panta rei

This is a beautiful piece! I particularly like the harmony in bar 13. The B-flat of the violin and the A of the cello creates a wonderful melancholic feeling. However, I think (as other people have noted ) that you should do something about the accented half-notes (f) in bar 16 and 32. I would simply remove them all together. I could even imagine to also remove the pizz. note in bar 8. I am of the opinion that the piece stands well on its own. You might consider expanding the piece with a short intermediate, more joyful part before returning to the initial phrase. This would give an even stronger melancholic/sentimental impact. But this is just my personal idea. The piece is also very good without such an addition.

Hello everybody, Here is the first part of a new piano sonata. The piece is maybe not in accordance with the formal sonata structure, but for the moment, I could not find a better title. In any case, my plan is to write two additional movements. My inspiration for this piece came from a well- known Swedish folk song. I used fragment of this song in the first eight bars, and then, I departed from it. Also, I attempted to use some more modern (a kind of jazz-like) harmony here and there. I am curious to know what you think of this. You will notice a further development of early motifs, for example in bar 125 and 137.. The latter is re-stated in bar 157-164 (including a sort of extra repeat), which serves more or less as an announcement of the approaching end of the piece. It took me a long time before I managed to write the ending. The break-through came when I added bar 169 and 170. A direct transition from bar 168 to 171 is of course also possible, but I think that this would be a bit boring. There is certainly a need for a revision of the score. Particularly regarding the issue of enharmonic spelling (Henry?). I would be very grateful for corrections and/or suggestions

Wonderful piece! I like the variation in structure and the modulations.At the same time, the piece is very cohesive. Congratulations.

Hello Henry and Peter, Thanks a lot for your kind feedback. I am sorry for the delay of my response, which was due to a massive overload of work. I agree that the title could be improved. A scherzo is usually much faster than my piece. Perhaps only “minuet” would be better. I was really glad that the piece was highlighted by Chopin in his composing series on YouTube. I am now working on a longer piece, which will take me a couple of month to finish. Best regards Johan

Very nice piece and very well played! I agree that it can be suitable as a preparatory exercise for the revolutionary etude of Chopin. But your composition stands alone as a wonderful, very coherent piece of music. Congratulations! I would be glad if you could also add the score.

Hello Quinn, Yea, I can imagine that you began to feel that the piece was becoming repetitive. (This is of course often the case in folk music). But then I added a surprise after bar 32, and went more in the direction of classical style music. However, in the end, I came back to the initial motif. Thanks a lot for your response!

This is a very nice piece. The melody is very good and the writing fits the wind instruments very well. But I would like to see a bit more engagement of the string section. You could for example try to incorporate a bit of an up and down movement of the cello voice (something in the way as in Bach´s air on the G-string), or put some of the melody in the lines of the other string instruments. But you have to be frugal in order not to overpower the delicate interplay between the wind instruments. I see the point made by Henry about the transition in bar 44-46. I think that it is acceptable as it is but it is worth looking for some other solutions. But don´t make the transition too long, because that could disturb the musical rhythm of the piece. Ha, this is the fine art of composing! For the horn half notes in bar 36, I would suggest to exchange them for G-sharp and C-sharp (instead of the current A and D-sharp) . And in that case, you should of course also adjust the appropriate harmony for the other instruments. Thanks for posting this piece, and I am looking forward to your suite.

Here is a Minuet, which I recently composed. Apart from a classical style, there are also some elements of Nordic folk music. I would be very interested to find out what you think of it.

This is very good, I like it. But it is a bit too short. You should definitely expand it (An ABA format could be suitable).

Difficult to say. But I think that it is a bit similar to Bach´s siciliano. Could it be a variation/arrangement for guitar of this piece?

Finally, I got this piece finished. It is a real challenge for the pianist. It is difficult, but not awkward or impossible to play. Although I have revised the score several times, there may still be some errors and room for minor improvements. The notation of some of the left hand runs could be divided between the staves, but I think that the pianist will intuitively utilize both hands, if this facilitates playing. I included the pedal settings, which I used in the playback. This is may be not something to include in a published score (apart from the cases where it is absolutely necessary), but it gives you a rough idea how I produced the (electronic) playback. I would be most interested to know what you think of it, and any critical remarks and/or suggestions for improvements etc.is greatly appreciated.

Hello Louisf, This is wonderful work. Very well crafted in harmony, harmonic development, coherence and timing. It would be excellent to use as an “Encore”. The only thing is that the score is in further need for some technical revisions. The slur markings need to be adjusted. For example, you might want to detach the slurred notes of the second violin in bar 31 from those in bar 32. String players are incredible in making very short detaches, but if you write things with a full slur, they will sort of glue it together. In the worst case, this can result in a kind of glissando. But I am not a string player, so the best thing is to ask an expert or maybe your fellow players. I noted your tenuto markings in bar 15. I would suggest to shortly detach the 3 notes by skipping the tenuto markings and slur the three notes, while adding staccato markings. This wil indicate a kind of portato, You may do something similar in other places as well. Alltogether, This is a very successful little piece !