Five Sententiae for Viola, Op. 324

This is my "Five Sententiae for Viola Op. 324". It is my entry for the YC Fall 2019, "Poor Form" competition. As I have explained in the title page of the score, at least the 5th movement is much longer than the usual length of my sententiae due to the requirement of combining the previous 4 movements' styles/developments/processes.

Hi, thanks for your work. Would you be so kind to add the pdf file to the post. I cna't open it.

I can try to do it for you, but I would not edit your post without permission.

Edit: don't worry, finally I could open the file.

You're not the only one writing sententiae for the competition! Although I think maybe you both have a different definition. Anyway, I like the theme you used for the shared material! It sounds nice on the viola. Good luck on the competition luderart!

16 hours ago, KJthesleepdeprived said:

You're not the only one writing sententiae for the competition! 

Yes, I noticed that!

16 hours ago, KJthesleepdeprived said:

Although I think maybe you both have a different definition. 

Indeed!

16 hours ago, KJthesleepdeprived said:

Anyway, I like the theme you used for the shared material! It sounds nice on the viola.

Thanks! I enjoyed listening to your piece also, with its lively and rhythmic theme.

16 hours ago, KJthesleepdeprived said:

Good luck on the competition luderart!

Thanks, and good luck to you too KJ!

Hi Luderart!

I’m going to free-write some thoughts while I give your piece my first listen. I’ll come back and listen again later and see if any of my thoughts change, but I hope my comments are helpful. I’m super excited – I really admire your work and can’t wait to hear this one! Here we go…

I.                    Good range for the violin, let’s get that right. A strong idea to build from, I’ll be interested to see where you take it. The double stops are really nice, they add a nice character to the phrases.

II.                 The 16^th notes were a little strange to me, in the first set mainly. I think it’s because there were some repeated notes in those ones (i.e. C4 then C4, like that). The other 16^th note groups were all unique notes, and that helped. Also, it may have to do with how abrupt/out of place they seemed? Almost disconnected from the phrase. Maybe play around with the phrase length as you approach/leave them to help. Or maybe I’m nuts. Probably! Hey… a pizz. note? Interesting.

III.              AH! The staccato is wonderful. Golly, this movement is wonderful. Your development here is textbook, really nice. Two pizz. notes this time. A pattern, maybe?

IV.              Good decorations on your melodic ideas, this is another strong movement. In your expressive phrases (4:20 ish), some double stops/octave leaps may have brought something special to the table. Also back to one pizz. note haha.

V.                I think your incorporation of the previous movements’ ideas is good, but maybe a little too literal. Something more of an impression would have satisfied me more, maybe. Contrived is the wrong word, but the melodies seemed to try too hard to be something they didn’t want to be naturally. Annnd two pizz. notes!

Overall a really strong work. Very successful in terms of your incorporation of the main idea into new ideas. So far I’m impressed by how well you all have done that, when that’s what I struggled with – making new ideas without quoting the original. Anyway, good work!

Gustav Johnson

A fine job, Luderart!

I find it interesting that we both chose our shared themes to be in 5/4 time. Perhaps great minds think alike? 😉

As a violist, I must say I'm very pleased at your instrument choice here. As a composer, I must say comment on how naturally your themes progressed and with such precision and succintness. It's minimalism (aesthetically speaking, not musically) at it's finest, and I'm a big fan!

I congratulate you on a solid entry, sir.

Thanks Gustav Johnson and Tónskáld for your reviews of my piece. I appreciate them (also KJ's) especially since we are all in the same competition together and it would perhaps be difficult to be objective in one's judgements of other entrants pieces!

Thanks Gustav for taking the time to review the piece movement by movement. I appreciate the feedback, and your admiration of my work.

19 hours ago, Tónskáld said:

A fine job, Luderart!

I find it interesting that we both chose our shared themes to be in 5/4 time. Perhaps great minds think alike? 😉

As a violist, I must say I'm very pleased at your instrument choice here. As a composer, I must say comment on how naturally your themes progressed and with such precision and succintness. It's minimalism (aesthetically speaking, not musically) at it's finest, and I'm a big fan!

I congratulate you on a solid entry, sir.

Thanks Tónskáld. Interesting common point between our two entries! Let me add that I found your entry pretty impressive. I appreciate your feedback even more knowing you are a violist. I am happy to know that you are a big fan of my music!

Hi @luderart -- I enjoyed your pieces. The main theme was flowing and beautiful, and I think you did a good job of differentiating it through the various movements. I think you may have followed the rules of the competition better than anyone. A solo melodic line is a bit spare for my taste, but I do believe that is a matter of personal aesthetic / taste. Overall, well written and well done!

On 11/21/2019 at 11:43 PM, Noah Brode said:

Hi @luderart -- I enjoyed your pieces. The main theme was flowing and beautiful, and I think you did a good job of differentiating it through the various movements. I think you may have followed the rules of the competition better than anyone. A solo melodic line is a bit spare for my taste, but I do believe that is a matter of personal aesthetic / taste. Overall, well written and well done!

 

Hi Noah,

Thanks for your review of my piece. I listened to your 5 lively "daydream"-s and enjoyed them. Well done to you also!