Henry Ng Tsz Kiu

Is this a live recording? I ask so because I hear the pressing sound of pedal, and if it's so it's a really good playing. On the piece itself it has sentimentality and melodic fluency, and it reminds me of piano music from @UncleRed99 and @MK_Piano . Thx for sharing! P.S. Thank you! Henry

Hi @Mamuka Chkheidze ! Do you have the full audio of the piece? I don't have a spotify account and in this preview of your piece it just allows me to listen to some seconds of it. Thx! Henry

When did I speak? 🤪

This is the 4th and last movement of my Clarinet Quintet in C minor, which is completed 4 years ago which I finish revising. Thx to my friend @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio! Here is the score and video of the movement: (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 4th mov final 20260922.pdfClarinet Quintet in C minor 4th mov Final Version 20260922.mp3 https://youtu.be/r4Y7eVQdom8 It's finally the time to solve the problem after excavating deeply into the despair and sadness itself in the last movement. The despair motive is almost everywhere in the movement to show the struggle with it. The movement is basically under sonata form (or sonata rondo) structure with an extensive coda: 0:00 1st subject, Exposition. Despair [0134] theme combines with anapaestic (or dactylic?) rhythm behind to present the action to solve it. A sudden reflection with halt appears in 0:44. What is this despair? Eb major arrives the earliest in the whole piece of music in 1:10. 1:49 Transition. Begins in Ab major, the 1st theme enters in 2:06 cello but stop by a chase to Eb major in 2:25. First time to dissolve the despair with bare harmonies. 2:39 2nd subject, Exposition, in Eb major. Some struggle in 3:02 in c minor and reached its climax in 3:21 but dissolved (or ignored). Trying to achieve a more hopeful ending but ends in deceptive cadence in 3:47 with the scare of 1st subject theme. Eb major never achieves its perfect cadence here and go straight back to c minor in the development. 4:17 Development, 1st part. Most complicated part of the movement (it should be), 1st subject theme enters into each instrument individually like nothing happens(that's why it can be either sonata-rondo or sonata for the structure). The sudden halt reflection suddenly interrupts in 4:53(which will keep appearing in the development). Keeps modulating with sudden reflection (or rather because of the reflection) to finally reaches e minor passionately for the 1st climax of the development. 5:28 Development, 2nd part. The emotion gets complicated as 5 part counterpoint is achieved here. I initially was in doubt of the counterpoint here during revision since the sound is so confusing and muddled but I think it's a good way to represent the confusion of mind here so I retained it. Certainly I don't have the ability of Mozart here haha. It cools down to b minor with 2nd subject theme singing, ending in German sixth chord which gives hint to C major/minor as V7 of it. But it instead it enter F sharp minor. 6:23 Development, 3rd part. The use of F sharp minor here is to reiterate the polarity of C/Gb which is established right in the 1st movement (I also use it in my Sextet). Another climax in 6:42 using transition theme. Falls to aura of despair in the opposite pole in 7:17. But only when you fully admit and immerse yourself in despair hope appears, as it magically turns into Eb major with the ultimate climax. The hope theme shines completely in 7:50 and in 8:11 even the despair motive appears hopefully in the clarinet! It ends in a calm pentatonic aura but it proves itself short lived as it cools down instantly. 8:23 Development, last part and retransition. It falls again to the weak Ab major and ends in a long reflection in 8:45. I think it's anti-climatic to allow unmoving passages in a development but I do it as preparation to what comes after it and a preparation of the coda. Sadness deeply felt and rebounds in agitation, as rhythms from all previous movements appear in 9:38 and in 10:00 the outburst of despair motive is played in unison. 10:13 Recap, 1st subject and transition. Themes recapped and reordered in a much more agitated manner than the exposition. I definitely learn from Mozart's G minor Quintet for the texture here. Transition in 10:54 as 1st subject greatly shortened. 11:38 Recap, 2nd subject. Time to enjoy the moving sadness by despair theme here. Try to grasp hope but despair seems fully taking control... 13:28 Coda, 1st part. My fav. theme in 1st mov quoted here: do I have to end in this way after all these struggles?? Are they futile at all?? I sink myself and dissolve myself into harmonies only after all the counterpoints before. Yeah! Despair may not be solved but it can be dissolved! To acquire it isn't to have hope defeat despair, but rather embrace despair and carry its heavy weight on your shoulder and still maintain that the world is hopeful. 14:40 Coda, 2nd part. By no means I am merely copying Beethoven's op.135 3rd mov (my all time fav mov) note by note here: the Eb-D-C-Bb motive there is the perfect solution to the despair motive in this entire piece. But just like Beethoven's op.131 or Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, what's happen next is not the issue here, so the ending is somewhat unfinished, and what's left undone would be further developed as in 16:00 the melody begins my 2nd Clarinet Quintet in E flat major. Feel free to criticize the movement here! A more complete narrative of the whole piece will be put in the video featuring the whole piece instead of here. Thank you if you follow the whole piece of music and read the long descriptions here! Henry P.S. Here are the posts of previous movements of the same Quintet: 1st Mov: 2nd Mov: 3rd Mov: The passage in Mozart's String Quintet in G minor: The slow movement of Beethoven's op.135 Quartet:

