Piano Quartet no. 2 in G minor, Op. 10

Hello everyone,

Once again, it has been a long time since I've posted anything here. Over the past year, I have been recording my chamber works using the remote recording technique (where the musicians involved record their parts separately), and have just finished recording my Piano Quartet no. 2 in G minor in this manner. I have already posted a live recording of the second movement here (https://www.youngcomposers.com/t38945/piano-quartet-no-2-op-10-mvt-2/), but the quality was not that great. Here, the quality is significantly better, and more importantly, the piece is complete!

The Piano Quartet no. 2 in G minor, Op. 10 was written between 2019 and 2020, 3 years after the Piano Quartet no. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 3. It is my longest chamber work, lasting roughly 32 minutes, and has 3 movements. It was actually written concurrently with the Lacrimosa for piano quartet, Op. 11, hence the same orchestration. The whole piano quartet is based entirely on 2 distinct themes, which provide the melodic foundations of each movement.

The 3 movements are as follows:

Movement 1. - Andante misterioso - Moderato patetico (G minor)
Movement 2. - Adagietto - Andante (C major)
Movement 3. - Larghetto - Allegro grazioso (G minor-major)

I would like to give a huge thanks to everyone who helped me bring this recording project to fruition. Their performances and services were phenomenal, and I could not have done this without them!

The performers are as follows:

- Javier Orman, violin (Mvts. 1, 2, and 3) https://www.javierorman.com/
- Dima Ratush, viola (Mvt. 2)
- JonathanCello, cello/viola lines played on cello (Mvts. 1 and 3) https://www.fiverr.com/jonathancello/do-session-cellist-for-your-musical-project?utm_campaign=gigs_show&utm_medium=shared&utm_source=copy_link&utm_term=engey
- Avigail Arad, cello (Mvt. 2) https://www.fiverr.com/avigailarad/teach-you-how-to-play-the-cello?context_referrer=user_page&ref_ctx_id=442e84e2-4238-452e-9737-c8c33da05bd5&pckg_id=1&pos=1
- Myself, piano (Mvts. 1, 2, and 3)

Here are the recordings of all the movements:

Here is the original video of the second movement:

As always, I hope you all enjoy. 🙂

This is beautiful music, with much thematic consistency. If this was on Spotify, I'd add it to the classical playlist I listen to at work. I like the power of the final movement, and the expressive changes you make to the theme throughout all the movements. Well done!

Also, hats off to the performers for pulling together such a tight recording remotely!

@Seni-G I thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the music the performances!

On 12/10/2020 at 4:23 PM, Theodore Servin said:

Hello everyone,

Once again, it has been a long time since I've posted anything here. Over the past year, I have been recording my chamber works using the remote recording technique (where the musicians involved record their parts separately), and have just finished recording my Piano Quartet no. 2 in G minor in this manner. I have already posted a live recording of the second movement here (https://www.youngcomposers.com/t38945/piano-quartet-no-2-op-10-mvt-2/), but the quality was not that great. Here, the quality is significantly better, and more importantly, the piece is complete!

The Piano Quartet no. 2 in G minor, Op. 10 was written between 2019 and 2020, 3 years after the Piano Quartet no. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 3. It is my longest chamber work, lasting roughly 32 minutes, and has 3 movements. It was actually written concurrently with the Lacrimosa for piano quartet, Op. 11, hence the same orchestration. The whole piano quartet is based entirely on 2 distinct themes, which provide the melodic foundations of each movement.

The 3 movements are as follows:

Movement 1. - Andante misterioso - Moderato patetico (G minor)
Movement 2. - Adagietto - Andante (C major)
Movement 3. - Larghetto - Allegro grazioso (G minor-major)

 

I would like to give a huge thanks to everyone who helped me bring this recording project to fruition. Their performances and services were phenomenal, and I could not have done this without them!

The performers are as follows:

- Javier Orman, violin (Mvts. 1, 2, and 3) https://www.javierorman.com/
- Dima Ratush, viola (Mvt. 2)
- JonathanCello, cello/viola lines played on cello (Mvts. 1 and 3) https://www.fiverr.com/jonathancello/do-session-cellist-for-your-musical-project?utm_campaign=gigs_show&utm_medium=shared&utm_source=copy_link&utm_term=engey
- Avigail Arad, cello (Mvt. 2) https://www.fiverr.com/avigailarad/teach-you-how-to-play-the-cello?context_referrer=user_page&ref_ctx_id=442e84e2-4238-452e-9737-c8c33da05bd5&pckg_id=1&pos=1
- Myself, piano (Mvts. 1, 2, and 3)

 

Here are the recordings of all the movements:

 

 

 

Here is the original video of the second movement:

 

As always, I hope you all enjoy. 🙂

 

 

 

An awesome achievement for a musician, and having a recording that good is simply incredible. No idea why there are some people who found your works boring, I think they are full of passion and with great thematic development. I guess my teacher lost his common sense after too many decades composing weird music, because he also started saying how using mordents in my pieces was bad and my music was "gay". 

