PeterthePapercomPoser

Hi @Gwendolyn Przyjazna! I love the modal colors of this piece! I would have made a few different harmonic choices myself though. My ear just yearns for a C# major chord instead of the C# minor you have in measure 5 but I don't know how well it would loop back around if you made that change. But if it doesn't loop well with the major chord in bar 5 you could just write out the second repeat of the material with the minor version and there'd be some unexpected variety. I also really like the mood of the piece - it's melancholic and hopeful at the same time, perhaps contemplative of both good and bad memories. I think the rhythms of the right hand in measure 13 - 15 are as clear as they should be. Since you're using a variety of different durations for the 2nd voice of the right hand it makes sense that you'd display the half note in bar 13 as such since you use a quadruplet dotted quarter note in measure 14 followed by a quadruplet 8th note. And a regular quarter in bar 15. Thanks for sharing this reflective piece! It really is a shame you don't post more often but I remember that when I was in school I didn't compose very much either unless it was for an assignment because I just didn't have the time or mental/emotional resources for creative pursuits.

Hey @Ivan1791! Wonderful writing! The harmonies are quite neo-romantic and reflect well in the bleak but yet contemplative soundscape that is perfect for the string orchestra. Great job and I am hoping that these short pieces of yours are but warm-ups for longer and more developed works! Thanks for sharing.

Hey @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu! I'll review the whole movement as a unit even though I think I already reviewed the beginning of it once - I don't even remember what I said. The beginning is quite foreboding and starts with quite a bleak theme! And there is some very logical and crunchy dissonant chromaticism in it which quite naturally leads to some distant key modulations in a short time. In the beginning, the whole is very contrapuntal and the themes are very lucid and lead the movement towards the logical fugue where the piece becomes hyper-motivic. After that it sort of transcends its own themes/motifs. The Tranquillo in measure 123 kind of foreshadows the later religioso. The Mesto section in measure 148 gives a sense of lightness still tainted by the chromaticism of the lamentoso and its mourning. The fugues subject sounds even darker with the seemingly constant dissonances between the natural and sharp 4th degrees which the subject necessitates. Writing a 6-voice fugue must really have been a mind warping experience. Perhaps you wrote it in a trance much like Wagner claimed to have been in while writing the Prelude to Tristan & Isolde? LoL It's very good and never dull or overbearing in its contrapuntal complexity. There is plenty of space and harmonic variety to keep musical interest. I like how the end of the fugue gradually introduces the relatively happy sounding pentatonic figures. There's also a subtle metric modulation that brings you from the fugue to the Misterioso in measure 439. The Chant - Adagio Religioso section very naturally emerges out of all the previous material like the Tranquillo in measure 123. There is a real sense of piety or worship and spirituality and respect for your friends passing in this part. In measure 565 I perceive the on-beats and off-beats to switch places. For some reason I naturally hear the lower notes as being the strong beat in an oom-pah pattern. The pizzicato glissando from the major 6th degree to the tonic further foreshadow the transcendence you achieve later with the pentatonic figures. Measure 601 almost sounds like the beginning of a Western! LoL .. or should I say "Eastern"? This part is so ebullient and overflowing with positive energy and celebration! The very last section is especially transcendent where the celebration of his life is mixed with a bittersweet reflection. The pizzicato glissando at the end really sounds very Eastern and rounds out the movement quite nicely! Very well done, Henry. I 2nd that this is thus far your biggest masterpiece. Question is, where will you go from here? Thanks for sharing and I'm looking forward to your next piece!

Hello @Mikayla and welcome to the forum! This is a very creative idea and concept for a 4-hand piano piece! I like the main theme as well. In measure 18 you're using a D half-diminished chord which to me would sound better as a Bb9 6/3. The voicing in my opinion would also sound better if the right hand of the bass clef piano player was playing Bb-F-Bb as the open 5th would really nicely accompany the D in the bass. Overall, too, I think you're using too many triads in the low range of the piano which makes it sound a bit muddy. Thanks for sharing and I hope to see more of your contributions to the forum!

