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I'll try to see if I can come up with something, but no promises it'll be done in time...

Thanks for posting @Sebastian Guzman ! It's been a while since I've listened to the Liszt B minor Sonata, but I am definitely getting vibes of it here (most assuredly from your B-octave motif). Your musical language in this work does feel very Lisztian to me, which is inclusive of the harmony and the piano textures, and that I mostly do mean as a compliment. I'm curious to know what other influences/inspirations you may have had while writing this movement though, as some sections do seem to draw from other wells of musical ideas (e.g. the harmonic movements in b. 91-105 felt distinctly modern to me). I confess that I am not really in a position to offer super helpful advice but I hope you'll find this useful anyway. I also don't mean any suggestion as an attack on your writing, of course, but as an exchange of ideas that you could optionally disregard :) Exposition The B-octave motif is very reminiscent of one of the motifs in the B minor Sonata, haha. I see that the majority of the dotted rhythm in this motif is the backbone for the rhythm of the A theme, if I am correct... I noticed in your trimmed-down video you seemed to have cut out b. 54-62 from the A theme and b. 105-118 from the B theme? Admittedly, I prefer the abridged version as I thought the material in question to be a little redundant, given that you do cover well and to great length both themes in the exposition. My thematic economy side of my brain would like to think that one should only state a theme until the listener is familiar enough with it to recognise said theme when it pops up in the development. If you wanted to keep said material for symmetry/form-related reasons/other personal preferences, though, by all means do so. I do love the B theme in all of its mellow sweetness, especially its first half. The second half of the B theme feels a bit static with the repeated notes, but coupled with the rolling left hand accompaniment, it does give a sense of floating/gliding, if that is what you desired. As I said, I quite like the harmony you move through in b. 91-105. A charming change in texture from b. 154 onwards! Development The fugato start of the development seems a bit dry? I can see where you are going with the material but I'm not super convinced by b. 164-187, though I suppose some pedal would help, or varying the articulation and texture a tad more even if a fugato. I didn't quite exactly get fugato vibes from it either, given how long the statement of the theme is. This is completely a suggestion, of course, and it is up to you as to how you'd like your sonata to work, but perhaps using only the first phrase of the theme (b. 164-166) and then building up a series of entries in other voices could be rather effective. I somewhat find this example to also be a bit dry, but I like the energy build-up of this fugato moment in the development of the fourth movement of Scriabin's Third Sonata, if you wanted something similar. Interesting, from b. 178 onwards in the fugato, you introduce another voice that is the B theme, or at least an echo of it, if I'm correct? I am a big fan of juxtaposing thematic material in the development sections of sonatas, if so... The material in b. 196-215 seems a bit overly virtuosic? I'm uncertain whether there might be some significance in the chords/harmonies you use here, but I think it'd be great to insert more of the existing thematic material in here, fragmented or whatnot. Overall, the development feels short to me, not in the least because I feel like you could've pulled out your compositional chops a bit more. Given the length of the exposition, I think this deserves a heftier development with varied treatment and inclusion of all three of the A and B themes and the B-octave motif. Trying to set the tempestuous A theme or the B-octave motif into the suave atmosphere/mood of the B theme, for example, or more chopping and changing, there are a wide variety of things you could do. Liszt can of course be a great source of ideas here! Recap Nice to restate the B-octave theme. Maybe the transition from the end of the development could be made smoother? I'm not sure though. I like the recasting of the textures in the recap of the A theme, but it feels a little airy? I'm not sure if you were going for that feel, and if you were, then I am in no place to complain. I suppose you could add some deep bass notes on the offbeats to give it a bit more body and hold them with your regular pedal, or see if the sostenuto pedal could work (though it could make the right hand arpeggios rather dry). I also appreciate the A theme being a bit shorter here... With b. 236 onwards and B theme, the energy seems to drop somewhat, with almost the exact statement of the original B theme but transposed. It is once again up to you, but you could also recap the B theme in a different texture, as you did with the A theme. I felt like the energy levels ought to have ramped up a bit more moving further and further down to match the energy of b. 282 onwards to the coda, possibly? At the moment, the ending feels mildly content with itself, though I would think the large chords and dynamics would suggest otherwise. With notation and formatting, I also admit I'm not the best person to offer advice, but there does seem to be the occasional odd things, e.g. whatever is stretching out b. 122 (the rest in the upper staff can also be removed there), the clipping of text at the end of the system at b. 248-250, and the slightly overzealous floating slur in b. 288. I've been told that with hairpins, it's best practice to state exactly which dynamic the hairpin starts and ends at, including double hairpins like < so >, but I am open to corrections. Yeah, that's most of what I have to offer with thoughts. Excellent playing, by the way, I almost forgot to mention! This already looks like a difficult sonata so far with this first movement and you interpreted it very pleasingly, at least to my ears, and in a very convincing way (though I suppose it is up to the composer yourself to decide whether it was served justice, lol).

