Henry Ng Tsz Kiu

This is the second movement of my Violin Sonata in B flat major, commissioned by and dedicated to Arjuna Clark @expert21. It's a slow movement marked "A scene by a stream", as suggested by my dedicatee Arjuna. I chase for simplcity here and I really wanna let the violin sing here, and I think I succeed. I freaking love the opening melody! The use of ARJUNA motive is more sparing as I have to give it away to the beautiful main melody! The melody was inspired when I was having a walk through the beautiful scene of Golden Trumpet Tree! The audio is again made by @Thatguy v2.0! Here is the pdf and YT video of the movement: Violin Sonata in B-flat major 2nd mov.pdf This movement is simple, only in ternary form. Here is the structure of the movement: 0:00 1st Part. The melody is quite beautiful for me, even though it sounds like the main melody in Chopin's Grande Polonaise Brillante, and in the same key, which I realized only after finishing this much later. The piano accompaniment represents the stream. In 1:02 Piano takes turn to play the main melody and violin the countermelody. 1:57 2nd part. I reached my usual contemplative mood in the middle section. Then I was awoken by the hummings of Asian Koel in 2:19. That bird is very common in HK which many people find their hummings disturbing but I actually love. 3:43 3rd Part. First begins a false recapitulation in wrong key G-flat major, then a real recap in tonic key in 4:21, with the main melody gets along with the Asian Koel motive. I personally really love the climax in 5:00! 5:13 Coda. A little coda reminds me the coda of Chopin's Nocturne in E flat major, op.9 no.2. Here is the 1st movement's post on YC: P.S. Here is the sound of Asian Koel: And here are some pictures I have taken that day: Hope you enjoy and feel free to comment! Henry

Hi @Alex Weidmann! I don't find this one silly at all. I don't think the second part can be detached from the first; the first part is sparser with simpler timbre and rhythm, which is then pushed to the climax in the middle section when all instruments appear, and then at the end there's more variety on timbre and rhythm. It's just one developmental process for me. Thx for sharing your work and nice try! Henry

Hi Maggie! Yeah I love that rest bringing the lightness of the theme as well, which matches the waltz rhythm and light mood of the movement. Yeah I was just trying to be simple and might me a bit too simple here, but I thought reaching F minor (b.74) in a D major local key setting would be quite enough for a surprise! Yeah I hope I can play this in real life with Arjuna, so I'm definitely writing interactions between parts, otherwise I would be bored as freak! Henry

Hello @danishali903, thx for your review! Yeah maybe I can add a little bit more motion there, though originally I just wanna keep it simple for a shocking local tonic D major to modulate to G minor lol! Yeah it will work too, and I use quite some pizzicato in the next 3 movements! Thank you! I'm sure the piano writing is idiomatic because I plan to play with myself haha, so if it's not it would kill me! Henry

I have just watched Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme today and I find the music really matches the film's eccentric style. The film quotes a lot of Stravinsky's Petrushka and Bach's famous Cantata BWV 147, as well as ending with the Firebird. The original music reminds a lot with Stravinsky as well, tho when the piano joins in it's more like Schonberg in a way with its tone and color, tho the rhythm and mood is still Stravinsky, or even in Riley's minimalism

Hi @Krisp! I like the opening D flat major passage which for me is very tranquilled. I don't know why, the ending of the piece reminds me of the ending of Schumann's Dichterliebe. Nice color and singing as usual! One thing is that, if you use key signatures maybe you can write less accidentals in your manuscript? Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello @NicholasG! I think @Marius_ already got many good points and I'm not going to repeat what s/he said. You should be proud of it. Your orchestration and mood portrayal is very mature as a 16 year old and I like many of them. Your motivic usage is lovely too. I really like the ending starting from b.93, good preparation to it and nice rhythmic variety. Maybe for me you can also add more varieties in the harmony as well, since most of the passages are more diatonic and less modulatory and dissonance. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello @Fruit hunter! The mallets at the opening is a nice touch. Always like your percussion choice since you are a percussionist yourself. I think the whole music is energetic with some good contrast between those energetic passages, and very colorful. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello @Isen Lark! Welcome to the forum! That's a soothing sad music reminds me of Richard Clayderman. It's lovely, maybe you can provide some contrast by modulating to a different key in the middle section out of G minor. But the whole music is enjoyable, nice ending as well! Would be great if you can also provide the score of your music. Thx for joining and sharing your music here! You can also visit other membets' posts and possibly leave reviews on them. Henry

