Henry Ng Tsz Kiu

Hi @Lithl ! Thx for your review! I learn from my past failure and you can check out my first post here, it’s the earlier version of the quintet and the dynamic there is so bad 🫣 To me this movement is about dark and crazy energy despair brings me. The 1:53 melody is a sarcastic one to play with, and 5:27 even more sarcastic when I failed to claim transcendence for my suffering haha. The ending represents the exhaustion of energy with pizzicato as this gives way to internal reflection for the 3rd movement (which I consider the best movement of the work), so stay tuned! Henry

Thx Mike! I think in the 4:20 section I keep having the same melody repeating, so I need to have instrumental changes in order to be less monotonous and appear more skilful lol. I like the 7:30 passage too and I agree it’s Beethovanian with its lower register! Henry

Hi @Nazariy ! I will review each movement in each to earn more exp lol. The prelude is really solemn and to me well fits to the medium of string orchestra. My favourite moment is b.31 with that F# minor melody, and I also enjoy moments when you give the lower strings to shine. Make sure to mark divisi in b.20! Thx for sharing! I should continue reviewing the later movements. Henry

Hi @Vasilis Michael ! Another great work my friend! That Neapolitan F major resolved to E major in 0:40 sounds so magical to me. I would describe your style as a mix of Schubert and Scarlatti! Both composers are magical in their modulations and you too! Henry

Really need courage to cross out passages you wrote! But you can always recycle materials for other pieces so there won’t be waste! Henry

In a sense Chopin's Ballade no.2 does the same thing, although Chopin goes even one step forward by destroying the false repose of F major all along with the cruel but real tragic A minor ending.

I agree the key of the song should be C# minor modulates to E minor with heavy reliance on deceptive cadence. Maybe the songwriter wants to signify the peace represented by the VI chord is full of undercurrent of i. Henry

There're a lot of great post here in the past and I'm sure they can fill up your belly! Henry

Hi! I am continuing my revision on my old work. This is the 2nd movement of my Clarinet Quintet in C minor, which is completed 4 years ago and I'm revising it. Thx to my friend @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio! To me this is probably the worst movement in the piece, but only because it's the most one dimensional one: After the discovery of despair in the 1st movement, I started to fall into confusion and craziness of despair. Ironically this movement is written in a neat Sonata form with the structure presented below: 0:00 First subject, exposition. Start right from the despair Eb-D-C-B motive in quick Scherzo time to represent the fury and confusion of despair. Clarinet joins in 0:31, still playing at the despair motive, and in 0:33 the whirling figure using despair motive signifying the confusion is introduced. 1:27 Transition, exposition. I like this pizz. theme myself for how sarcastic it is. 2:34 Second subject, exposition. In F minor. A more "reasonable" theme finally with major keys visited, although finally succumbed to the confusing despair. I always go to F minor instead of G minor for the secondary key of a C minor movement for its darkness. 3:46 Development. Continue with the confusion by quickly modulating to different keys. I really love the 3:59 passage with a Brahmsian turn to a German sixth chord in 4:09! The fury ends with a "transcended" sadness in Neapolitan C# minor in 5:20 with a clarinet solo, but sarcastically laughed off by pizzicato strings in another Brahmsian German sixth. 5:49 First subject, recapitulation. Excitement reduced after a suffocating development. In 6:02 obviously I learn from Beethoven's 5th for that famous solo oboe passage. I love how fierce it is in 6:38. 6:47 Transition, recapitulation. Shorter than exposition's transition. I hate exact repetitions. 7:25 Second subject, recapitulation. Same as the one in exposition except in tonic key. Notice how relative major Eb major is finally used with some emphasis for the very first time in the piece, as the confrontation of B flat carried by E flat major and B natural by C minor of the despair motive would be the main battlefield later on. 8:38 Coda. One last cry and I am exhausted by the despair, thus ends the movement in tired pizzicato chords. Only with this exhaustion do I have the motivation to excavate the true reason behind the despair, which would be the main theme for the 3rd movement. Here is the score and youtube video of the movement : (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 2nd mov Final Version 20260707.pdf Harmonically I deliberately play with chord progression of augmented triad keys to reinforce that particular chord both horizontally and vertically, as well as resonating with the despair motive. Hope you enjoy this one and offer some critique to the movement! P.S. This is the 1st movement of the remastered version of the work: Henry Clarinet Quintet in C minor 2nd mov Final.mp3

Hi @Cafebabe ! I really like this piece! It reminds me so much of Schubert with the main theme! Devilish, a bit dark humor just like his F minor Moment Musical and the figuration is really similar. The rhythm there is so funny. The piece is idiomatic on piano with all those quick notes. I have perfect pitch and I agree this piece works so well with the dark F minor. Really enjoy this one and thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @UncleRed99 ! I forget either lol! I really like this one. It sounds so solemn and very proper for the theme. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Kvothe ! I agree with the alto clef suggestion by @Fruit hunter and the register issue by @Luis Hernández . To me it sounds like Chinese music featuring mostly pentatonic melodies. I think you can feature more solo moments by each of the three instrumentalists in their unique color: The high unique register of piccolo and the C string area of viola are never explored in this piece, while the harp is almost monotonously playing broken chords except the glissando near the end. To me chamber music should have the players fully enjoying their own parts with some challenging passages, while playing together there should be 1+1>2 effect, rather than weaking all players' uniqueness. Thx for sharing. Henry

Hi @Scriabinian ! I feel like the dynamic level of the rendition is unvaried at all! The ff passage sounds the same as mp passages. I have to admit I don't listen to the full piece because of the dynamic level, will you update the post with a more accurate rendition? Looking from the score I think it should be a really beautiful piece featuring rich counterpoint in a Sextet setting! Henry

Hi @Oak ! I agree with @Lithl that the alarm sound doesn't need the percussion. I will go further, I think only the vibraphone will be needed to wake your friends up in a peaceful manner! Henry

Hi! Will you post the original piano work separately first? I feel like I will have to go through the original full work before commenting on this one since I want to get to know how the four subjects are introduced before getting into this one! Henry