Nolan

Hello, I am searching for new 8-hand, 2-piano repertoire. The ensemble that I play in has done the following pieces recently: - Khachaturian Sabre Dance - Carmen Fantasy - a few of the Walden Hughes ensemble arrangements (Walden Hughes) - Danse Macabre We are looking for showy/entertainment pieces. Any suggestions? I would also consider compositions written by YC forum members. Thanks, Nolan

I really enjoyed that. Echoing what the previous poster said, I think it might work better for two pianos. Aside from being more practical performance-wise, constricting it to two pianos could really tighten up the composition. Consider how effective the octave doubling is. Are you doing it to reinforce the part or would contrasting dynamic markings between the parts achieve the balance you are looking for?

If you don't mind the newer stuff, there is a Mandolin Concerto by Avner Dorman. Check out the videos on YouTube:

Has anyone played this piece? I wish John Adams wrote more for piano, as this and his other pieces are really excellent. I love the resonance of the two pianos and the rhythmic interplay between them is really interesting. I'm looking through the score and would love any tips from people who have played it.

We used "The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis" (published by Norton) in my undergrad theory class, but I recently picked up Kostka's "Tonal Harmony" (5th ed.) and it seems to be more in depth and useful as a reference.

to gianluca: From my perspective, there is so much enjoyable music composed in the 20th century, not just string quartets or by Americans, in a wide variety of styles, that it really isn't useful to denigrate an entire group of composers simply because you don't care for them. Unless you had particular criticism for them, I usually find it best to just accept that you don't care for a particular composer or style and MOVE ON. Who are you to say that any one composer is better than another? When I hear blatant expressions of how a composer is sooooooo great and how other composers are trash I can't help but roll my eyes, think "that's nice...", and go read something else.

Chaski, If you end up choosing to get a new soundcard (which would probably be a good idea), you may be able to use the USB cable you already have. You will have to edit some of the settings in the software you are using (Cubase, notation software, etc.) to make sure that the MIDI input is set to whatever the USB connector driver comes up as. Then for MIDI output (which will be played through your computer speakers) set it to your new soundcard. You also want to look into tweaking the audio patches used in your software. Simply changing the SoundFont used will dramatically change the audio quality (for better or worse).

I like all of the common standards, ie: Moonlight, Pathetique, Waldstein, Appassionata, etc...but my absolute favorite is No. 32. The Arietta is so beautiful...and fitting as the final movement of such a monumental collection.

Very cool music...I really enjoyed that. Qccowboy, those descriptions are accurate. The form of each movement is pretty interesting, especially the first (sonata-allegro) and the last (rondo). I like how the two themes of the first movement are developed and eventually turn into each other and how the last movement incorporates material from all the movements. I'm still puzzled by the harmonic writing of this style. Does this music follow any sort of guidelines? How does Corigliano write this sort of music? If it is OK, I'd like to attach some of the first movement, the second theme (starting at rehearsal "9"). Could anyone explain a bit of what is going on harmonically? Corigliano(excerpt).pdf

I've heard that John Corigliano's work may be considered neo-romantic. I'm really interested in learning more about this style...particularly the Piano Concerto and the String Quartet No. 1. I have the PC score and I've seen the SQ score but I really don't know much about analyzing it. I just want to gain an understanding of how the music works. I've taken theory classes but we didn't really go very far into 20th century writing. Basically I'm looking for any resources to learn about this style. I have access to a large university library, so any books you may recommend I could check out. Thanks for any help! Nolan

Could you please explain why you are claiming you wrote this? Yes, you modified a bit in the middle, but you are blatantly ripping off William Joseph's "Piano Fantasy." You can listen to it in the music player on his official website: William Joseph

Ahh, this is my favorite Beethoven Sonata. I would love to hear Arrau's Arietta movement as well.

One piece requiring the use of the middle pedal is Debussy's "Sunken Cathedral" prelude. In the attached measures, the C in the bass must be held underneath chords requiring the use of both hands. To play this, you would play the C and put down the middle pedal (before you release it). Then you are free to sus. pedal each of the big chords. One thing to note is that you don't need to re-pedal the middle pedal every time (because its a repeated note).

Here is a way to figure out some keys which are good to modulate to: - The relative major/minor keys are good keys to modulate to. - Add or remove 1 sharp/flat from the key signature. - The relative major/minor keys of those new key signatures are also good. So for C minor: - Eb major (relative major) - Add 1 flat and you have F minor/Ab major - Remove 1 flat and you have G minor/Bb major

Well, hopefully the upgrades from 2006 will make it worth getting. I'm pretty happy with '06, but it can always improve.