Hi @pateceramics! The beginning is really dark with a dark key and dissonancnes. I like that in the first few pages the dissonances are still remained until the really bright C major section, and after that it's all God's glories. I also like how the four voices interact with imitations and call and response. Thx for sharing! Henry

I just never thought of it lol, as I thought all sonatas for violin and piano are called Violin Sonatas anyways but look like I'm wrong. I did put some slight melodic emphasis for the violin as this is Arjuna's instrument to play, and I would love the instrument to sing beautifully. Thx for your review! Henry

Hey Mike! Yeah I'm just able to sneak in some pentatonicism in this otherwise normal classical/romantic movement. I am learning how to write simpler and lighter music while still maintaining the flow and effectiveness, because it's not things I have done in the past few years. Yeah I don't wanna explore too much here, maybe in the variation 4th mov there's more! Thx for your review! Henry

Hi Peter! The Nimrod theme is 10 times better than mine lol! I love that variation very much! Well I don't care whether a friend is known through real life or internet. Arjuna is definitely much closer than many people I know in real life. I won't write a piece for someone I don't treasure. Yeah I just try to for light mood and simple style here, something enjoyable and not too difficult. Honestly I quite enjoy composing this piece after the Sextet since that one takes tons of efforts. Thx for your review Peter! Henry

Hi! This Violin Sonata is commissioned by and dedicated to my friend Arjuna Clark @expert21. He had asked me long ago to write a Violin Sonata for him, but I only managed to start the work after finishing my own String Sextet and 3rd Piano Sonata. Luckily this one is completed before his birthday this year for a timely birthday present. As always, thank to @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio. The whole work's tonic key B flat major, key scheme and styles of the movements are chosen by Arjuna himself. The work also featured the "ARJUNA" motive in all the movements, suggested by Arjuna himself: A=A, R=Re=C, J=G, U=Une=Bb, N=rest, A=A. The style here in this movement is a waltz style which I have never tried before but I know Arjuna loves it. I have toned down the playing difficulty for both the violinists and pianists, as I wish I can play with Arjuna with a live recording later. What I want to achieve in this Violin Sonata is simplicity and beautiful violin singing, since I didn't give much chance for the strings to sing in the String Sextet I just completed then, and my music is usually too complex. I hope I can write something simpler and lovely. The thumbnail is an ugly self-made birthday card I made to Arjuna LoL! Forgive my bad artwork haha. Here is the score and YT link for the music: Violin Sonata in B-flat major 1st mov.pdf Here is the timestamp for the video: 0:00 Dedication 0:06 Exposition, First Subject. Introduces the ARJUNA motive. 0:24 starts the transition with inversion of ARJUNA motive in piano, sounds a lot like Beethoven's op.110 Sonata. Modulate unexpectedly to D major in 2nd subject. 0:56 Exposition, Second Subject. Uses mainly the inversion of ARJUNA motive in D major. Ends with some pentatonicism as inspired by my own Sextet, just finish days ago before writing this one. 1:58 Exposition Repeat. A rare thing for me to repeat expositions but I find it adequate doing so here. 3:47 Development. Prime and Retrograde of ARJUNA motive in G minor first, then develop on the 2nd subject through G minor, B flat minor and to E major. Force a beautiful C sharp minor climax in 4:32, since it's my favourite key. Return to tonic key through major 3rd relationship. 4:58 Recapitulation, First Subject. Have the recap sneaks in in a Brahmsian fashion (again!). 5:16 starts the transition, this time includes a quotation from my own String Sextet in 5:33 in G flat major to fit the key scheme. 5:43 Recapitulation, Second Subject. Normal recap in tonic key, nothing changed. 6:37 Coda. Restatement of ARJUNA motive in its prime form, nothing complex here. Here's the 2nd movement of the same Sonata: Hope you enjoy! Henry

Hi @Marc Deflin! My fav. section is the A major section in b.19 where the flow there is really good. I like the opening cello melody too, though ending on a V/vi then go to I sounds a bit strange to me I personally would prevent to have two 3rds on a major chord unless you really want a very bright sound. I remember the 2nd movement also a slow movement, so maybe having a moderato last mov. sounds a bit less dramatic to my taste. I remember the 1st mov. theme, what's the reason you are bringing those themes back in the lasat movement? Nice job finishing a string quartet! Thx for sharing! Henry