4 hours ago, Ivan1791 said:

An awesome achievement for a musician, and having a recording that good is simply incredible. No idea why there are some people who found your works boring, I think they are full of passion and with great thematic development. I guess my teacher lost his common sense after too many decades composing weird music, because he also started saying how using mordents in my pieces was bad and my music was "gay". 

Thank you, @Ivan1791! I'm happy to hear you think so highly of my music!

No composer is safe from negative feedback 100% of the time, but it is difficult being a tonal composer in the 21st century. I must say, though, this is the first time I've heard of a teacher calling someone's music "gay" as an insult; I guess there's no limit to what kind of insolence can fly within conservatory walls.

58 minutes ago, Theodore Servin said:

Thank you, @Ivan1791! I'm happy to hear you think so highly of my music!

No composer is safe from negative feedback 100% of the time, but it is difficult being a tonal composer in the 21st century. I must say, though, this is the first time I've heard of a teacher calling someone's music "gay" as an insult; I guess there's no limit to what kind of insolence can fly within conservatory walls.

Anyways, I'm glad you liked quartet! I'm looking forward to hearing your future compositions, which I think I can say with certainty come from someone with way more talent than your professors want to admit!

 

Haha, thank you dude. And it is true it difficult for tonal composers to be important figures in this century. But I think some kind of tonal renaissance might happen this century. 

And by the way, what my teacher said was "Eso es una mariconada." So translating it as "gay" isn't too accurate, but I don't know a better way of saying it in English. 

If you continue to make music as sincerely, interestingly and honestly as you do, then I'm your listener for life.

But, to be honest, I like miniature cycles of pieces a little more than large forms.

Anyway, thank you for your music.

Incredible work, especially the last movement.  Reminds me of Schumann but clearly in an original voice.  Also my compliments to the performers, such a masterwork certainly masterfully performed.

10 hours ago, CyberPianist said:

If you continue to make music as sincerely, interestingly and honestly as you do, then I'm your listener for life.

But, to be honest, I like miniature cycles of pieces a little more than large forms.

Anyway, thank you for your music.

Thank you for commenting, @CyberPianist! I will definitely try to be as honest as I can with my music for as long as I can!

8 hours ago, bkho said:

Incredible work, especially the last movement.  Reminds me of Schumann but clearly in an original voice.  Also my compliments to the performers, such a masterwork certainly masterfully performed.

Thank you, @bkho! I'm glad you like the piece and performance!

Much respect for you. This is a well put together work. What is your method of composition... do you write sketches by hand before computerising? I’m rather curious. 

9 hours ago, Markus Boyd said:

Much respect for you. This is a well put together work. What is your method of composition... do you write sketches by hand before computerising? I’m rather curious. 

Thank you, @Markus Boyd! Yes, I start by writing the main bulk of music in manuscript form (and it's usually all over the place), and then I put the (near-)complete form into Sibelius. Then, I work on orchestration and fine-tuning there. This piece has a mildly chaotic compositional history, but this is basically how I wrote it.

15 minutes ago, Theodore Servin said:

Thank you, @Markus Boyd! Yes, I start by writing the main bulk of music in manuscript form (and it's usually all over the place), and then I put the (near-)complete form into Sibelius. Then, I work on orchestration and fine-tuning there. This piece has a mildly chaotic compositional history, but this is basically how I wrote it.

 

Fascinating. I think it is helpful to hear how people approach the exercise in different ways. I have a tendency to start on the software, which I imagine is more time consuming as one may become compelled to "fine-tune" while producing drafts.... Not ideal. 

Useful to know... best wishes 

very nice, congratulations on completing this. In general, the three movements are similar in theme. It's a feat that you can extend these for ten minutes. especially your melody in the second movement has a very nice and romantic feel. a little too much repetition but that's okay. there is nothing i can add to this. thanks for sharing. How long did it take you to write all three movements?

3 hours ago, ClasiCompose said:

very nice, congratulations on completing this. In general, the three movements are similar in theme. It's a feat that you can extend these for ten minutes. especially your melody in the second movement has a very nice and romantic feel. a little too much repetition but that's okay. there is nothing i can add to this. thanks for sharing. How long did it take you to write all three movements?

Thank you, @ClasiCompose! The reason why the movements sound thematically similar is because they are all based on the same 2 themes, which are both introduced in the first movement; the second movement uses the first theme.

The whole piece took about a year to compose, with breaks to write other pieces, like the Lacrimosa or the Fantasy-Variations, Op. 12. However, some of the thematic material was already written before I embarked on the project proper, so it's kind of hard to say when I stared the piece, but I safely say it was completed in early 2020.

Dear Theodore, I am amazed about the beauty of your great quartett! I absolutely love it - both regarding the composition and the superb performance! I am so glad that today people like you are still writing such great music in the style of the Romantic. Do you have a score to present?

Gerd

10 hours ago, gprengel said:

Dear Theodore, I am amazed about the beauty of your great quartett! I absolutely love it - both regarding the composition and the superb performance! I am so glad that today people like you are still writing such great music in the style of the Romantic. Do you have a score to present?

Gerd

Thank you so much, Gerd! I'm glad you like my romantic style, and the recording!

I don't usually make my scores immediately available for public viewing, however I can send you the score over private message. Would that work for you? If so, send me a PM, and I'll send you the score.

Theodore