Wow! I actually think this piece has many qualities that make it a convincing imitation of this french baroque style, so overall, very well done. Some things I want to praise is your use of ornamentation, the tempo and time signature changes in the Passacailles, solid structure, your use of the same dotted rhythmic motive throughout both movements, and occasional, but functional dissonance. There are some sections in your piece where I think that, despite this "lute" style of French Baroque you are going for, even in the non lute sections, some of the intervals are too wide (like E4 to Bb5), to the point that even if they could be rolled, or even shared by both hands, they could be slightly unidiomatic, especially with all of the ornaments going on and the different voices, so just something to think about. Another thing I want to mention, is the lack of articulation. Sure, you have ornaments, but surprisingly, as opposed to Bach's music and other baroque composers, this is actually pretty common for the French Baroque tradition, leaving it up to the performers. Overall, I think this is a great imitation, I think you did a wonderful job on this experiment, and I look forward to see where you take this piece moving on!

aight im in

Funnily enough, it's very telling of commenters who don't have much of substance to say about the overall quality of my work when they start pointing out the most banale, trivial nitpicks. Not your case by any means, but it's a relatively common occourrence in the comment sections of some my videos. Things like "this is supposed to be 3/4, not 6/8 meter" or "the panning of the background choir doesn't match that of the Cantāmus one". I wouldn't say it's a matter of reputation. I also wouldn't write such replies unless I have any observations or criticsm of substance to offer, as I believe it's a waste both of my time and that of the composer whose work I'm reviewing. Besides, this composition is technically a revised version of and older work: a repost, if you will, so I wouldn't blame more seasoned members who frequently comment on my posts for merely withholding what has already been said before. I had never tried this double-scoring method before, and I must admit it sounds as effective in rendering more human-like expression as much as it seems to pose a whole lot of work. The closest thing to this I usually do is manually inputting the exact tempo gradation values for the ritardandi at the end of each piece, since before MuseScore 4 came out there was no way to insert working rallentandi automatically into the score, or at the very least, not that I knew of. So in order to cover my tracks while still keeping those tempo markings functional, I manually alter the text format to make them invisible, even inside the program itself. That alone often turns out to be an absurdly tedious process and I hate it. At the moment I doubt I could even imagine myself inputting all those rubatos and expression markings and then subjecting those to the same formatting process without cleaving my head open in half out of exasperation. Even if the improvements were marginally or even substantially noticeable, I have much more valuable things to do with my time than attempt to "humanize" the recording manually. The mere thought of engaging in such a tiresome toil for a result that could far more accurately and naturally be replicated through MIDI input or a simple performance recording sends me quite aback. I've heard of this software before. A Discord user by the name of @grpnr1345 applied the software's protocol's to one of my earlier fugues under the same guise, and the results were mixed for me, because the sampling and reverb values were just deplorable, turning the overall timbral quality of the piece essentially into a downgrade, but the altered recording itself, as well as the intricacies of its transformation, felt rather convincing. For context, the audio file in question has been attached to this post. Lastly, thank you kindly for your detailed review. As for the software you mentioned, you're free to apply the Lilypond protocol to my score whenever you feel like it or have time for it. It will most definitely be interesting to see how different users of the same software modify music in the same style, so you have my full permission and encouragement to "humanize" the recording as you see fit. Fugue in G-sharp minor No. 17 Pablo Marinero Cueto 2023 - Zell 1737.mp3 Fugue in G-sharp minor #17.pdf

I'll join

me me me. I intend!

