luderart

Thank you Luis for your valuable review and comments. It is great and gratifying to hear your opinion that I have created "a sound world of [my] own" in the format of the sententia. Regarding your review of the piece, I agree that the 2nd and the 3rd sententiae have perhaps better succeeded at achieving their intention. And indeed perhaps the pizzicato of the first sententia's second violin does not fully succeed in achieving the intended effect, at least in the software rendition. It is always gratifying to hear feedback on one's pieces and I will take note of it in future compositions.

This is my "Three Sententiae for String Quartet, Op. 376". The first sententia is subtitled "A Reflection on Beethoven's Op. 131 String Quartet's Opening Fugue", a piece that I consider the greatest string quartet ever composed, perhaps even the greatest music ever composed. The subtitle comes from the fact that I was wondering about that composition's first movement and thinking that it is a piece that is so great that it deserves musical reflections by other composers being done on it, when this "reflection" occurred to me. This set of sententiae is my 9th set of sententiae composed for string quartet, and my 66th set of sententiae overall (albeit two of those "sets" comprise only one sententia). The third sententia, at over a minute long, is unusually long and stretches the usual boundaries of a sententia. I have provided a description of the sententia, a form I have created, in the title page of the score. I reproduce it below: The 'sententia' is a musical form I originated in 2013. The word 'sententia' (plural: ‎‎'sententiae') is the Latin for the word 'sentence'. The Oxford dictionary defines 'sententia' ‎as "A pithy or memorable saying, a maxim, an aphorism, an epigram; a thought, a ‎reflection."For me a 'sententia' is a musical utterance of a thought that is complete in ‎itself, like a sentence. It is also an utterance that finds no need for any elaboration or ‎development. Hence my sententiae are short pieces that come in sets and are often related ‎to each other in some way. Just like between the movements of a multi-movement piece, ‎I would expect that performers observe a short pause between one sententia and the next. ‎And I would expect that there be no clapping from audiences between sententiae.‎ Here is the link of the previous set of sententiae for string quartet that I have posted on YC (it is the one before my Three Sententiae for String Quartet Op. 346" that isn't posted here): https://www.youngcomposers.com/t36832/two-sententiae-for-string-quartet-op-311/ Edit: I found I had later posted another set of sententiae for string quartet, my Op. 321. Here is the link: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t37957/two-sententiae-for-string-quartet-op-321/

This is my "Caprice for Solo Violin No. 6". With such works generally being composed in sets of multiples of 6 (Locatelli's and Paganini's caprices for solo violin coming in sets of 24, and Bach's partitas and sonatas for solo violin and solo violoncello being six each, and in more modern times even Ysaye's sonatas for solo violin coming in a set of 6), I look at this 6th Caprice for solo violin of mine as being perhaps of greater importance since with it I have finally completed a set of six caprices for solo violin (spread over 13 months from March 13, 2023 to May 5, 2024). Here are the links to my previous 5 caprices for solo violin: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44427/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-1/ https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44439/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-2/ https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44505/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-3/ https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44826/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-4/ https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44862/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-5/

Here are my two variations! Since no one is bothering to state the theme at the beginning, I too neglected to do so. I guess these variations will occupy the slots meant for the harmonically simpler ones!

Do the variations have to be written for piano or keyboard, or would other instruments be also welcome? Also, is there a specific deadline?

Good point. However, now that that requirement is no longer extant, I think the names of the performers ought to be mentioned.

Since you are asking us to "reply in the thread and voice your opinion!", here's mine: I did not participate in the competition because I am not really for the ranking of compositions/composers. Each composer/composition is unique and it is only a subjective judgement that would assume to place one above or below the other. Also, the impact of my piece being ranked by far the lowest of all the participants' in the previous competition was too much for me to take. So, I didn't participate in order to protect myself from a potentially similar outcome and impact.

Congratulations on this piece and for winning first place. The opening theme is romantic and memorable. I was suspecting that the instruments were real but your post above confirmed that it was actually soundfonts! They are pretty good. In any case, the piece deserves to get an actual performance!

Congratulations to all the winners as well as all the non-winning contestants for their submissions! There is much enjoyable music in your submissions. I wonder which ones of the pieces at least from the three winning pieces are played by real instruments and performers. If I am not mistaken the 1st and 2nd placed pieces are by real instruments/performers. However, why not mention this fact as well as give credit to the performers.

Hello Alexey. Indeed it's been a long time! Maybe I can say welcome back! Thanks for your review of this caprice of mine and your observations of my progress as you see it, as well as your advice. Indeed it would be a challenge for me to compose a piece that is 5 minutes long. I tend to finish my pieces early and keep them short. Indeed Paganini's 24th Caprice would be a great model to study and learn from.

Hello Luis, Thanks for your review of the piece as well as your insights into my compositional style. I do not understand what you mean when you say "the play is funny". Do you mean the software violin? Regarding the pizzicato, it is true that in the software violin sound, it gives the effect of a jolt. But I am of the opinion that in an actual performance, it would not have that effect and would come off as more natural.

Although I think there is little point in answering your post, there are some points I should clarify: 1. I qualified my remark in two ways: a) I said "I think", b) I added "in its own way". Even then perhaps the word "beautiful" might have been the wrong word to use here. Perhaps "great" would have been a more appropriate word to use, since not everything great ought to be beautiful. 2. As you well know, beauty as well as music is subjective. So I have no problem with you not seeing anything "beautiful" - or for that matter "great" or even "worthy" in this music. That is your own subjective opinion. 3. This in not a competition submission for which you are serving as a judge - thank God for that! So you do not have to feel compelled to give your opinion - or feel obligated to belittle mine for that matter. If you do not appreciate the piece or do not have anything constructive to say, you had better shut up.

This is my Caprice for Solo Violin No. 5. Following on the heels of my 4th Caprice for solo violin, I think it is equally beautiful in its own way. Like the third one, it makes use of left hand pizzicato, but much less substantially. Here are the links of my first four Caprices for Solo Violin: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44427/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-1/ https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44439/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-2/ https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44505/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-3/ https://www.youngcomposers.com/t44826/caprice-for-solo-violin-no-4/

Thanks for describing the source of your authority. I made the revisions as I have explained in the opening post. Please check the new score and mp3.