Sky to Sea (3 movements for piano)

Hello! I managed to make it through almost 20 years of composing and achieve some small successes as a choral composer without ever writing a solo piano piece. Ironically, I think I'm more comfortable writing for just about any ensemble than solo piano. I finally started to overcome that aversion last fall (and I posted the piece that would become the 3rd movement here)... and now all 3 movements are done. I'm not sure how I did, since it's something new for me.

All 3 movements try to capture the movement of water in some way. In the 1st and 3rd movements, I focused a lot on texture and colour, trying to explore the piano's many sounds and registers while still staying grounded in traditional (if somewhat obscured) harmony. The 2nd movement is more melodic.

The movements are posted separately below, since it's easier to listen to (and comment on) a 3-or-4-minute movement than it is an 11-minute suite. I posted an earlier version of the 3rd movement (Undertow) here last fall, so I'm especially curious to hear people's thoughts on the other 2. Thanks for listening!

1. Sunshower

2. Nocturne (The Moon in the Waves)

3. Undertow

Very nice set of pieces.

They are coherent and, without going too far, using many contemporary resources.

I love the nocturne, although in some parts it seems a bit muddy (many resonances)  in the low end (just a mixing thing, in case you do it).

In general it sounds a bit impressionistic? 

Keep it up it's very good.

On 7/20/2021 at 11:22 AM, Luis Hernández said:

Very nice set of pieces.

They are coherent and, without going too far, using many contemporary resources.

I love the nocturne, although in some parts it seems a bit muddy (many resonances)  in the low end (just a mixing thing, in case you do it).

In general it sounds a bit impressionistic? 

Keep it up it's very good.

 

Thank you, Luis! Thanks for mentioning the resonances in the Nocturne... are there particular parts it stuck out to you? I mixed it on headphones, which I've heard isn't advisable.

Yes, I think it's fair to call it impressionistic! Certainly in the sense that it tries to capture sensations and impressions, but not tell a concrete story. 

Very mature in form music. The atmosphere reminds me most of the work of Olivier Messiaen. I liked the first two pieces best. Especially the first one. The last one, in my subjective opinion, lacked contrasts. It sounded fast, excited, but the material was rather monotonous for me and almost didn't develop in any way. That is, in your first two musical pictures there were a lot of small interesting details, but in the last one I either did not see, or really did not have enough of what was rich in the previous two pieces.

Thank you for sharing your works!

On 7/22/2021 at 9:51 AM, NRKulus said:

Thank you, Luis! Thanks for mentioning the resonances in the Nocturne... are there particular parts it stuck out to you? I mixed it on headphones, which I've heard isn't advisable.

Yes, I think it's fair to call it impressionistic! Certainly in the sense that it tries to capture sensations and impressions, but not tell a concrete story. 

 

Don't take it seriously.

At 2:15 the low notes sound pretty good. At 2:25.., they seem a bit heavy. But it's just a matter of taste, and expression, and probably the way you mixed it.

By the way, I'd love to know hoy other people mix classical piano solo. It's not as easy as it seems..-

On 7/23/2021 at 2:58 AM, CyberPianist said:

Very mature in form music. The atmosphere reminds me most of the work of Olivier Messiaen. I liked the first two pieces best. Especially the first one. The last one, in my subjective opinion, lacked contrasts. It sounded fast, excited, but the material was rather monotonous for me and almost didn't develop in any way. That is, in your first two musical pictures there were a lot of small interesting details, but in the last one I either did not see, or really did not have enough of what was rich in the previous two pieces.

Thank you for sharing your works!

 

 

Thanks, CyberPianist. I tend to agree with you about the 3rd piece. I actually wrote that one first, after decades of avoiding solo piano music!

I'm also glad people seem to be enjoying the 2nd piece, because that one took me far longer to write than the others. That one is obviously more melodic than the others, and it took a few revisions to get the piano to "sing" in a way I was satisfied with. I think I've been spoiled by writing for voices.

53 minutes ago, NRKulus said:

Thanks, CyberPianist. I tend to agree with you about the 3rd piece. I actually wrote that one first, after decades of avoiding solo piano music!

I'm also glad people seem to be enjoying the 2nd piece, because that one took me far longer to write than the others. That one is obviously more melodic than the others, and it took a few revisions to get the piano to "sing" in a way I was satisfied with. I think I've been spoiled by writing for voices.

 

Even though you rarely write for the piano you did very well! I hope that if you liked it yourself, you will continue to write music for the piano as well, because you have interesting sonic findings in piano sounding music.