Mark101

Thank you once again Henry. You are probably right with the D thing. It was my first instinct but then for some reason I thought I needed to divirge a little but possibly I don't. I'm going to listen to both versions and see who I feel. The only thing I've done to Berria is to slow it a little more and delay it's entrance. I'm happy with it musically I think, it just needs a little more finesse in some small areas but essencially will remain the same. Regards Mark

Thank you Henry, I really appreciate your review of the whole suite, you are most kind to spend the time and effort on it and I consider it an honor that you did. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I am not good at letting things lie! So it is probably not surprising that I have tweeked things a little here and there. I was never happy with the over dominance of D. At the beginning it was a decision I made 'D' for la Dama but it was silly I think and I didn't like the transition out of the fog into the rain. It seemed that as Lainoa ends in D major, starting Euria in D minor wasn't really working for me, especially since Brisa is also in a D centred pentatonic (mostly) and so I transposed Euria from D minor to E minor. I think it works better as it's a little more jarring when the lightning strikes, I don't know, maybe??? Berria also has a minor change of tempo. I've slowed it down a little to try and bring a little more tranquility to the piece. I love the thick chords and the parallel fifths and fourths are meant to be a bit more earthy as you say so I'm glad that aspect comes across. Personally I think it's the weakest piece and I may well fiddle with it some more in the weeks to come. That's not to say I don't like it, I do, but it doesn't yet have the flair of the others, perhaps it doesn't need to, but there is just something that is not striking the right note so to speak LOL. I'll get there. My hopes, in posting (what really is an unpolished version) of the suite, or indeed any of my work, here is to get help with where the polish needs to be applied. I am now working on the smallest details and you have been invaluable in this process, so I want to thank you very much for your time and your kind words, they mean a lot.

Thank you so much Peter, I really appreciate you listening and your time in commenting. Yes it is probably a bit much to ask most casual listeners to hear the whole suite without a break. If I write another multi movement piece (or rather, when) I will upload it directly and individually. I think I had a problem in that the rain piece in my head was really a summer storm, not a heavy torrential downpour. Also I let the melodic progression take over rather than concentrating on the rain aspect I think. It has two clear halves where as you say it doesn't begin to pour down until the second half - I don't know, it's problematic. I didn't intend the 2 half thing, it just happened. I do really love the snow section, I can see the dancing, swirling flurries in my head but the next section, Berria, as you say, possibly should be a little slower and yes, 'interpreted' better. The truth about that section is that I found Lily Boulanger! 😂 She led me astray - while Berria doesn't have her harmonic language exactly, it changed from the Ravelian influences of the rest of the suite, which is also problematic 😂 Anyway, it's all good to know for the re writes. Thank you again for your kind words.

Hi Henry, I just wanted to say that I loved your piano solo and you play it beautifully (even with the odd bum note)! I was reminded of Schubert quite a bit, not necessarily harmonically as some of your harmonic choices are not of that idiom but the piece as a whole gave me quite romantic impressions and it is certainly an emotional piece of writing. Your developments are very organic and natural, there is nothing forced about any of the work. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you Henry, I really appreciate your time and effort, also I'm so pleased that you like the pieces. With Lainoa, I tried to evoke a slow, cloying atmosphere and the tail end of Brisa, when isolated, did give me a sort of lighthouse effect with the sweeping, rising motif. It's always hard to know how others will imagine for themselves, what you are trying to portray and so I'm glad that it seems to be coming across. Thank you again for your kind words.

It is fun and I love it too 😊

Hi Henry, I did consider posting them separately but then you loose the idea of the suite. Thanks by the way, I do appreciate you listening and that modulation I have say I love too. I wasn't sure how to work my way back for the recapitulation but I really think it works. I will confess that Brisa and Elurra are my favorites. I like them all but I think they are the strongest of the 5. Thanks again Henry 😊

Hi all, I've not posted anything in quite some time now so I hope you'll give my new work a chance. I'm at the stage where I would reall like some help before I print off the final draft. Musically I'm pleased with the work and I don't plan any great changes. Obviously I'm open to any comments about the music/musicality of the piece but also, I'm not a great engraver. I would like to know what you think I should amend in the score as much as I would like to know what you think musically. I should explain that this is a 'playback score'. I have sibelius play the music to my piano and I record live to USB from the piano so this isn't a midi sound performance, it's the Yamaha CVP 501 concert grand. To make the 'performance' as human as possible, I do take great pains to make the playback as authentic as I can. That means that there are lots of accents and tenutos, lots of excessive pedal markings and oddly tied notes in some places and also many micro tempo changes that all go towards humanizing the playback. Most of that would not appear in a real performance score. I would like to produce a performance score so if you could look past all the above mentioned and help me out, I would really appreciate it. A bit about the work. It's a suite of short, impressionistic piano pieces under the title - La Dama de Murumendi (The Lady of Wall Mountain). She is an ancient Basque Goddess that rules over the mostly inclement weather of that region. The whole things last 15 minutes so it's not exactly short as a whole but each 'vignette' is only about 3 mins each. The 1st piece is called 'Brisa'. It represents the Goddess in the aspect of the wind. The 2nd piece is called 'Lainoa'. This is the Goddess in the aspect of mist and fog. The 3rd piece is called 'Euria'. The Goddess in the aspect of a rain storm. The 4th piece is called 'Elurra'. It's the Goddess in the aspect of snow and frost. The 5th piece is called 'Berria'. It's the Goddess in the aspect of renewal, the sun finally coming out. I really would appreciate your opinions and any help you could give me. Thanks in advance to anyone who listenes, I appreciate it. The score https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/emvg8a0rvj12tqxgj05er/La-Dama-de-Murumendi-pdf.pdf?rlkey=t93ga24ltjuur8if1hoygaf4q&dl=0 The music https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ncst5rw7ca0qhnhbe6v39/La-Dama-de-Murumendi.wav?rlkey=au94206kcz4c3g6uber9u402y&dl=0

