nocturne Nocturne Nº7 | Om. 54

Hi again guys!
 

I have been (and I still am, incomprehensibly) ill these last weeks so I hadn't the strength to attend the forum and use the PC for long. I have been listening to some cool pieces today though, so please don't mind if I take the opportunity and put some here, let's go:

• RM Rizal - "La Valse Bienheureuse d'Anna Sofia"(Orchrestration/Orchrestral arrangement)" by user @Setthavat.

• @Olivercomposer's take on "composer of the year" contest.

• Prelude No. 1 by Vince Meyer aka @Thatguy v2.0 because I have to win my salary.

• @Ivan1791's "A Sleepy apology", very effective if you ask me. He is hosting a competition by the way.

Of course I did not ping anyone (I hope, I don't want to bother lol). I'm sure I left some good ones behind so don't hesitate in checking the forum AFTER REVIEWING MY POST, it's full of jewels!

Now that I am subtly better and seeing that a decent amount of time has passed since I uploaded a composition here, let me spam and share with you YC fellow users my not so nice in my opinion but cool in some of my non-musician friends' 7th nocturne, composed almost a year ago and finished on March 15, 2022 if I'm not mistaken. It doesn't come with any dedication.

This nocturne is a bit like the third one. "Different" from the previous ones. Have you listened to them BTW? Which one is your favourite up to now, in case you find at least one of them decent enough?  Not gonna lie, it would be really cool to host a poll but I don't think I have enough audience. In any case, I thoroughly recommend you to listen to my works with headphones.

Criticism, feedback, comment, salutation, etc. is very welcome as always; I leave you with it, with no further comments about the piece, as always. In case you're interested, you have the .mp3 and .pdf below, as always... From this point onward, my nocturnes become even weirder.
 

♫ VIDEO ♫

That's all for now. Thank you in advance!

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

So I ate these pork steaks today. Something didn't feel right, but they were good. I mean, I feel OK I guess, my stomach doesn't hurt or anything, but as I'm watching your video I'm seeing all these dots randomly jumping around...

As with others, I love how creative you get with these graphic midi videos, but man those dots were annoying. I REALLY did like the dynamic markings for each hand, I thought that was really cool. But I only bring up the distractions in your videos because I'm assuming most of the time if someone hears your music on Youtube, they'll be watching the video, and it would be nice to see the notes more clearly. I don't mind the different colors, I actually like how you time them, but anything really fancy with the graphics is a distraction to me. I dunno, maybe most people dig it and I'm just acting like a boomer or something.

Now on to the music. 

Well, for starters, I've listened to enough of your music to hear similarities in the style. Not the content, mind you, but the style. And that's a good thing, because I really like it. For instance, you always have really creative decorations and embellishments in the melody, something I suck at. I admire it, and every time I hear one of your pieces I'm reminded that I need to do it more. 

Actually, I think it'd be a cool idea to start dedicating the preludes I'm writing to members on here where I've been a fan of their music. Maybe one of you could have those ornamentations....hmm...brainstorming off topic here. Sorry

Anyway, another thing I really like about your music as a whole is that there's always one or two parts that speak to my heartstrings, like... every time I hear a section like that I'm just like "whoa..." *flips hair*

For me in this one it was section at bar 74. It gives me dark-Bach-meets-pop kind of vibes, and I really like it. One of my favorite film composers is Danny Elfman, and he does the same thing. He always has moments in his music that stop me in my tracks and I have to analyze it to see exactly how he did it. I felt the same way listening to every iteration of that spot in your piece. 

Lovely colorful melody, and the writing seems spot on. Seems kind of Chopin-esque in some ways, which I adore. If I were to "critique" anything (you know I have to at least say SOMETHING like that), I would say that this really didn't feel like a Nocturne to me. I know "Nocturne" is a loose term, but it was so bright and jovial throughout most of it that I just didn't get the sense of wonder and dreaminess I would normally associate with the style. Idk though, would love to hear your thoughts. 

Well written though, and as I always say, I love your style. It seems like you can never disappoint me with the character of your music. Consider me a super fan!

...the dots...oh the dots though...

P.S.

8 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

From this point onward, my nocturnes become even weirder.

I almost didn't see this. I don't know about you, but I use dark mode and the background for the text is white lol. 

Yes...weirder...I'm excited for that 😄

Dear @Omicronrg9,

Finally you have a new post here!

17 minutes ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I'm watching your video I'm seeing all these dots randomly jumping around...

As with others, I love how creative you get with these graphic midi videos, but man those dots were annoying. I REALLY did like the dynamic markings for each hand, I thought that was really cool. But I only bring up the distractions in your videos because I'm assuming most of the time if someone hears your music on Youtube, they'll be watching the video, and it would be nice to see the notes more clearly. I don't mind the different colors, I actually like how you time them, but anything really fancy with the graphics is a distraction to me. I dunno, maybe most people dig it and I'm just acting like a boomer or something.

Actually I have the same issue with Vince as the dots seem really distracting. But normally I just listen to your music without watching the animation so it's fine for me.

I enjoy this waltz actually with occasional outburst and funny little touches. My feeling for your works is "dark and chic". For me this nocturne is less dark but more chic than the previous nocturnes maybe since it's in the frivolous D major. I really don't have anything to critique here since I really enjoy it. The only thing to "critique" is a personal issue: I don't get into this nocturnes as much as the previous ones maybe because it's not dark enough for me, a dark person! 😅 For me this is quite different from your previous dark mood nocturnes! 

For me my favourite passage is b.111 when the right hand is fleeing up high. Very beautiful there. 

