Poverty - for solo piano

Some years ago, while reflecting on the needlessness of poverty, this little piece bubbled up inside me. Hope it doesn't make you too sad!

Many thanks!

I think the title of your piece is very appropriate to the nostalgic and bittersweet music that you present here.  The harmony is not very often doing the expected thing ... only at the end of your first 12 measure phrase is there any kind of traditional cadence/resolution (on a strong beat) that I can detect.  Although I count bar 2 as the first bar of the piece with an anacrusis.  The piece is on the whole a little brighter than would be expected but I suspect that that is because only in poverty does one really get a sense of how simple happiness can be.  Thanks for sharing!

Lovely work, reminds me of Schumann at his most simple and profound. I tried to imagine scenes of poverty as the piece played and I think there is appropriate melancholy there, but with a title like 'Poverty' it feels just a bit too 'comfortable' for want of a better word... if you had simply called it 'Happiness' I don't think I would have questioned it!

Overall it was compelling - bars 14-19 in particular, though (as well as from bar 26) repeat a particular rhythm a bit too much for me - perhaps a tiny bit of embellishment here and there to break up the 1-2-3 'chugging' (best way I could put it)? [Also in bar 23 in the left hand there's a typo in the score (the E).]

However there's a good command of chord inversions, structure, and idiomatic writing for the piano. Thanks for posting!

Many thanks guys. It's interesting that you both think it's brighter and happier than the title suggests- originally there was a continuation of the piece into Amajor, but I decided to cut it and that's what I actually used for the second movement of my Piano Concerto, as it was indeed becoming brighter and happier! Many thanks again guys.

I believe your original post of this piece was one of the first pieces I ever commented on here! It's nice to revisit this lovely work 🙂

This is a wonderful piece Mike ! And so melancholic.. gives me the blues listening to it. As pointed by another reviewer, it does remind one of Schumann. I'd say the nostalgia here is also quite reminiscent of some works by some of the more lyrical modern composers like Silvestrov or Kancheli. I've heard this atleast 5 times now, cuz its the kind of piece you want to repeat back as soon as its over 🙂

A fine work indeed !  I'm glad I didn't miss this.

Definitely agree with the Schumann comparisons. A lot of the techniques you use in here are really great--especially the syncopation you have going on, which gives it this dragging (in a good way) and melancholic feel. I do agree with the other comments here that it doesn't necessarily sound sad, I would say more like bittersweet or even nostalgic. This is a small nitpick, but I would suggest making the first measure a pickup measure instead of a full measure with rests, unless you find those rests important.