Morgunlag (morning song) from Icelandic Suite

This song is the first in a five-movement suite inspired by my time in Iceland.  The opening theme uses counterpoint and sustained notes to emulate that feeling of joy-anxiety each new day brings. There is a transitional passage that builds with anticipation into the middle theme, which is harmonically less complex than the first—this is meant to represent that feeling of unbridled peace an early morning stroll in nature brings. The middle theme is repeated in various keys and modulations before the return to the opening theme and the piece ends in a soft, arppegiated finish.

Mornings anywhere are special times, but I find them particularly breathtaking in Iceland. There are so few people and so many natural phenomena that one can't help but be spiritually touched by íslensk dögun—an Icelandic dawn. (Be warned: sunrises/sunsets are difficult to catch in high summer and winter, as the sun never really rises/sets.) I couldn't resist incorporating a morning song into a suite about that lovely country!

The overall style of the song is impressionistic... you likely won't come away humming any melodies, but (hopefully) you will come away with those feelings etched on your soul for a while. BTW I'm a pianist and, as such, strive to make my piano songs as enjoyable to play as possible. You'll notice quite a bit of hand-crossing, melody-driven left-hand passages, and many other "fun" effects.

I think that's enough words for now. Please, enjoy and comment! I always love hearing how the piece made you feel, and what did or didn't sit well with you!

Very nice and enjoyable piece. I see you have a detailed and realistic (but difficult sometimes) writing for the piano and I like it. The overall feeling is very rhythmic, almost in an ostinato, so the counterpoint parts (teh beginning) are a good contrast.

However, it doesn't sound impressionistic to me. It's tonal and harmony doesn't leave the audience any doubt (which is the essence of impressionism). I think it moves between classic and romantic language. But it's quite original, and that's what counts.

(I'd love to see the mornings you describe in Iceland....)

6 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

Very nice and enjoyable piece. I see you have a detailed and realistic (but difficult sometimes) writing for the piano and I like it. The overall feeling is very rhythmic, almost in an ostinato, so the counterpoint parts (teh beginning) are a good contrast.

However, it doesn't sound impressionistic to me. It's tonal and harmony doesn't leave the audience any doubt (which is the essence of impressionism). I think it moves between classic and romantic language. But it's quite original, and that's what counts.

(I'd love to see the mornings you describe in Iceland....)

Aw, thanks for the kind words, Luis—and especially for taking the time to listen and comment! I'm working on adding fingering to the score so the difficult counterpoint passages in the beginning make more "playability" sense. 

I apologize for misleading you about the impressionism. In my mind, the Impressionists are composers like Sibelius, Debussy and Ravel; all of whom (for the most part) retained tonality in their works but who didn't employ the songlike, melody-driven structure most of the Romantics did. I feel that, in that regard, my music is similar. (Or maybe it's more accurate to say that's where my style is heading.) But I can hear the Classicism and Romanticism you refer to in your analysis!

I could go on for days about Iceland, so I'll simply say that you should definitely visit.

Don't worry. Perhaps my idea of impressionism is more "french" than "nordic". I mean: quartal and quintal harmony, exotic scales, whole tone scale, non-functional harmony, etc...

I like it, it is,  among other things, ingenious writing! It makes me want to listen to it again. Congratulations!

41 minutes ago, Pns said:

I like it, it is,  among other things, ingenious writing! It makes me want to listen to it again. Congratulations!

 

Thanks, Pns! I don't know about the "ingenious writing" bit but I appreciate the compliment!

Very lovely piece! I have to say, after reading the description, the way you wrote the piece really defied my expectations. I was expecting something along the lines of Grieg's "Morning", where there's this sense of amazement at the sheer glory of the sun bringing light and warmth to everything. But this was a completely different take on it. It's more ... how to say? Not just focusing on the beauty that's out there, but rather, the introspective feeling that gazing upon that beauty causes within, mixed with that anticipation as to what the day will bring, as you said in your description. In other words, while there are many pieces that are inspired by nature and how that affects one's feelings, thoughts, and emotions, there's something more grounded and down-to-earth about the way you've done it from the perspective of someone who is feeling a certain form of "joyful anxiety" about what the day will literally bring, and mixing it with the soulful, "spiritual" appreciation of the beauty that morning brings.

The feeling I get is half-way like Luis's. On the one hand, there's this part of the music that doesn't sound impressionistic to me, namely, the beginning and ending parts, because these seem to convey emotions in a more direct way -- it's not that it doesn't use whole-tone scales,  quartal harmonies, etc., but rather, it just feels really straightforward. Perhaps this is stupid of me to say, because Wikipedia, describing Impressionism, says this:

"Impressionism in music was a movement among various composers in Western classical music (mainly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries) whose music focuses on mood and atmosphere, "conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone‐picture".

So I understand that seems like a direct contradiction to what I just said. However, I think this definition, while accurate, must be incomplete, because there are surely other genres, like romantic and classical music, that are surely created to convey moods and emotions, and not necessarily by means of a "tone-picture".

However, the middle part, I can definitely think of as being more impressionistic. There's just this more abstract language used to "paint" the emotions here, a certain floating and somewhat surreal feeling, and that exemplifies, to me, what it means to write in an impressionistic style. 

This is all a long-winded way for me to say that I appreciate the juxtaposition of the "concrete" and the "abstract", and I think it's a creative artistic choice that you made work really well.

Anyway, in terms of your actual writing for the piano as an instrument, and doing it in an idiomatic way, it's perfect. Just a glance at the score tells me you're very familiar with the piano, and know how to write in a way that's comfortable and fun to play. There's never any unreasonable difficulty or awkward phrases to play, and you use the sustain pedal very tastefully.

My only criticism I have, is that you haven't uploaded the rest of the suite for us to listen to. Shame on you 😒

Thanks for sharing this with us, it was a real pleasure to listen to 😄

@SergeOfArniVillage That might have been the best review anyone's ever given me—on any of my works! I appreciate your explaining in depth how the piece made you feel.

I am a pianist and sometimes I get lucky and write a good score. 😉 In all honesty, I do try to make my pieces fun to play, so I'm glad you noticed.

If you have lots and lots of time, I have a few other pieces out on this forum somewhere... maybe you could find it in your heart to review them, too. 🙂