luderart

Thank you NickReh for your review, your appreciation of the piece and your suggestions of alternatives. I appreciate it.

This is my "Soliloquy for Viola No. 8, subtitled "Threnody for the Victims of the Israeli Genocides of Gaza (7/10/2023-) and Lebanon (23/9/2024-)". As many of you know, the soliloquy is one of my favourite forms. For me a soliloquy is a short, reflective, often calm and sometimes sad composition. At the time of its composition this was my 181st soliloquy. It is unique in being a "Threnody for the Victims of the Israeli Genocides of Gaza (7/10/2023-) and Lebanon (23/9/2024-)", genocides that have continued (albeit at a lower intensity) despite "ceasefires" (if you can call the cessation of genocide a "ceasefire) in effect from November 27, 2024 (for Lebanon) and from January 15, 2025 (for Gaza), genocides mercilessly targeting and killing thousands of men, women, and children, whole families, health workers, and journalists (the latest figures of the number of victims estimate more than 6,000 for Lebanon and 48,453 for Gaza*), and destroying thousands of buildings, churches, mosques, schools, universities, and hospitals. As a Lebanese experiencing one of these genocides, this piece constitutes my musical sorrow and outrage at the injustice and suffering its victims experienced and continue to experience. *These figures are from the time of this writing, on March 9, 2025. For sources, see the following: https://x.com/ObserveLebanon/status/1896041783877914893 https://sharjah24.ae/en/Articles/2025/03/09/ZX66 Here's the link to my previous soliloquy for viola: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t36334/soliloquy-for-viola-no-7/

I enjoyed the fourth one the most. Would love to hear how they would sound interpreted by a real violinist! Looking at the score, I am not sure whether the triple stops in the fifth Estampe would be possible to execute on a violin. When you say "meant to be performed by a real player", I think that that's what every composer intends their composition for or aims and hopes for their pieces - to be performed by actual performers! Only, it is not possible in many cases; whether because the performance of new music is risky or because it demands a "labor of love" from the performer to recognize the merits of the piece and serve it with their time and their artistic skill to learn and perform and interpret it, or because of some other reason. That's why we have to rely on the software rendition to have an approximation of how it would sound like played by a real player. If you have found a performer who intends to perform it, that is great!

I searched for other soundfonts. I think this one, called "harmonica basic" (by TheSoundfontMaker) is much less like an accordion and more like a harmonica. Listen to it and let me know.

Hello Luis, Thanks for standing with the truth and understanding and recognizing the injustice and crimes that we have for the past 72 days been subjected to. Regarding the software sound, indeed it might be sounding more like an accordion. However, I tried two options and the other one sounded even more like an accordion. This is Musescore's "Musescore_General.sf3" soundfont. If you are aware of another soundfont that can be used with Musescore that sounds better, let me know!

This is my first soliloquy for chromatic harmonica. It is intended for performance with a chromatic harmonica with the alternative "classical tuning". It is among my compositions which I have composed during the Israeli genocidal offensive on Lebanon in which they have so far targeted and killed 3,645 people (including 692 women, 231 children, 226 health workers and patients, and at least 6 journalists) and injured 15,356 people (as of November 23, 2024) as well as destroyed much of Lebanon, and flattened or damaged thousands of buildings. So that is the background and setting in which I have been composing my latest compositions. However much one tries to keep such events out of one's musical mind and inspiration while composing and to go on composing pure music as though nothing had happened, such events are bound to influence one when the most powerful and most evil destructive force existing on earth, a power unflinchingly bent on the destruction of people, cultures, and civilizations besides its own, has (in the wake of its so far 414-day-old genocide of Gaza and its people) singled out my country to destroy it and its people, destroying thousands of lives and livelihoods, homes, memories, dreams. The question arises, what does music have to do with crimes and events like these? I believe music after all, despite being an art, has a moral purpose. Its composers live in the world and are influenced by the settings and events in their countries. And so composers and music cannot stand completely uninfluenced by the crimes going on around them. And as a composer I believe I have a moral duty to highlight the crimes going on around me, or at least in some way to draw attention to them, to rage against them, to condemn them; if not through my music directly, then through my words!

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!