Variations on "London Bridge..."

This is an old piano piece I dug up from years ago (again) that I finally decided to salvage and finish.  It's a little rough around the edges but I think that goes without saying with this kind of harmonic style/language.  Although I did not actually intend this to be fully atonal - it is quite dissonant and not for the faint of heart!  (I mean the bridge is falling down after all - right? LoL)

Thanks to @Thatguy v2.0 for helping prepare this rendition in his DAW with a superior piano vst!  He probably spent upwards of 4 hours perfecting everything about this little piece that I could pick at!  Although our partnership was not without its minor strife I am eternally grateful for his help (even if I seemed at times ungrateful and demanding - sorry!)

Thanks for listening and for any constructive observations, comments or critiques you'd like to make!

Edit:  I've included the original mp3 I exported from Musescore 4.  I didn't use Muse Sounds because it wouldn't perform my velocity changes.  Thankfully the MS Basic Piano soundfont did take my velocities into account and I added Muse Sounds reverb to it.

This doesn't seem atonal at all. Definitely has a harshness to it -but not really fully dissonant. I like the different textures you venture into. I'd have to say my favorite section was measure 36. I think this material could have been played with more here. Very nice!

You really use an interesting form here! So from what I can get from the score, section I starts from measure 1 to 35. Actually, I think that can be divided into 3 other smaller sections that have different textures. I especially like the one with the staggered octaves, or ninths. Then it gets interrupted by the loud arpeggios to like this serene section where it suddenly sounds all tonal and stuff, or from what you typed on the score "eerily serene". It gets interrupted again from section I but this time it's much shorter and it leads into this mysterious chromaticism porridge section. Then it just goes off to the end.

I really like that I can hear different textures. Like, the textures are different enough that it can shine on their own.

It's not the usual kind of variations form, but I think it works for the subject matter. After all, the bridge is indeed falling down, or has fallen down. It's just down there now. On the bottom of the river.

Anyways, great piece!

I love this variation. It is developed throughout the piece, not some static variations that changes only the accompaniment. In each of the variation the character, the handling of the theme and motives, texture, rhythm, tonality, harmony etc are changed. This give great variety to the music. Really great job here.

I love the 7/8 bars in b.2 and 4, as it pretends to be a 4/4 one and just fool me with 1 quaver deducted. The chords with interval of nine from b.14 onwards will be really difficult to play, though it can be played.

I love the variation in b.36. It pretends to be a Chopin Nocturne but not in its core. There are some "wrong" notes (in the context of Chopin) in it which are funny!

The section in b.67 really gives me the feeling of Chopin prelude in A minor, though a funny version of it. And I love the Bartokian ending!

What a funny and great piece this is!

Henry

Lmao this is insane, great satire. Well mixed and polished, *chefs kiss* 

On 1/6/2023 at 6:09 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Although our partnership was not without its minor strife I am eternally grateful for his help (even if I seemed at times ungrateful and demanding - sorry!)

you weren't ungrateful or too demanding, this is how we get things done. If you would have told me that everything was perfect right off the bat, it never would have turned out how you wanted, and I learned a bit about musescore midis in the process. Your music deserves the best representation possible, and I'd always be willing to share some time to make that a reality. 

Yes, I've heard this a billion times by now, but I wanted to share some thoughts on the music itself and not the audio. First of all, I thought this would be terrible. I hear too many renditions of stupid melodies like Happy Birthday and Row Row Row your boat that I thought this would fall into that same boring category. But this was something special. You're now so adept at the theme and variations style that you've melded it into something of your own; a seamless and smooth form structured with theme and variations but dripping with loads of experience and character. This is by far my favorite T and V piece you've done, partly because of how well you transition, and the other part with the musical craftsmanship and experience you gave this with your composing voice. 

Would you be willing to expand a bit on the tactics used in crafting this? I'm mostly interested in the musical language and harmony, but simply put this is lovely and grand in every way. The only thing better would be to hear a professional's take on this piece, it certainly deserves it. I'm very happy you agreed to let me tinker with the audio with this one, and anything less than what we made with the audio would be a slap in the face as far as representing your music. 

You're a true composer through and through, and I'll never get tired of saying how much I and everyone else you share thoughts with appreciate what you do here with your free-of-charge aid. I'm glad to have been a part of this piece, and your music is brilliant. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for being you!

50 minutes ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Would you be willing to expand a bit on the tactics used in crafting this? I'm mostly interested in the musical language and harmony

