Ferrum

You could play the 2 voices in succession or arpeggiate it, either works. I've seen many scores with chords that are like almost "impossible" to play, but the pianist ended up doing either of those two things (I know the audio provided doesn't do that). This specific section is also a slow solo section therefore the pianist is in full control of the tempo. So yeah, I think it's fine. Yeah, I've learned the same thing. But through many scores that I've learned from, I've actually seen many specifications of bowings in the strings in some parts. Definitely need a bit more research on that. Thanks for listening! Glad you enjoyed it.

Hey dude! It's fine if you cannot get into my piece! It's shows that you've tried to at least give it a chance and I really appreciate that. Your reasoning is honestly quite fair. I know I used a lot of quartal harmonies (what can I say, I like how they sound lol) and the final climax of the piece unfortunately is just a lot of I-IV due to time constraint. I know I could get more creative with that but y'know. Also, the structure of the piece is just Introduction-A-B-A-Coda. I know it's more detailed than that and a lot of the themes are referenced many times throughout, which kind of blurred the structure a bit. In addition, the Coda is a variation of the combined Intro and the A theme placed at the end of the piece, so I get why it gets a bit confusing. I'm really glad that you're honest about this and you give your own personalized criticism with your own taste in music. I am not in the slightest discouraged by it at all and it honestly kinda balances it out with all the compliments and stuff. So yeah, don’t fret about it. I too sometimes do not feel like I have a thing that's called "love" so I try to haphazardly convey what "love" is through the medium known as music (lol). Thanks for the feedback!

For sure. I've always imagined this piece as a "second" movement of a regular 3-movement piano concerto, where the second movement is usually much more calmer and in ternary form. Obviously in the usual ternary form, the "B" part is often as calm and singing as the "A" material (not every time though). However, this is just a one movement piano concerto, so I feel like adding some bouncy melodies in the "B" part to add some contrast. Awh you're too kind! Thanks for the feedback and the compliments! I really, really appreciate it.

Yeah, you're right! Many video game OSTs have indeed influenced at least some parts of my style. I often watch gameplay videos or playthroughs multiple times for many games in my spare time (simply because I don't have the equipment to run such games). If a game's soundtrack appeals to me, I'll often find said game soundtrack album on Spotify and listen to it many times. I mean, I have even orchestrated, made variations, and made sonatas with theme taken directly from games, and I haven't even posted half of them here yet! So much so that I sometimes struggle to actually compose an original melody just because I really like to develop video game OSTs to larger works. I guess you could say that I was mainly exploring with harmony. I'm a harmony guy so I've been experimenting with taking notes from a theme and exploring those notes in a different key. My style lately could be described as "state a theme in a key, develop said theme in different keys creating ambiguity, go back to the key where the theme is stated with lots of unresolved cadences until the end, and also inject said music with so many weird chords and copious amount of nostalgia". Some of those tendencies don't apply here, but they definitely apply to my other works. Oh yeah, and also converting a theme to a different scale, like B-flat major to G minor (I know it's a relative minor, but you get what I mean, major to minor, that stuff). As for melody, I guess it's just the basic rule of creating a good theme, like taking a fragment and repeating said fragment in a single theme. Mann, you've said this at least twice now, I think. I am really flattered. Thank YOU for listening!

Here is my submission!

Here it is! The submission for the Valentine's Day Event! To say that composing this piece was a hectic process is an understatement. Heck, I'm submitting this piece on the day (or night) of the deadline! I think I was going with the joyfulness aspect of romance, with of course a little bit of dark theme (just the minor version of the main theme really lol) mixed in there. This piece also contains a theme from a sketch that I have always wanted to explore. But yeah, dunno what else to say other than to enjoy the piece!!

I forgot to reply weeks ago, but I'll also be joining! Just need to get the full score done in time....

I'm glad you enjoyed my work! And yes, it is inspired by Kapustin in some ways. His style is always one of the inspirations of my own work.

It's a bit of both, really. Motif like M4 is there because it appears on the OST and I want to develop it much further (+I really like the development on the Lento Affectuoso section), M3 is usually for buildups, while M1-M2 signifies the journey that reflects the game. The game that I took the OST from focuses on exploration in different planets of a little solar system different from our solar system, so you could hear parts of that journey in the piece. If you look at T3 (i know I'm talking theme here), it creeps in the shadows of the piece and at the end fully embraces it self. This actually correlates to one important event to the game that kickstarts the protagonist's journey. It's also for an exercise of how much I could develop motives into coherent sections (and counterpoint exercise). Hey man, it's alright! I'll always be glad that I got even a review so you can just reply whenever you want!

