Svanderov

This is the first free improv piece i've ever dared to show anyone. I apologize for the unfortunate finger gesture at the end. It was NOT intentional.

Thanks! I was talking about the melody actually; it doesn't flow because I took time before every measure to read the harmonies. I'm just extra critical about those things because i'm first and foremost a pianist, rather than a composer (I started writing music relatively recently.) I'm glad you liked it.

Written a couple years ago, recently reworked. hope you like it. The playing is choppy and disjointed, because it's awkward to play and I couldn't practice it much. https://drive.google.com/file/d/15OuDaEVxyX0c-vrbquBxiNZ9ySsxCNTq/view?usp=drivesdk

Another piece for a children's music competition i'm partaking in, for the oldest age category: 15+. A rondo in ABACA form... took very little time to write, but I'm actually very pleased with the result, as was my teacher! She didn't have any criticisms for it. Maybe some of you do? (note that the weird transition at 0:55 isn't a serious artistic effort, but rather a deliberate use of the cliché new age style of piano music which I so hate laugh and it also creates a nice contrast, I think...) I hope you like it. MIDI: https://soundcloud.com/sven-sander-estakov/rondo-toccata/s-k4eDb

Yes, I wondered for a bit about what to do with the beginning and end, but decided I would leave them like this, because I wanted to create an image of stillness, without much developement for the first 30 seconds or so... Maybe that wasn't the right thing to do, but I felt like it was/is. In a previous version, I had a beginning with more rhythmic variety from the get-go, but that sounded horribly off. I will at least be able to play around with the dynamics more when I perform it in the finals. The dynamics I didn't have time to think about when I made this recording - I was so short on time that I was still writing down the last ideas and making the last changes on the day before. But thank you for your feedback!

Hi, everyone! I'm a 19 year old classical piano student who has been taking composition lessons on the side for 2 years by now. The first piece i'm posting on this forum is the fourth work i've finished overall. I started writing it about a month ago, and a week ago, a day before the competition deadline, mailed them the recording I made in a hurry on the same day. Turns out I got to the final round amongst 10 other candidates (composition majors, amongst them 2nd year academy students... so i'm a bit nervous about what's going to happen.) We were selected from around 50 applicants. Going to have to perform it in a week! I'm quite proud - due to severe lack of time, I only got to play the first few seconds of it to my teacher quite a while ago, and she couldn't give me any comments, since... there wasn't much of the piece to comment on, yet. We didn't have time to meet again due to my piano studies, so in the end, I had to write the piece all by myself, without any of her assistance. The title in estonian means "The guide through the darkness", inspired by the theme of the competition (and the big contemporary music festival it's a part of.) The piece, first and foremost, has a spiritual meaning for me. The "A" section was written during a period of deep depression i'm glad i'm now already recovering from. The "B" section was written later. From a compositional standpoint, I aimed to explore different ways of using the white keys and the black keys alone. Modal music and pentatonics. At first it was in numerous smaller and larger sections, but I soon realized that a constant movement would be better. It does have an underlying system - there are always two voices, one which plays a long, sustained note (the "guide". hence the title), and the other one that moves towards it. There's a bit more to it, but i'm not going to write it all here. :) Anyway, here's the link: https://soundcloud.com/sven-sander-estakov/teejuht-labi-pimeduse/s-n6TlA Hope you enjoy, and please, feel free to leave any criticisms!