Hi everyone! I'm currently working on a 4 movement Piano Sonata in E minor, and I've already written the first movement, at around a little over 10 minutes in length alone. Im 15 years old, and although I'm a classically trained pianist studying at the peabody preparatory, I'm a self taught composer, so I'd appreciate any feedback on notation, structure, and really anything else that could benefit the piece, which could help me refine further. The piece is in sonata form, with the A and B themes in the exposition both lasting from m.1-163 (A - m.1-82, B - m.83-163), a development section (with a brief 24 measure Fugato on the main theme from m.21-37) lasting from m.164-219, and then the recap from m.220-293. The piece goes through many modulations, occasional complex polyrhythms, chromaticism, complex late-romantic/impressionist harmonies, cross-staff textures, delayed resolutions, distant key relationships, using "deceptive" major keys, and it ends the exposition in B major, the dominant, rather than G major the relative major. The development begins with the fugato in D# minor, and then after going through A# minor, G# minor, Ab major, breaking the fugato, and E major, it begins the recap back in E minor, moving through a few more keys to finally reach E major in the end. For this sonata, I'm very inspired by liszt (both his more virtuosic showpieces and his more introspective late works), especially with how he uses thematic development and combines "mephisto" drama with lyrical spirituality. In the beginning of my piece, you have the main motive of the entire piece, what I call the "B octave motive", since it's just octaves in both hands repeating the note B, but this single motive (both rhythmically and melodically) can be found in almost every section of the piece, from the tempestuous A theme, to the spiritual, watery and flowing B theme. The polar opposite contrast between the A and B themes creates both immense technical and musical demands for the performer, while still being idiomatic. Additionally, many of the ideas in this sonata, come from my own improvisations over the years, which I think helps give me a little bit of a distinct voice, but I'd like to know the perspectives of others. As I already mentioned, all feedback is appreciated! Note: the first link is me playing a slightly cut version of the exposition, and links 2 and 3 show me playing the parts I cut out from the first link. Links: https://youtu.be/MyptBsYMNiw https://youtube.com/shorts/-kIa8oVrUg4 https://youtube.com/shorts/_eLFRSilBzs https://youtube.com/shorts/_lOHz4Nz5qE https://youtu.be/qlEPGqwAq64 Piano Sonata in E Minor - Full Score.pdf

Hiihiiii!!! This is my submission for the Spring 2026 Landscapes Competition :) For my landscape, I've chosen the mountains of Zhangjiajie, China. The first time that I saw these mountains, I was awestruck by just the sheer scale of them. Massive peaks and towers, overgrown with centuries-old moss, reaching beyond the clouds. Really just gorgeous. I wanted to try to write about them. The piece starts off zoomed outwards, depicting the sparseness of the clouds, until eventually, a melody begins to creep towards the first real theme--which I call the garden theme. The focus is on the garden now, zoomed in, it's a sort of natural oasis along the side of one of the tall mountainous pillar. It's beautiful, lush, full, until the garden begins to die as winter comes. The harmony because sparse and vague again, with large spontaneous gusts of wind... just very dry sounding overall. That is, until months later, the clouds darken, promising a heavy storm. Anticipation builds, until eventually, rain comes pouring down, so densely that it's almost like a wall. It's the first rain of spring!!! After the rain settles down, the garden comes to life again with the re-entry of the garden theme!! The piece ends as the focus zooms back out onto the clouds, and the tension finally resolves again. My goal with the piece was to try to represent the life cycle of the plant life out in the setting of Zhangjiajie. I hope you all like it !!!! AmidstTheCloudsAndFlowers.mp3 AmidstTheCloudsAndFlowers.pdf

Hellloooo! This is my submission for the Landscapes competition. For my landscape i have chosen the Italian mountainous region of the Lombardy. The instrumentation is (supposed to be) 1 Cornetto and 3 Sackbuts, but there is also the possibility of other instruments like a consort of viols or a broken consort.LOB 64 Padovana et Gagliarda Detta la Lombarda.mp3 OBS: The original insturmentation is sadly not possible due to the fact that i dont have good enough virtual instruments that have a good sound, the only ones that i have are soundfonts that sound quite unrealistic and robotic...

