Henry Ng Tsz Kiu

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

Hi fellow @latebeethoven_addict ! This piece has some really nice melody and warm mood. One thing I notice is that within section you do not modulate which make the piece less interesting harmonically. The whole piece is never in minor. Even though the poem itself is beautiful and "positive", you can add more varied harmonic color in the piece. The use of rhythm is varied enough. The passage in b.66 accidentally reminds me of Chopin etude op.25 no.6 lol! The use of high register piano fast notes in b.108 is beautiful and you capture "breeze" there really well! The ending is lovely as well. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Ninja Nolan ! I like the idea of using different movements to present contrast. The opening movement sounds like an introductory chorale to the piece while the last movement sounds like an ending chorale to the piece, much like the structure of a cantata. The centre movement is the main statement of the piece to me and I love the vivacity of the march, it sounds like opera buffa to me. I am expecting that after the Ab major trio the Eb major march will return as in a da capo piece. I think the texture of the piece can be more varied: mostly it is chordal except the march, and even in the march it works in pairs so rhythmically the whole piece sounds less varied. I think you can also add more contrast inside movement 1 and 3 as well, instead of only having the contrast between movements. Also it would be great if there are some coherence of materials between movements, but this point is subjective! Harmonically it's Baroque and more traditional. And for the text, I think the 3rd movement shouldn't be tragic as in your music with the corresponding stanza: And when the evening comes, the caressing breeze That plays in your veils shall be sweet, And the peaceful gazes of the stars Shall smile benevolently upon the lovers.I myself cannot link the tonic G minor with the happiness of the stanza. The 3rd movement sounds more like a contemplative reflection of something sadder than portraying peace and love in the poem. But this point is also personal and subjective! Thx for sharing! I know I am nitpicky in this comment, but I do like the music especially the 2nd movement, thx for joining the competition! Henry

Hi @Wieland Handke ! For the accordion, probably only @Omicronrg9 can talk about the accordion since he's an accordionist (I'm summoning you here Daniel). Btw, the instrumentation of this piece is almost exactly the same with Daniel's group. I think you are using an orchestral mind for this chamber work. There are lots of careful doublings of melodies and countering parts. I think the texture of this piece is the most varied in the entries I have listened to so far! What is your purpose to introduce fugato in this piece? Is it related to the narrative strcuture? Just one thing: I actually do not really like the ' pulse between the passages which I think it will hinder its flow. My favourite passage is section F when the texture and harmony are less complicated, it really gives good contrast with passages before it. I at first don't like too much of the harmony since I think the dissonance is not neccessary, but after my 2nd listening I suddenly find they are necessary to convey the melachony with the usage of accordion, good job on that! Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Musicman_3254 ! I quite like the pentatonic language and the ending some very Chinese to me! But like @MK_Piano noted the piece can be more varied in terms instrumentation. More interactions between the instruments can be added and variation of textures with some more polyphony would be good. Now the piece is predominantly homophonic and sometimes heterophonic. Another thing is the change of harmony and keys. The music is mostly in Gb major with pentatonic setting which makes the piece sounds a bit monotomous and not moving forward becauase of lack of conflict and drama and dissonance (disclaimer: I love the key and setting since I exactly use the same setting for my Sextet in Gb major!!!!!). Apart from the harp issue, for the instrumentation I'm not sure the wind player can play the opening notes that long unless they have circular breathing technique. For the harp players playing glissando is a deafult, so in passages like in b.43 you should rather notate "non-arpeggio". For the score presentation, Cello never uses alto clef but you use it right at the beginning and many later passages!. For strings only viola uses alto clef. Cello only uses Bass, Tenor and Treble clef! Also I think Baritone wil prefer bass clef to alto clef. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi Mason! @MK_Piano (Not Mark lol) This one is a passionate entry, it for sure matches the original poem: passionate love in bright summer. I actually agree with @Fruit hunter that this one is a love song (but ofc a very good one!) No doubt you and @UncleRed99 are great friends as I see many things similar in your music: melodic, moody, simplistic, con moto and affectionate. The chamber writing is interactive with constant interactions between parts. I think there can be more variation in texture such more counterpoint between the strings: they usually move in a more homorhythmically. I think in some moments you can invite countermelodies as well. But that climax at the end is greatly achieved with the homorhythms with good variation to the original A section. Your engraving is so better than mine! One thing I also note is the key scheme of the piece: The piece is mainly in G major and E minor. Since I have listened to a lot of Scarlatti Sonatas lately, I would love to see more modulations and keys invited in the piece for more contrast, even though the contrast between G major and E minor is already quite good. WIth the less varied key scheme many of the harmonic patterns and sequence are more predictable and less surprising which to me makes the love less exciting. I may sound harsh in this review but it's all personal and I do like your work haha. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Fruit hunter ! I really like this piece, again like the last competition piece you write with percussion instruments and portray childhood (to me). This time your instrumentation is more keyboard based and I really like your usage of vibraphones with tone clusters which create a distant and nostalgic mood of the past. To me the slow sections are passages representing the attempt to get into the past memories and the fast sections are those vivid childhood memories. The passage in b.51 is so funny, it's like when the students are playing the school bell rings and the play is somewhat forcefully stopped. (Even though here it's the memory stopped) What I like less is the passage in b.131. I know you want to change the mood of the piece but the instrumentation there reminds more of a religious setting than a nostalgic setting, which sounds a bit out of place to the entire piece. Like Mike some of the passages I need to leave the earphone because of the high frequency and volume, particularly passages after b.162. I think for the mallet issue even if you can change them instantly yourself, it's always more friendly to the percussionist some seconds to change the mallets. Like @Luis Hernández said there's a lot to learn from this piece. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hey Vince! It's real fun playing this one! The time signatute looks and sounds difficult at first so I needed to clap rhythms on my legs first, but once I got through that it's much easier to play! The rhythm and use of pattern here reminds me of your Prelude no.9 which I also enjoy entirely: So in my playing I play it a bit faster, add some pedals, articulations, and whenever there's repetition of phrases I usually play the 2nd time with a slightly stronger dynamic. If you enjoy listening to this Prelude, you will enjoy it 10 more times by playing it! Thx for sharing this wonderful work Vince! I know you're getting busy but really hope you drop more great pieces to us! 💋 Henry