Here are the analysis! Sonata on The Themes of Outer Wilds Analysis INTRODUCTION (B.1 - B.14) - B.1 Part of Theme 1, Motif 1 (M1). It would then be divided into many motives and developed as an introduction to the piece. - B.4 lh is the first 4 notes of M1 - B.5 rh is a development of M1 - B.8 is part of M1 in pentatonic scale on upward motion EXPOSITION (B.15 - B. 98) THEME 1 (G major, B.15-50) - B.15 Theme 1 (T1) at its fullest, stated in l.h with r.h counterpoint. It is the Outer Wilds OST "Travelers" - B.23 T1 moves to r.h with full clarity. - B.26 Motif 2 (M2) - B.31-34 is a development of M2 for closure. It is also later used as a climax - B.35 l.h is the last four notes of M2 as an ostinato - B.37 Motif 4 (M4), later fully introduced on B.63-74 - B.39 Theme 3 (T3) inversion. It is an OST called "End Times", this inverted theme creeps in the whole piece. This theme will be fully introduced in the Lento Affectuoso section uninverted and used as an end theme. - B.43 Part of Theme 2 (T2) - B.48 M2 THEME 2 (C major, B.51-98, depiction of a sunrise on the planet Timber Hearth) - B.51 T2 exposition. It is the OST "Timber Hearth" - B.53-54 Motif 3 (M3) - B.63 Motif 4 on rh on its peak - B.67-69 T3 inversion rearranged. - B.63-74 M4 is used as ostinato on lh - B.79 lh is the first 7 notes of T2 while rh is a development of M3, all of which are used to rise to a much brighter and cheerful T2 at the Giocodamente section. - B.87-90 is M3 - B.91 rh second voice is M4 - B.91-98 rh is part of M1 that had been stacked together in a pentatonic scale forming a downwards motion. - B.91-93 lh is T3 inversion - B.93-98 lh is M4 DEVELOPMENT (B.107-165) - B.99 a callback and a development of M1 - B.102 T2 - B.103-105 T3 inversion - B.107-114 contrapuntal section of T1 - B.115-116 T1 developed - B.117-118 T2 developed - B.119-120 rh is T2, while lh is the first 4 notes of T1/M1 in variation - B.121-122 rh is the last part of M1, while lh is playing M3. - B.123-125 M1 as transition ================================================== Lento Affectuoso (INVERSION ZONE) (B major, B.126-146) - B.126-127 T1 inversion as the main melody - B.129-130 M1 as counterpoint on lh - B.130-131 T3 inversion - B.132 M1 - B.134-136 development of M3, with a sotto voce of M1 at B.135 - B.138-140 development of T1 inversion on r.h, while lh is M4 without the first note. - B.141-143 rh is T2 with different notes but same motion, while lh is fully introducing Theme 3 without the inversion for the first time. (B.142 l.h, first voice is T3 inversion, a response motion to the uninverted T3; B.143 lh is T1 inversion) - B.144-145 rh is M1 while lh is M1 inversion as counter melody ================================================== - B.147-155 fast moving development of T1 - B.156-165 development of the INTRODUCTION section, transistion to recap. RECAPITULATION (G major, B.166-206) THEME 1 (B.166-178) - B.166-171 T1 cut short - B.173 climax from B.31-34 - B.176-177 M2 but doesn't resolve - B.178-179 M1 developed - B.180-181 T2 but G minor - B.182 M3 contrapuntal THEME 2 (B.183-206) - B.183-194 T2 but much more calmer, obtaining the same mood as the OST (the OST opens with a free flowing section of a solo guitar) - B.195-201 is B.79 but much longer, a buildup to Molto Giocodamente CODA (B.207-233) - B.207-208 M3 - B.209-210 M1 - B.211-214 The glorious entrance of the uninverted Theme 3, with a counterpoint of Motif 1 on the lh, signaling the end. B.212 lh is T3 inversion as a response. - B.215-216 M1 pentatonic - B.217 T2, B.218 T2 retrograde - B.219-222 M3, referencing B.87-90 but much heavier. - B.223-230 is referencing B.91-98, but T3 in the lh is uninverted and resolved. - B.231-233 M2 resolved with satisfaction

So, the purpose of the transition at B.99 is to contrast B.107. I needed a breather after the rich texture to prepare for a heavy contrapuntal section at B.107, though I definitely could've slowed the rhythm before B.99 for a smooth transition. The abruptness of the transition here, at least for me, works because I've imagined it like an abrupt time-stop event to gently move to the Lento Affectuoso section for a reflection. But then again, I could've done it better for a smoother effect. Totally agree. Kinda added in that octave sign to fit the score, but it does look awkward lol Working on it right now, will probably post it tomorrow maybe (it's currently 1 AM), let's hope procrastination won't take over my body lol Thanks for the review!!!

Dudeeee, I didn't expect this. I don't know what to say other than to thank you for the feedback, criticisms, and simply enjoying my piece! I feel so honored to be mentioned here amongst many other great pieces even though I don't comment much. This forum has been essential for me as a self-taught composer and it really motivates me to do better. I cannot express how glad I am to join this forum two years ago, such a wonderful community! Again, thank you all so much!!!

Sorry for the late reply! It's interesting that you heard some atonal/multi-tonal moments because I actually think that this is my most tonal work yet lol. Though I guess I could see where that comes from. The development section of this piece has a lot of rapid key changes so there isn't really a tonal center of that section. It is a development section though so it's very unstable in terms of tonality I suppose. Really appreciate your comments and feedback though, glad you enjoyed it!

Heyo new work just dropped. I've put everything surrounding this piece into the pdf score, or you can just read it in the video description. Which btw, I've finally made my first score scrolling (there's not even scrolling its just a slide show) video! This score took me ages to polish and I'm so happy of how it looked! I know it's not the most interesting work texturally, but thematically I think it's fine. And since this work borrowed themes from somewhere else, I've decided to link the original music down below so you can check out the original music and listen to what I've borrowed, I guess. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPa8bPqQfmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z34enKCqRGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5vG4Be1Ci8

Just let out a soft "aww" after listening to this. This is a really nice and charming work!