Well, I think the original key of the London Bridge melody is D major, so I started the piece on an E, implying that the melody will be in the key of A major (since the melody starts on the fifth degree of the tonality it's actually in), the V of D.  But that's not how I harmonize it.  I purposely just constantly tried to find ways to throw wrenches into the listeners expectations with the harmony and melody, rhythmically as well.  So the beginning harmony is an E major chord in 2nd inversion, but the bass then proceeds in patterns of it's own that are independent of the melody which starts in E major but actually uses a composite scale, contradicting it's own tonality with the inclusion of that E# on beat 3 of the first bar (and this is also a strategy I use later on where the right hand plays in 9ths).  The bass wanders around up and down in major chords that constantly redefine the context of the upper harmonies.  The 2nd quarter note of the first 7/8 bar implies a C major 9 #11, while the last three 8ths of that bar imply C# major #9.  The independent rhythm of the bass and the melody also contribute to the feeling of chaos, and my intended "demented" mood.  The last three 8ths of bar 4 are an elaboration of the final resolution of the original melody ("my fair lady") with an added third appended to it.  In bar 5 I add yet another descending 3rd to this group setting up the variation you hear in beat 3 and 4 of bar 6.  The harmony and rhythm in this bar is also an attempt to juxtapose contradictory tonalities (each hand arpeggiates a different chord) and tuplets (to make it sound more rhythmically busy with more events per beat then could have been afforded by only one subdivision of the beat).  This basically covers the meat and bones of the approach I took to this piece I think.  There's also the canonic imitation in bars 27 - 30 in which I basically just tried to surprise the listener by making each voice as rhythmically independent and jarring as possible almost never landing together on the same beat and using lots of syncopation.  That's some of my thought behind how I wrote the piece but feel free to ask about specific parts if you want to know more!

1 hour ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

First of all, I thought this would be terrible. I hear too many renditions of stupid melodies like Happy Birthday and Row Row Row your boat that I thought this would fall into that same boring category. But this was something special. You're now so adept at the theme and variations style that you've melded it into something of your own; a seamless and smooth form structured with theme and variations but dripping with loads of experience and character. This is by far my favorite T and V piece you've done, partly because of how well you transition, and the other part with the musical craftsmanship and experience you gave this with your composing voice.

Thanks!  I've approached the theme and variations process/form in so many different ways by now I should be a pro, but this actually predates some theme and variations pieces I've written since which weren't as continuous and seamless as this!  LoL  This piece was written many years ago.

1 hour ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

You're a true composer through and through, and I'll never get tired of saying how much I and everyone else you share thoughts with appreciate what you do here with your free-of-charge aid. I'm glad to have been a part of this piece, and your music is brilliant. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for being you!

Thanks for being a great human being and for being willing to put in the time to help a friend!  And I appreciate your championing my work so enthusiastically!  Thanks for your review.  

4 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

First of all, I thought this would be terrible. I hear too many renditions of stupid melodies like Happy Birthday and Row Row Row your boat that I thought this would fall into that same boring category. But this was something special.

Exactly my first thoughts when I saw the title, but I also came to the same conclusion. This often sounds beautiful... and when it doesn't, it sounds psychotic, which usually is even better!

Blimey! You'd have to be a good pianist to rattle that off as per the rendering. Time you wrote your own set of Études d'exécution transcendante!

It may be dissonant but it doesn't seem atonal by a long way.... like the Rite of Spring which is a modal work clothed in thick swathes of discords. 

Excellent. Exciting, well balanced and superbly rendered. 

On 1/9/2023 at 3:05 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Well, I think the original key of the London Bridge melody is D major, so I started the piece on an E, implying that the melody will be in the key of A major (since the melody starts on the fifth degree of the tonality it's actually in), the V of D.  But that's not how I harmonize it.  I purposely just constantly tried to find ways to throw wrenches into the listeners expectations with the harmony and melody, rhythmically as well.  So the beginning harmony is an E major chord in 2nd inversion, but the bass then proceeds in patterns of it's own that are independent of the melody which starts in E major but actually uses a composite scale, contradicting it's own tonality with the inclusion of that E# on beat 3 of the first bar (and this is also a strategy I use later on where the right hand plays in 9ths).

Yes I feel like the opening has some bitonal quality in it: The melody is implying it in A major but the harmony refuses to admit it.

On 1/9/2023 at 3:05 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

The bass wanders around up and down in major chords that constantly redefine the context of the upper harmonies.  The 2nd quarter note of the first 7/8 bar implies a C major 9 #11, while the last three 8ths of that bar imply C# major #9.  The independent rhythm of the bass and the melody also contribute to the feeling of chaos, and my intended "demented" mood.

Yes it definitely creates a chaotic feeling and image for the falling bridge!

On 1/9/2023 at 3:05 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

The last three 8ths of bar 4 are an elaboration of the final resolution of the original melody ("my fair lady") with an added third appended to it.  In bar 5 I add yet another descending 3rd to this group setting up the variation you hear in beat 3 and 4 of bar 6.  The harmony and rhythm in this bar is also an attempt to juxtapose contradictory tonalities (each hand arpeggiates a different chord) and tuplets (to make it sound more rhythmically busy with more events per beat then could have been afforded by only one subdivision of the beat).  This basically covers the meat and bones of the approach I took to this piece I think. 

Yes that is a weird and abrupt "resolution" which brings more chaos to it! This really set the backbone of the piece.

On 1/9/2023 at 3:05 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

There's also the canonic imitation in bars 27 - 30 in which I basically just tried to surprise the listener by making each voice as rhythmically independent and jarring as possible almost never landing together on the same beat and using lots of syncopation.  That's some of my thought behind how I wrote the piece but feel free to ask about specific parts if you want to know more!

I think throughout the piece the parts are contradicting each other in terms of harmony. I always hear something bitonal or polytonal in it, like that of the "chopinistic" section in b.46-61.

On 1/9/2023 at 3:05 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Thanks for being a great human being and for being willing to put in the time to help a friend!

And I want to say that too: Vince is a great human being, really passionate and can always encourage and help others! I remember Vince saying himself like a gypsy, and he's a passionate and helpful one!!