Thx my friend! I love the 3rd Lament as well, it has become my favorite during the revision.

Hi @Lithl ! I love your appreciation on the structure of the movement! I personally love the alternation of homophonic Laments and polyphonic Fugues as well. Mahler said that each Symphony is a world. I think each piece should be their own world since there should be unique things to say in each work, no matter the scale or the medium. I love the last Clarinet solo too! To me it's a reflection of what happen in the movement as well the piece. I love the ending when all 4 subjects appear and the 1st Lament reappears at the end to realize the pain. That's the turning point of the whole piece. The piece is in 4 movements and the finale should be posted today or tomorrow. Stay tuned! Henry

Thx for your invitation, Peter. My longest time taken is for my Clarinet Quintet in C minor. I started the piece in 2016 Fall, struggling a lot with my life and whether I can really compose, and finished the final draft on April 2022, which was my 1st post here on YC Forum. And I've recently just finished the revision of it for a final version of it, and if this also counts, this work took me almost 10 years to finish. I am not one who love to be pushed by deadlines and commissions, hence still don't want to be a "professional" "composer". Music has their own lives and when they want to speak they will speak through inspiration. I never believe that by forcing myself would make good music at all; if I'm forced to write trash in order to fulfill commissions or for money, I will choose not writing at all. That accounts for 1 reason why I work really slow. One example is for my String Sextet: I knew very well in March 2024 that the piece has to be end in a palliative and serene mood, in pentatonic style. But by then I only finished the first 20 munutes in despairing minor and minor and minor passages linger. I couldn't make it. I truthfully believed I could never finish the piece as I didn't figute out how peace can be achieved after such sufferings, after all tragedies, wars, deaths happening in the world nowadays. You can ask @Thatguy v2.0 and he knew I am not lying. (But a big thx to his encouragement) So after suffering some real life pain, recovet and one day I walked and listened to a Chinesr music grouping, I was suddenly inspired-truly inspired. Inspiration came out of nowhere and I knew exactly how to continue the piece and finish it in the way I never thought possible. I always think that composer is just a pregnant woman (not people). Music just comes from God or Heaven or natute or whatever, and they never belong to you alone as they are only realized through you, hence never your own possession. (Although I am still retaining my copyright lol) That would need time to feed yourself with more nutrients from past human world and the nature, and the process won't be quick, and hence you can never expect your fruit to be born quickly. I am for sure no Mozart thus I can only slowly write my pieces with diligence and hopefully they go well. I wouldn't want to write trash and flashy and extravagant programme notes on my music's blah blah blah to lie to any listeners and myself. I hope everything I write is an honest representation of me, and that would take time too. Another thing is technical: I need time to get familiar with my material and medium and skills in order to adequately write what I want. In my multi movement works the 1st movements are always the worst because I need time to know my music and digest it to write. These are my brief explanantion of why I need much time to write. Henry

Hey Peter! In fact I find it really melodious even it’s bitonal. The canonic imitation doesn’t sound mechanical to me, which is good job. In fact I’m going to use some bitonal treatment of your theme in my new work working so stay tuned haha. Henry