Found a really pertinent YT video about this topic: Cadence Hira's "6 Levels of MICROTONES (in Video Game Music)":

Hi @EnriqueMZ! What an unusual piece with a unique instrumentation! Very pretty, but I think it could be improved if you included changes in dynamics to make the music feel more alive and ebbing and flowing! It would also force you to have a specific destination for your phrases. Despite being very good already, dynamically the piece is kind of flat and the chromatic inflections don't take the listener to any new harmonic destinations but instead are just used as a kind of ornament. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Atlantis_! Glad to see that you're back and still making music after all this time! I see you just edited your file. I remember really enjoying the original one you posted the very first time and thought it was really emotive and perfect for a "fairy garden". This one sounds good too but for me the old one was better. I don't know your work ethic but do you often second-guess yourself and your music? Sometimes in the process of composing we lose objectivity about our own creations - it seems like this might be happening to you. If I were you I would keep all my files and make sure that if I make any sweeping changes to my piece of music that the old versions are kept intact so I can later compare and contemplate whether the changes I made really made my piece better. That's just my 2¢. Thanks for sharing! P.S.: You seem to have a real knack for writing really great music for a specific mood or place for games or cinematic backgrounds!

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu! This reminds me of the Brahms Intermezzi! After having listened to it a few times it doesn't bother me as much anymore but the modulation into Ab at bar 20 kinda seemed forced or too sudden for me. In general whenever you go into the minor version of a previous dominant sonority it was uncomfortable for me. But I'm used to it now and love the harmonic adventurousness! Ewww! What's with the random pause at bar 37?! And at measure 46 you have a cross-relation between the D in the right hand and the D# in the left in beat 6. Although I don't think it's a mistake LoL. I guess I would have done the same thing in the same situation. The rule I would cite that negates the cross-relation is that you're using the melodic minor scale and since the left hand is ascending and the right is descending it's okay for there to be a difference in chromatic notes in the 6th and 7th degrees of the scale. It's cool that in measure 72 you make a roulade/fioratura figuration variation of the main theme. Your main theme is very easily transformed by inserting a whole bunch of 16th notes in between the melodic notes to make it more virtuosic! Thanks for sharing this fun piece!

It works fine for me. Sometimes there's an error and the doc doesn't show but usually if you try again it will load. Thanks for your review!

You know, sometimes it's just enough to say "I really liked x!" or "Something about meas. y or timestamp z didn't work for me, but I don't know what it is or how to fix it." I'm sure people will still appreciate the time you put in to saying that! Thanks for responding .. I've added three new answers to the poll!

What keeps you from reviewing more works? This could apply to works reviewed on YCF, YT, discord, Soundcloud or other social media where music is shared. The poll is public. Respond to this topic for me to add more options to the list!

You can do a couple of things to help you sense downbeats. You already know how to do this because it was obvious to you for example, that the first note in the piece is a pick-up note or up-beat. The E following that is a downbeat. Then you just continue categorizing each beat into either "upbeat" or "downbeat" category. When I do this I sense that the first E in the melody is a downbeat, then the B and then finally the A are also downbeats. With this information you should be able to come up with the right meter to fit around the down and up-beats. Another way to help hear downbeats is that they're usually emphasized by changes in harmony (or also referred to as the harmonic rhythm). The piece starts on a C major chord on beat 1, then beat 2 could be considered a passing chord between C major and A minor 7. A minor is a relative minor to C major and hence can be subsumed under the tonic chord function. Hence the first three beats can be considered in C major with a passing chord. Then on beat 4 the harmony changes to G major and hence the change creates an emphasis on that beat making it feel like a downbeat. Don't hesitate to ask if you have anymore questions!

Hi @kaiyunmusic! What a wonderful and bright piece this is! And I am glad you're finishing more of your pieces and finding good titles! One thing that I perceive to be different from your score is that the first phrase seems to be in 3/4 rather than 4/4. Kinda like this: Then the rest of the material is in 4/4 from then on. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Krisp! I like the intensity and concertante piano! It's like a mini piano concerto movement! I also love the dies ire theme sprinkled throughout the piece. But I really like your instrumental style! Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Ivan1791! I think this writing of yours, especially the 2nd Prelude is very Wagnerian. The 2nd Prelude's first phrase reminds of Wagner's first melodic phrase before the harmony comes in in the Prelude to Tristan & Isolde (at least to me). Your playing of the piano and orchestration are both very expressive and fit nicely into the neo-romantic tradition. They are in fact both very dark indeed, with some occasional parting of the clouds to let the sunlight shine through. Thanks for sharing! Also, I'm sure the reviewers of your music, as well as myself would really appreciate it if you gave them a ❤️ or a 🏆 for the reputation points that corroborate our community! I think it fosters a good and communicative little musical society that we have here. Thank you!