Hello, all!!! I intend to participate in this competition! Looking forward to seeing how this plays out :)

Beautiful Renaissance Style Writing. Really intriguing and fun to follow. Although this next request unstylistic, I can't help but wish for articulations, and dynamics. I know blasphemy, but consider this is a "MIDI audio" competition (basically). I think secretly adding some articulations and dynamics would add and extra layer of interest.

Hello Mason! I can well imagine how much you enjoyed having the chance to play such a magnificent instrument that literally fills the entire hall or church. And—even though you’re a professional pianist—I don’t think playing the organ is your daily routine, so you took the opportunity to improvise, record a video, and share it with us—thank you so much for that. A few years ago, I also had the chance to try my hand at playing the organ—at Gethsemane Church in Berlin. And I recorded a video as well, but—given my piano skills, which are “barely good enough for playing at home”—I can’t post it; that would be too embarrassing for me and others … What I learned is that while the organ is indeed a “royal” instrument, it is also a “diva” that, despite the magnificent reverberation in a church, forgives no mistakes in articulation, and that it is very difficult for a piano “player” to play legato consistently without the support of a sustain pedal. What I particularly appreciated was that you’ve chosen the key of B-flat minor for your improvisation. For me, this key is one that expresses solemnity, and perhaps also a kind of sorrow or suffering. This impression is particularly influenced by the preludes and fugues in B-flat minor from both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier (where the famous fugue from the second book was one piece I tried to play at that time, along with one of my own fugues...)

It seems you haven't attached anything since you posted? I'd love to hear/see how it sounds if you get around to uploading some audio or sheet music!

A divertimento for pairs of clarinets, oboes, horns, and bassoons, inspired by the wind divertimenti and serenades of Mozart. Any comments would be most appreciated! 1. Allegro.mp3 2. Minuetto allegretto.mp3 3. Andantino grazioso.mp3 4. Minuetto vivace.mp3 5. Presto.mp3 1. Allegro.pdf 2. Minuetto allegretto.pdf 3. Andantino grazioso.pdf 4. Minuetto vivace.pdf 5. Presto.pdf

Thanks very much for listening, and for your comments! It's probably because I'd been listening to so much Mozart before writing this that I included two minuets instead of making one a scherzo - but I also think the last movement provides that scherzando feeling. I'm glad you noted the modulations in the last movement; I got a kick out of writing that bit, as if the oboe realizes it got off at the wrong stop on its chromatic scale and then it takes a few tries to figure out how to get back to the right key.

Hey @Aiwendil ! Nice job on this elegant classical work! I would have called this piece "Divertimento in Bb for Wind Octet". But no matter - very enjoyable nonetheless! I love the unexpected discordant moments in the 1st movement! The 2nd movement almost lulls me into boredom, but soon enough a contrasting section brings renewed musical interest. The 3rd movement to me sounds like a peaceful countryside carriage ride. I'm surprised that you included two minuets in this Divertimento. I would have opted to write one minuet and a scherzo for variety's sake. But it certainly is vivacious and full of positive energy! The Presto movement is probably my favorite of the bunch! It's very scherzo-like with its constant sudden dynamic surprises. Another thing I wanted to mention is that the whole work is very well proportioned! Each movement is about 5 minutes long with no movement being more important than the others. Great job and thanks for sharing! I enjoyed it thoroughly! P.S.: I really loved the funny modulations in the last movement! They're full of Mozartean humor - almost like those polytonal moments in his Musical Joke! Thanks again!

Hello, this is my first time writing for choir. I am being commissioned by a local middle school to arrange Umbrella. I have just the bridge and a final chorus to add, but I wanted feedback. My background is percussion so I don't want to accidentally make anything to jumpy or impossible. Please be specific in critiques, I'd appreciate it! Thank you!

