piano Preludes (I & II)

This is just a trifle really. Started these about 2 months ago. The idea is a brief prelude written every morning. 

The first one plays around with a serial matrix -purposefully breaking the means at which the matrix is used to generate the material for a piece. 

The second one follows this same purposeful inconsideration of serial technique by juxtaposing the material from the matrix in a particular manner.

Again, these two are mere trifles -serious pieces, but really just trifles. Note, I'm just learning musescore. I don't know the full ins and outs of making the scores look professional -so don't bother critiquing that!

I. a. You must have really big hands to reach a ninth with other notes in it. 
b. Not sure it sounds like 3/2 is the right time signature... it sounds like 6/4.
c. Measures with just chords or are majority chords were low points listening to this, and in terms of phrasing. Matrices offer good starting baselines for breaking rules, but when not heeded, the result is, to me, rather strange. 
II. a. m. 15 is a bit awkward with a repeated note in the same register. 
b. Might want to use cross staff notation for this kind of thing? It's not like an orchestral score where everything lines up in terms of pattern.
c. m. 19, you change the pattern, but why? It's definitely not the height of the piece by any means.
Interesting work... atmospheric, but never dark.

I like more the second piece. It has a dynamic feeling.What I don't understand is the issue about serial matrix. This is more free atonalism, I think. Besides, octaves are not characteristic in the style. I do see the clusters in m. 18 and 19 as a climax. It's the point with more density and tension because of the clusters. 

2 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

I. a. You must have really big hands to reach a ninth with other notes in it. 
b. Not sure it sounds like 3/2 is the right time signature... it sounds like 6/4.
c. Measures with just chords or are majority chords were low points listening to this, and in terms of phrasing. Matrices offer good starting baselines for breaking rules, but when not heeded, the result is, to me, rather strange. 
II. a. m. 15 is a bit awkward with a repeated note in the same register. 
b. Might want to use cross staff notation for this kind of thing? It's not like an orchestral score where everything lines up in terms of pattern.
c. m. 19, you change the pattern, but why? It's definitely not the height of the piece by any means.
Interesting work... atmospheric, but never dark.

 

I. Yes, I do have big hands, lol. b. I chose 3/2 due to the left hand pattern. The right hand, which has material, honestly can be anything really. Playing the piece, I tend to improvise the right hand to a great deal -the left hand is the main material of this first prelude. c)I see your point, though, I consider this to be a subjective point. The midi rendering doesn't really handle purely chordal passages well -and even if I set the pedal marking to it... it's still not the same effect as a real performer. 

That said, I tend to idolize patterns like that in the left hand of this movement. Hypnotic, almost meditative patterns are a fav of mine -and that's what I was going with in this movement. I'm still learning the ins and outs of musescore. Once I rework this movement, It will state a series of notes for the right hand with instructions to improvise upon them. That's my main intent with this.

II. a) the repeated note, your right, is awkward in the serial sense. However, that corner of the matrix does indeed have the repeated note! This movement is devious in that it utilizes the matrix like a diamond. Thus, diagonal rows instead of horizontal and vertical. It makes for an interesting take on serial music, imho. This movement is inspired by a string quartet that I am working on. In the quartet, I also utilize the same idea -but to a much broader and more intense effect. The reason for this, tbh, is I'm bored of utilizing serial matrices. I want something more freer. b) yeah, I don't know how to do this in musescore just yet :P, c)for contrast, tbh. I could've just repeated the initial pattern -but that would be kind of boring, right? 

Like I said in the description, though, both of these pieces are mere compositional trifles. By that, I mean, preludes to me contain ideas that I plan to use in other works (or, as in the case of the second, are inspired by things I do in other works). I shared these to give a glimpse into how I view composition. You'll probably tire of my works like that, lol.

2 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

I like more the second piece. It has a dynamic feeling.What I don't understand is the issue about serial matrix. This is more free atonalism, I think. Besides, octaves are not characteristic in the style. I do see the clusters in m. 18 and 19 as a climax. It's the point with more density and tension because of the clusters. 

 

Yeah, I concede that the first movement is very much freer in the atonal sense -however... the chords are based on the corners of a serial matrix I used for another work (just six notes), hence why the brief transition and return. The second piece, however, is more based on a matrix than the first. Again, though, I don't utilize the full rules and nature of serial music in either piece. As I said in response to Monarcheon's thoughts, I'm bored of serial technique. After awhile, listening and writing, it becomes highly self-explanatory (to the point, where to garner interest, you have to resort to other techniques). So, the result will most likely be more growth in terms of my harmonic and compositional style. These preludes will probably venture into uncharted territory for me harmonically -that generally tends to be the case with these smaller, more trifle works.

Thanks for both your thoughts and comments. I'll try to post something a bit more serious for yoru critiques!

Don´t worry. 

I agree that there's no need to take atonality word by word. I understand it as a tool you uses as you like. If you want to be strict OK, if not, OK too.

Oh of course. I began firmly with a final pallet. I moved towards atonality gradually. Sadly, a lot of my old uploads -which show that gradual move- were lost.