J. Lee Graham

This is bright and fresh throughout, and plenty imaginative. If you ask me, this feels like a Sonatina. In the first movement, you give the oom-pa-pa a break just in time before it get gets monotonous - even Viennese waltzes break this rhythmic figure occasionally. I'm guessing that staying close to the tonic key is part of your style, but I think both movements could use more modulation to other keys in the course of the piece to freshen to tonal palate. Also, the first chord in the left hand of the very last measure is strange to me...consider making it an octave D instead of A. It will solidify the finality of the ending. Good job!

I agree with Henry that at least some of those C-naturals should be B-sharps, but really, this is wonderful. Almost mesmerizing. By all means, keep going!

What a nice piece. Tonal, but quite adventurously so. An absolutely fascinating ending, by the way.

I really enjoyed this piece. You seem to have learnt your composition lessons well. I loved how dynamic the work was, and you seem to have used the instruments to the best potential. Just a couple of nits to pick - it really does feel like that, very minor: 1. Non vibrato is not the best way to ask for no vibrato to be used. Senza vibrato or senza vibr. is better - senza in Italian means "without." Non in Italian in this context would mean "not." Of course it's up to you, the instrumentalists will understand your intention either way, it's just one is better Italian than the other. 2. Slurs in a pizzicato passage are superfluous. I'd remove them if I were you. It's literally impossible to slur between two pizzicato notes. Keep going with your lessons! You're doing great.

Hey everybody! Thanks very much for all your comments! Happy New Year!

Oh damn! Looking at this again, in my haste I forgot the rule about tonal second voice entry under certain conditions. Oh well, maybe I'll fix it later. Mea culpa! Master Fux, take a ruler to my knuckles!

@Kvothe ha well you probably could do a thesis on Romeo and Juliet.

Ooh, I just dropped a short Christmas-y piece in with Piano/Keyboard works. I'll mark it as my submission if that's okay, or do I need to post it here?

Here's a little Christmas card for y'all I found from a few years ago. It's probably not the best fugue ever written, not by a long shot, but it's fun. Composed: December 22 - 24, 2017 at Austin Scoring: Keyboard solo Style: Baroque Duration: 2:09

@Kvothe Thanks very much for listening, and your analysis! I'm glad you liked how things progressed. And thanks for your compliments on the development. I always sweat blood on developments, they never come to me easily.

@MJFOBOE thanks for checking it out. I'll have to look again and see if I can create some more obvious places for breath, especially in the last movement.

@PDdLB Thanks so much! I tried to make it interesting for everybody.

@Kvothe Very cool! Loved the exposition. Especially got a kick out of the col legno in the lower parts, and the Dies Irae quote gave me a chuckle. You did leave me wanting a more definitive ending, but that's okay. Awesome!

Greetings all! Hot off the presses, here is my latest piece, my Oboe Quartet in D, for Oboe, Violin, Viola, and 'Cello. It's in four movements and lasts about 17 minutes. I don't have any accounting for why I decided to write this piece. I was just sitting there one day after I finished a Divertimento for woodwinds and had let some space come between - several weeks without writing - and the idea for the opening movement came to me out of the blue. I started writing, and it came pretty easily. The whole thing took about a month intermittently. I'm a violist, not an oboist. A couple of weeks ago I made a post asking for some guidance as to the limitations of the oboe, and got some good answers. After doing some research on my own additionally, and checking with a friend of mine who plays Classical Oboe, I've made some calculated demands in the upper register of the instrument that I'm hoping won't be too taxing on a Classical instrument. It certainly should present no problems to a player on a modern instrument. I did my best to provide reasonable opportunities for breath - the last movement being the most demanding in this way, but circular breathing may be a good option - as well as quite a number of rests to allow the player to rest his/her embouchure. I've done my best without selling myself short, and I hope it shows. I hope you enjoy this. I look forward to your comments. Thanks! - Composed: November 13 - December 6, 2025 at Austin. - Instrumentation: Oboe, Violin, Viola, Violoncello. - Style: Classical, ca. 1790-1800 - Duration: 17:15 - Electronic Rendering by Finale 27 music notation software’s "Human Playback" with NotePerformer 4 artificial intelligence assisted interpretation.

@Kvothe Greetings! Thank you so much for reviewing my piece! I see what you mean about using treble clef more for the higher stuff instead of ledger lines. i do the same thing with high bassoon parts, and I should probably pay more attention to that. As for shifting positions as I've called for, I've written this piece more for a highly proficient player - not a virtuoso necessarily, but the equivalent of someone with a master's degree in performance - and what I've written shouldn't present too much of a problem for a player of that calibre. I'm a violist myself, and I can play this. I've also showed it to another violist, and he found nothing prohibitive about it. Thanks again very much!