Hi @Fruit hunter ! Quite an interesting work full of extended techniques and giving each section of the chamber orchestra interesting parts - including the Violas! My only gripe as a composer and listener of your work is that in this case it seems like there is no justification or musical reason for any of your gestures. The piece seems to be made up primarily of interesting ostinati and various syncopated gestures. This somehow manages to create some musical interest. But, for my own taste, I prefer the musical justification for a piece's existence to come from the themes/melodies which from my perspective, this piece doesn't have. Still, it does work - and I could definitely imagine it as programmatic music for the approach of a black hole. I don't see the "falling in love" theme as very fitting to this piece though. But an approach to a black hole definitely could work. Thanks for sharing!

Things added: bass distortion turned down- key change and second chorus- effects to various instruments- bossfight progress 3.mp3

Hi all 🙂 Here's a short study for string trio in a rather oriental mood. Hope it will delight you. Best regards, Marc My Shéréazade.mp3 01 - Conducteur - Etude pour trio à cordes n°11.pdf

You should be our ambassador for gif badges haha.

I'll be the 1st to Accept this Badge.

Ah yes surely.LOB 64 Padovana et Gagliarda.pdf

Would you provide a score?

Hello again! After a few days of chaos in my life, I was sidetracked from getting these comments done. Attached on this reply is a pdf containing my annotations to your Score as well as two pages of comments at the end for simplicity. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer! PDF: A. Karatzikis - Land of Gods (ANNOTATED).Pdf

Something better. Trio. I am.

Yes - thank you for pointing that out!

Regarding the Criteria for the Contest I presume the rules include " ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS ONLY" , Renditions & Covers Rejected ?

Very proud of you my guy, keep us all updated!

Oh reeeeeally... I can't wait to come up with some nonsense

I want to join this competition

Let this comment mark my intent of joining this competition. Good luck to anyone who may join and I am excited to see whom may take up arms in this fun little game of music creation!

Hi there! I wanted to ask if you wanted any feedback on the work? It is very cool regardless of the time spent composing! As a brief comment, I am unsure if the score is meant to look this way: The staves are all stacked and combined on top of each other when you look at the PDF through the website. It makes it really hard to read/ process the score currently.

As a chinese person, I appreciate your love for my motherland. Anyways, the music is atonal. I think that isn't the BEST way to describe this place. The structure is weird too. I liked the brief g major chord parts. Melodies Themes Motives 2 Harmony Chords Textures 1 Form Development Structure Time 7 Originality Creativity 10 Score Presentation 10 Instrumentation Orchestration Playability 8 Execution of Given Challenge 6 Taste 6 Average 7.5

Hi. Good job here! Weird bar 33. Otherwise perfect to me. That is rare to hear from me. Good job! Melodies Themes Motives 9 Harmony Chords Textures 10 Form Development Structure Time 9 Originality Creativity 10 Score Presentation 10 Instrumentation Orchestration Playability 10 Execution of Given Challenge 10 Taste 10 Average 9.75

Please submit links to your Landscapes - Soundscapes competition pieces here! (Please don't submit your music directly into this thread - rather, create your own dedicated thread where members will be able to review your music there - Upload Your Composition for Analysis and Feedback and then copy and paste the URL of your topic into a reply that you make in this thread). Thank you for your participation! To read the requirements/specifications of the competition and declare your intent to participate go here:

Thought I'd throw out some more ideas: "Concrete Jungle Award" "Terra Firma Award" "Perspective from the Peak Award" If you have any more ideas don't hesitate to suggest! Or if you're already composing something for the competition and want to tailor an award for your particular landscape idea, feel free to suggest that too!