Hey thanks Sarge, I do use Sib for all my compositions but I do put quite a bit of effort into getting the playback to sound as natural as possible with lots of micro tempo adjustments and fermata, tied notes held over more than you might expect in a printed score and some other little tricks here and there but I think it works no? I have a Yamaha CVP 501 and I get sib to play the piano and record direct from the piano, that way it's not a sib or noteperformer sample that plays to audio, but the actual piano, I think that makes a difference too. As for the piece, thanks a lot. I'm really glad you liked it. It's one of my favourites to date along with 'Brisa' I'm still working on the rest of the suite, but stay tuned, shouldn't be too long now 😀

Hello all, I sometimes, that's a lie, I always find it hard to leave a piece alone once it's "finished". Every time I have a break from it and then go back, I find things I'm not happy with. I do think though that in the end, it makes for a better composition. Elurra has not escaped this rigor! She's had many revisions and now I have remastered and rerecorded it, ready to be included in the suite of short (sudo impressionistic) piano pieces - La Dama de Murmumendi. This is now the final edit, hope you like it.

Hello all, Many thanks to those who have taken time to listen and more so to those who have taken time to comment, I really do appreciate it. Ninlil has had a custody battle recently with La Dama de Murmumendi - La Dama won. When I wrote 'Ninlil', it was with the idea of it just being a stand alone piece but then later came 'Elurra'. My idea developed and now I'm in the middle of writting a suite of short (sudo impressionistic) piano pieces with weather as the running theme. La Dama de Murmumendi is an ancient Basque Godess credited with ruling over the ever changing, sometimes unpredictable and often temperamental weather. Generally she is quite gentle but can change on the spot depending on her mood. Ninlil, now called 'Brisa' is the Basque word for The Wind. It's one of the pieces, along with 'Elurra' the Basque word for The Snow, that will be part of the suite 'La Dama de Murmumendi'. I am currently working of 2 more short pieces to represent the fog and also one for the rain, or more closely a summer storm. Brisa is essentially the same piece as Ninlil, but I have revised, refined and remastered it. I'm reasonable sure that this is it's final incarnation and so here is the link to the new version. Hope you like it.

Hi Henry, Thanks for taking the time to listen and for your great comments. I have to confess however..... I write at the piano and do play all of the notes present and although I am glad to take credit for the composition, I can't take credit for the perfomance of it. I do take great pains to ensure that the "perfomance" is as natural and human as possible. For this reason, there are lots of artifacts, as I call them, in the score (accents, tenutos, fermata, small changes in tempo etc.) that are needed to make Sibelius play the piece as I would like it to sound but these artifacts would not necessarily be present in a normal score of the piece, not all of them anyway. As you say, it is a very difficult piece to play and sadly I do not have the level of proficiency necessary to pull of a perfomance like this. However, Sibelius plays it without sweating a drop LOL! I can play most of it, much slower then it is rendered here obviously, and so I know that it is actually playable. There are no impossible leaps or huge stretches to reach chords but it would take a very skilled professional I think, to give the piece life and bring out all of the nuances in the writing. Thanks again Mark

Hi all, A few weeks ago I posted a piece called Ninlil. I liked it too much to leave it just as a short piece stuck there all on its own. I always had the idea that it was a musical depiction of Ninlil, the Mesopotamian Goddess of the sky and in this incarnation, representing the wind. I started thinking of a suite of short pieces to represent various goddesses connected to the weather. So here is the second piece in the suite, "Elurra" . It's the Basque word for snow. The goddess in this case is Mari, La Dama de Murumendi. An ancient Basque goddess responsible for wintery weather. Here she is merrily making the world white. Hope you like it 😊 Listen to Elurra by Mark McDonald on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/p8syo

Thank you Daniel, I really appreciate you taking time to listen and comment. It's actually recorded live on my Yamaha cvp 501 but you're right, there's a bit too much reverb making it a bit muddy. I've actually recorded a better version but I thought it a bit much to keep uploading version after version. However, I'm really glad you liked the piece in itself. I'm also looking forward to seeing what I might do with it too 😂 Kind regards Mark

Thanks a lot Luis, I really appreciate it. I still have in mind to expand or incorporate this into something else in the future, just because personally, I like it too much to leave it at just 3 minutes, but who knows how, were or when lol.