Hi @Lithl ! By listening to your music I actually think of a Gothic scene: just like @Luis Hernández noted the synthesiser sounds like ominous birds flipping. I actually don’t hear the cello much, maybe you can add more of it? I think an extremely high pitch harmonics or sul ponticello cello or col legno lowest register cello can make the atmosphere sound more scary. Thx for sharing! Henry

hey @Markus Boyd ! Really thank you for your detailed explanation! I appreciate that. I think the “disparity” is only due to our different aesthetics and style. Bach’s Et Resurrexit is perfectly written as it narrates the pain of crucifixion, Dido’s Lament for the abandoned Dido. My movement here is none like theirs, as I want to talk about the confused state under depression or despair. Under a state of despair, in my case, falls into confusion and you almost see nothing bright; no drama there, no contrast of bright/dark or major/minor there, just confusion. Maybe there is some light, some reasonable power from human Logos, which is portrayed a bit in both 2nd subject which is in major key in both exposition and recapitulation here, but it’s only a small portion and will easily be crushed by blind confusion of despair. I don’t think I have ever fallen into depression myself but I have lots of friends fallen into it, and they see no light and reason to pick them up; what seems to a depression patient hopeful may be the one last false hope and the last straw which takes their lives away. I don’t try to set myself unprecedented but I just try to write that particular state of mind. Hope this explanation helps Markus! Henry

Hi @Markus Boyd ! I really love this prelude! The counterpoint is really rich and fluent and the pain real. Maybe an imitative entrance of each voice would make the piece more solemn but to me this one is already really good. Probably because the Dorian is the 1st mode? Just like Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge maybe because of that too. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Martynas123 , Is this one section of your D major Sonata? I ask because it’s more a G major piece to me. If it’s hard to continue you can for sure modulate to new keys. Easiest would be to modulate to D major by ending the first section in half cadence and then you can begin with new ideas. I actually really like the idea after 0:59, but like @Grant Weep said it gets really weird, to me because it doesn’t match with the style before it. Henry

Hey Peter, This bitonal piece sounds really funny, it sounds like a parody of a march! It's like someone saying "look at how serious I am!" by making himself 200% serious which makes him 500% ridiculous lol Henry

Hi @Matthew M ! This one does portray the joyful mood of summer in the poem! There are things to maybe take note of: First it’s the harmonic colour varieties. I know that you build a good contrast between G major and E major in two sections with different time signatures which is good. But within each section there is almost no modulations as each section remains in G major/E major which makes the moving force weakened. For the chamber writing there is almost no interaction between the instruments, they are all accompaniments which rarely carry melodic weight, and rhythm are more homorhythmic and usually in pairs. They almost always appear all together without some spots when you let some instruments rest, which lessen the variety of spacing and texture, More Instrumental Interludes should be added between stanzas/sentences to allow more varieties in texture and allow the instruments to sing the melody as well. The strings and piano should have slurs to indicate Bowing/ legato playing/ phrasing. @Wieland Handke and @MK_Piano are right on the marking of syllables, as for the melismatic notes you would need to indicate which syllables would be sung with which notes by hyphen. Also vocal scoring is a bit different: grouped notes represent they will cover a syllable, while separate note-head represent syllabic lyrics. So for example for your first three words “so on a”, the three Ds should be marked as 3 separate notes instead of grouping together. The high B5 and D6 in b.37-39 would be really difficult to sing with even for sopranos. And you should add more rests for the soprano to breathe! Now it almost becomes a never ending Wagnerian melody with no spots to breathe! Thx for joining the competition! Henry

Hi @JDevorMusic ! Technically this should be the most complete piece of the competition! The harmony and mood are the most varied, the use of motives very notable and coherent, instruments, like @Fruit hunter noted, are extended to their utmost potential. I like your use of whole tone scale which definitely makes the music sound impressionistic and French. The piece keeps moving forward because of the varying textures when you allow some moments of quieter passages with fewer players. Like @MK_Piano I think the piece less related to the original poem and the competition theme. But this one is subjective as we all have our own interpretations on poems. But the piece stands alone well! Thx for sharing and joining the forum! Henry