At the request of one of my subscribers, I decided to try my hand at writing a passacaglia emulating the style of French Baroque composer François Couperin. While both my research and efforts may have proven relatively insufficient in convincingly imitating most of the intricacies found within his keyboard style to the fullest extent, I am nontheless pleased with the results of this little experiment. This work is supposed to be understood as a two-part ouverture as a whole: the first movement is comprised by a prelude riddled with double-dotted rhythmic figures very much intentionally reminiscent of other French Baroque ouvertures, specially those of Jean Baptiste Lully. The passacaille itself follows a strict repetition of the same harmonic baseline throughout the first two variations, which is then slightly altered in a kind of quodlibet by non-strict canonic imitation reaching up to 4 voices, followed by a coda almost identical to the last phrase of the prelude. Thankfully I finally found a way to switch between soundbanks of my harpsichord soundfont automatically amidst playback, which in turn allowed me to include various registers of the instrument across diverse sections of the piece, namely three: Grand Jeu (literally translatable from French as "Great Game": I 4' 8' II 8'), Petit Jeu ("Little Game": I 4' II 8') and Luth (the lute register, also commonly known as a compound buff stop: I 4' Lute II 8'). YouTube scrolling video link: French Ouverture - Prelude and Passacaille in F minor.mp3 French Ouverture - Prelude and Passacaille in F minor.pdf

Yes, reviewing sketches or “unfinished works” is easy—you start by taking a quick look to spot obvious “mistakes” or answer the author’s questions. But I think one should be honest. Reviewing compositions—as is the case here in the forum—is inherently somewhat “unfair” due to the unequal conditions: On one side is the reviewer, who generally spends no more than an hour on a review (in most cases, even less). On the other side is the composer, who has literally spent dozens of days or even weeks working on its piece and therefore knows it in incomparably greater detail than someone who has only listened to it once or twice. That is why it is much more difficult to provide feedback on “finished” works if one tries not to look for mistakes and does not want to suggest changing anything fundamental about the piece as a whole. A review can therefore only be a kind of analysis (and that is exactly what I did when I went through the fugue and identified the expositions and fugue entries, etc.) or a description of the impression the listener had. Thanks. I compared it to the original recording of your actual YouTube video. Yes, they do differ (slightly). But to make an substantial judgment about which “improvements” I’d welcome and which changes I wouldn’t like, I need more time to listen to them. Since the nuances are usually subtle and not noticeable the first time around, I’d add both versions to my playlist and listen to them repeatedly while out for a walk (that is always my method to proof my compositions if there is something „rattling“ …) Thank you for your permission. I can’t promise to work on it in the near future, so let’s see whenever I’ll have the time.

Yesterday (April 1st, 2026), I was able to perform on the Margaret Comstock Hall Concert Organ at the University of Louisville. With help from my teacher, we had a lesson on the organ in the evening, and I was given some time to mess around and improvise before we left the hall. I hope you enjoy my impromptu organ work! 🎹 https://youtu.be/HPDI8Vhj2L0

Very true! Actually, as a fun fact, I have begun my journey with the Organ and have been taking lessons for it since the New Year. It was the first time I played on the organ here in our university’s concert hall. Thank you for sharing your story; it’s crazy to think how small the world can seem and how similar our experiences may be. Bb-minor just felt right at the time :)

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

Thanks for listening. The analogy of crossing an event horizon is within love itself. The unescapable point of no return

Thanks! It's fun to try to include little witticisms or humorous moments while still folding them into the piece so that they sound "good".

Excellent! Could have been played after dinner at court with Joseph II. I would get in trouble, throwing some whole tone chord in or 20th-21st Century surprise of some sort! This has a great purity but also sense of humor about it. I haven't listened to the middle movements YET, but I'm sure they measure up. Reading your comment just above about the oboe getting off on the wrong stop and having to get back to key...I do that all the time. It reminds me of when I'm playing bass to my brother's guitar, covering classic rock, and we go into a jam...and train wreck, or near train wreck, but we chromatically wrench it back into key...there's a part in the piano sonata I'm working on that does this sort of thing, many parts, actually, but one in particular. Your last movement Presto does this well and sounds like something Wolfie might have done; perhaps in a fantasia or musical joke?😉 Oh yes, I realized why it had to be in Bb!

I think I'll put a piano part after the drop, but I have a problem. Recently I had to re- download windows 10 because my computer was as laggy as a potato, But it messed up my files, and that made It so my DAW doesn't load the right Instruments. I'm actively trying to fix it.

Reading the title of this thread I have a few seconds of terror that you're leaving the forum, thank God you don't! Congrats on your works being used in films! Henry