A Strange Lullaby

This is an old piece I dug up from many years ago.  It was 32 bars long and lasted about 40 seconds so the whole second half was composed recently on the model of the first 32 bars.  Let me know what you think - I added some dynamics so it's not always nice and quiet and lullaby-ish.  Warning - heavy use of whole-tone scales included, although it does occasionally cadence in more traditional triads.

I kind of like it despite of the warning, it's simple yet I'm not sure if it's entirely playable. Is it meant to be? There are measures like 16 & 48 where I believe it's not possible to perform what the score says without pedalling (and that'd kinda break the stacatto).

That said, my favourite part is the set M(16-24) or M(48-56) (they're in essence the same 8-bar phrase but transposed, assuming I read correctly).

Kind regards!

23 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

I kind of like it despite of the warning, it's simple yet I'm not sure if it's entirely playable. Is it meant to be?

Thanks!  Yes it should definitely be playable.  It's basically just a bunch of parallel thirds LoL.

23 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

There are measures like 16 & 48 where I believe it's not possible to perform what the score says without pedalling (and that'd kinda break the stacatto).

I guess I should have included this in the score somehow although I don't know what the notation looks like for this but those measures are supposed to be performed with the help of the sostenuto pedal (letting the notes depressed at the beginning of the measure continue to ring while the staccato notes on beat 2 and 3 are played).  Thanks for your informed remarks!

38 minutes ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I guess I should have included this in the score somehow although I don't know what the notation looks like for this but those measures are supposed to be performed with the help of the sostenuto pedal (letting the notes depressed at the beginning of the measure continue to ring while the staccato notes on beat 2 and 3 are played).

I think it may be possible to put an "Sost." or "Sost. Ped." attached to the typical pedal line to clarify. Probably anyone who tried performing it would have guessed it anyway. 👍

Hey Peter,

I'm still digging the posts lol...

This is indeed a STRANGE lullaby which I enjoy! It's very fitting to use heavy whole tone scales here for its aimless direction for listeners to sleep well (which I want to now LoL), and combining those more traditional tonal chords with cadence help the music get back on track. Sometimes it's not whole tone like or tonal, like the opening---it sticks to a particular interval, like here it's the major 3rd (like the beginning of Prokofiev's sixth sonata) It's very playful here with the color change.

On 6/25/2022 at 1:23 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I guess I should have included this in the score somehow although I don't know what the notation looks like for this but those measures are supposed to be performed with the help of the sostenuto pedal (letting the notes depressed at the beginning of the measure continue to ring while the staccato notes on beat 2 and 3 are played)

But in b.16 and 48 if you press the sostenuto pedal, not only the right hand dotted minim chord will be held BUT ALSO that crotchet LH chord in the first beat. Unless the LH chord of the first beat are also turned to dotted minim, it is not quite possible to hold the right hand notes, but by doing so the effect will be very different.

Thx for sharing!

Henry

13 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

But in b.16 and 48 if you press the sostenuto pedal, not only the right hand dotted minim chord will be held BUT ALSO that crotchet LH chord in the first beat. Unless the LH chord of the first beat are also turned to dotted minim, it is not quite possible to hold the right hand notes, but by doing so the effect will be very different.

I see what you mean.  But I think m. 16 will be more acceptable with the bass note being held over into beat 2 and 3 as well, while in m. 48 there will be a conflict between the Ab and the G on beat 2.  Thanks for pointing that out!  I don't know what to do about that though.  I've actually printed this piece out and have been learning it slowly.  it is more difficult than it seems!  Running up and down the keyboard with those whole tone, parallel major 3rds is not easy!

6 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

But I think m. 16 will be more acceptable with the bass note being held over into beat 2 and 3 as well, while in m. 48 there will be a conflict between the Ab and the G on beat 2.  Thanks for pointing that out!  I don't know what to do about that though.

Yeah that Eb in m.16 LH is fine to hold. For m.48, actually I think the clash will be fine since the RH is already a clash of chords between Bb/Db and Ab major chord, and I think you just have to change the crotchet note of the first beat to a dotted minim will be fine!

6 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I've actually printed this piece out and have been learning it slowly.  it is more difficult than it seems!  Running up and down the keyboard with those whole tone, parallel major 3rds is not easy!

I'm always scared of those parallel major 3rds. Those in the last movement of Beethoven's op.101 Sonata or Chopin's etude op.25 no.6 look ridiculous for me, as my hands are always too stiffened to play them smoothly 🤑... But it's always great to play your own piece to check the playability and modify the details, instead of composing works with unrealistic virtuosity and claim yourself the modern Liszt and Paganini.

Henry

I welcome the recovery of certain compositions that, in their day, for not being so connected or whatever, I did not listen to.

I like this work very much. It certainly sounds impressionistic and I love that such use is made of the whole-tone hexatonic scale.

Regarding certain moments being performable or not, in my opinion, they are. I don't think it's necessary to indicate pedal or anything. In these styles it's normal that all that is implied and you can either use the pedal or do a little arpeggio between the distant notes.

(And if there are doubts, let's take a look at the score of the Ives sonatas).