of “orchestra” is indeed a bit weird (or “diverse”, as you politely called it). I use the YCF competitions to experiment with instrumentation while orchestrating my pieces, which I usually compose (initially) for solo piano. And since the competition rules limit the amount of instruments or players to five, I had to figure out how to achieve the greatest possible variety of colors: I needed a melody instrument and a substitute for the human voice, so I used the trumpet both with and without a mute. The cello and guitar provide the “orchestra” with the bass and rhythmic foundation. The piano remains as an accompanying instrument, but being paired with the accordion, which—in my opinion—is the most important instrument for the piece to produce a somewhat „French“ mood. Thank you, that is a great compliment for me and proves that I was not as wrong with the „weird“ accordion idea! Fortunately, yes—I won third prize in that competition.

Hi YC members, hope everything is going well with you. Today, I got the idea to start this topic: the best pieces you have listened to in 2026 so far. I don't mean you have to only mention pieces released in 2026 — but the best pieces you have listened to in 2026 as of now. I'd like to share: Jon Appleton's "Homage To Orpheus". Makoto Ueno "Preludes, Livre 2, CD 131: No. 10, Canope". Also, this piece as well: Ben Nobuto's "Hope Spiral". My friend @CrystalCanon told me about him, and I immediately fell in love — please check him out! Thanks, CrystalCanon! Well, I actually have many more pieces, but that's all for now. Next, it's your turn — what are yours!?

Wow that sounds really great and the intro seems so familiar but the main tune so unique.

A really enjoyable piece, Alexx. It all flows smoothly from one section to the next. There’s good balance between the parts and good sound production. I especially like your phrasing. I think waltzes can be kind of stagnant if the phrases adhere to the 1, 2, 3 beats to much, but you seemed to have broken the phrases up just enough to give it all a nice forward momentum. Really good listening to this.

I would heavily recommend starting with an introductory textbook on harmony, such as this one by the ABRSM which you can view for free. The counterpoint you're interested in (18th-century counterpoint) is essentially the usage and adaptation of (16th century) contrapuntal techniques in the context of harmony, so detailed knowledge of the latter is absolutely essential.

Very high degree of Spanish influences, shifting rhythmic syncopation and time signatures and Phrygian mode. You clearly know what you're doing. This is a very pianistic piece, despite never having written for piano before. All of the chords and embellishments fall easily under the hand, and you're careful to give time for the performer to breathe. I'm still quite an amateur in terms of compositional technique, but I would say as a pianist this is a very fine start to writing for piano. I would recommend exploring the instrument's capabilities a little bit more in order to balance out the edge. You could, for example, have added some of the lower bass notes in the left hand accompaniment for bars 23 - 24. Since they're so low and resonate for a significantly longer time, they give a much richer, ringing tone quality to your staccatos. Not to mention, it helps to activate the resonators in the piano, leading to a much richer tone in general, and it lends to a much more powerful and dramatic effect. However, this is still a very well thought out composition.

sorry to necro a dead thread, but I was just checking my socials when I remembered this post! I actually just had this piece recorded by the principal strings at the Bolshoi Theatre, believe it or not!! They're definitely worthy musicians lol, so here's a link in case you're interested: https://youtu.be/SIrKsoVDBKU