Romance for flute and piano, in A-flat major

Hello everyone,

I am working on the second movement of my second piano sonata, and I have now basically completed the main theme  (It will become an "Andante con

Variazioni").It will begreat fun to write a set of variations!

In the meantime, I am posting this piece (in classical style)  for flute and piano, which I wrote some time ago. The score should be reasonably OK, apart from the slurring of the flute part. I am only a piano player,so I will have to ask a flutist to help me with a revision.

I would be very greatful for any comments,suggestions and revisions from you.

Best regards.

Very nice. I really enjoyed this piece.

The orchestration of the flute is fine. Note: The flute's ability to project is poor, when playing lower than the D, written under the staff.
I have nothing to say about the piano part.

In my opinion there can be more interaction between the flute and the piano. Particularly in the first part until the Più mosso starts. The Più mosso part contains a lot more interaction.

I am looking forward to your second piano sonata!

The piece is wonderful. You have quite a great command of the quasi-Schubert harmonic language of the first half of the XIX Century.

IMHO, the Flute writing is a little bit low and could be easily overwhelmed by the piano, especially in fast passages (very difficult!): the ideal range is the octave above the Treble Clef

1) The flute writing is ultra low.  In this timbre...you might pick the clarinet, alto sax, or even alto flute. Good luck trying to hear this in a real concert.  

2) These seems like a piano solo with flute accomp.  Add some conversation between the flute and piano, not that it's not there but it needs to be WAY more.

3) Your piano writing is flawless.

4) The way you ended this piece is DYING for more.  This could EASILY be a three-movement work.

I look forward to hearing much more from you!

Hello Maarten, Emiliano and Maestrowick !

Thank you very much for your feedback. Really great to get such good reviews.

You all pointed out the very low writing for the flute, and you are of course right. It´s true that the flute has no power in the bottom range, and playing fast passages are very difficult here. But then, there are not really so many fast passages for the flute in this low range. But I also have to admit that I do not know if still some of the writing is awkward for a flutist, since I am not a flute player. I do not think that there is much of a problem for the piano. The arpeggio´s do not require huge jumps and are comparatively slow, and the pianist should therefore be able to adjust the dynamics to a level, where the flute is not getting overpowered. But it remains to be seen how it all will work out in a live playback.

I really appreciate Maestrowick´s suggestion of the alto flute.  I do not know very much about that instrument, but it would be highly interesting to test. A clarinet or alto-sax would also be interesting, but I am not sure if the timbre of those instruments would fit this piece. I could test it electronically, and see what comes out of it, and let you know!

A three movement piece?  I have not considered  it, but it´s a perfect idea. (Already getting ideas for a scherzo-type movement) . But then (ha-ha)…I just have to find the time to write it.

Thanks again everyone for your valuable comments.

Best regards,

Johan

You're welcome!