Henry

Hi Daniel, 

You're like a modern day Chopin with all these nocturnes!

The ornaments give this one a semi-Baroque feel; but the harmonic changes sound very modern.

Interesting combination!

Hope you fell better soon,

Alex

On 2/27/2023 at 5:33 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

As with others, I love how creative you get with these graphic midi videos, but man those dots were annoying.

Not the only one who mentioned it. They are indeed bothering, and I didn't expect them to be so so annoying but at that time I was more worried about making a certain amount of videos per month and I published it like that. A mistake, clearly. I have never done that again as far as I remember.

On 2/27/2023 at 5:33 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

For instance, you always have really creative decorations and embellishments in the melody, something I suck at.

Thanks for the compliment but don't be that harsh to yourself lol, in my case I guess I gained some experience on that due to my accordion playing.
 

On 2/27/2023 at 5:33 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Actually, I think it'd be a cool idea to start dedicating the preludes I'm writing to members on here where I've been a fan of their music. Maybe one of you could have those ornamentations....hmm...brainstorming off topic here.

Oh that's a nice idea, I did something similar with the nocturnes. I never dedicated any piece to anyone "officially" before.
 

On 2/27/2023 at 5:33 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

For me in this one it was section at bar 74

I am glad that there's (for now) always some moment decent enough for you to question those things and mention it.

On 2/27/2023 at 5:33 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I would say that this really didn't feel like a Nocturne to me.

And the others did? That's quite an achievement to say the least haha, but it's true this one has more light than the prior ones. Many things can happen at night I guess, and the main reason behind keep calling it nocturnes, specially from the tenth and so on, ended up to be just the fact I mostly composed them at night (plus that they're not multi-movement works). I also did think of certain events while composing this and the rest, everything happening at night or at dawn (10th). The very last three of my nocturnes are 0% nocturne-like in the common context, they're not dreamlike but very lucid, in opposition to the first four. 
 

On 2/27/2023 at 5:33 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Well written though, and as I always say, I love your style. It seems like you can never disappoint me with the character of your music. Consider me a super fan!

Again many thanks, it's so nice to get positive comments with criticism in this forum. I hope the following ones don't disappoint you either!

Ah, you spotted the Easter egg LOL.

Kind regards!!






 

On 2/27/2023 at 7:18 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Finally you have a new post here!

I tried to maintain a weekly basis but my illness and my loose sense of time in this regard didn't let me do so.
 

On 2/27/2023 at 7:18 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Actually I have the same issue with Vince as the dots seem really distracting.

Dots ain't coming back, I promise.
 

On 2/27/2023 at 7:18 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

For me this nocturne is less dark but more chic than the previous nocturnes maybe since it's in the frivolous D major

Hmmm frivolous, D major? I used to think it was not my kind of key if you know what I mean, but turns out my biggest sonata (up to now) is in fact composed in D major. Perhaps I should upload it here in the future and see if this makes you think about that key some more as I did hehe.
 

On 2/27/2023 at 7:18 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I don't get into this nocturnes as much as the previous ones maybe because it's not dark enough for me, a dark person!

I am sorry, if my computations are not wrong, darker nocturnes won't come back in a while but whenever they do I hope they pay off for your await! 

As a pianist, what do you think about the difficulty of this one? It'd be so good to have a full-fledged difficulty rating or a minimal one like in IMSLP, it's just that I'm interested in that kind of feedback.

Kind regards and as always, thank you for your words Henry.

 

13 hours ago, Alex Weidmann said:

Hope you fell better soon,

My mind is trying, not sure if my body is too lol.

Thank you Alex, and for the compliment too! Never thought that my Noc7 would sound a bit baroque, much less Chopin-esque though it's true that I extensively use tuplets here and that seems to be common among Chopin's nocturnes. It's just that I usually play and "invent" ornaments on the go when I play the accordion in the band or in solo pieces that allow me to do so. In fact, I'd say it would be nearly impossible to me to think of my music without any ornament on solo pieces, but in some exceptional cases.

Kind regards and thank you again!!

42 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

I tried to maintain a weekly basis but my illness and my loose sense of time in this regard didn't let me do so

Haha I try to maintain a monthly basis but still fail to meet the schedule! I really hope you can recover well and maintain your body for the busy schedule. It's hard to study and compose without using a lot of energy! And you spend much time reviewing pieces here.

42 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

Hmmm frivolous, D major? I used to think it was not my kind of key if you know what I mean, but turns out my biggest sonata (up to now) is in fact composed in D major. Perhaps I should upload it here in the future and see if this makes you think about that key some more as I did hehe.

Maybe it's only for this particular piece that I find the D major usage frivolous. I will really look forward to your Sonata and see how you use that key!! Btw. my wind quintet is also in that key but I don't have time to revise and make a video of it.

42 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

I am sorry, if my computations are not wrong, darker nocturnes won't come back in a while but whenever they do I hope they pay off for your await!

No.7 is just not as dark as the previous ones but it's a very cool one!

42 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

As a pianist, what do you think about the difficulty of this one? It'd be so good to have a full-fledged difficulty rating or a minimal one like in IMSLP, it's just that I'm interested in that kind of feedback.

For me it will be really difficult to play with that lightheartedness and chicness. I am always afraid of Scarlatti's Sonata with its light touch and ornaments and here the piece exposes my weakness! This piece is definitely an upgraded version of a Scarlatti Sonata with chicness in it. It's quite difficult to play the notes and rhythm like those triplets and tuplets here but that lightheartedness and chicness is the most difficult thing if you have play this "right". Your score is really detailed so that we don't have to interpret many things, but to achieve the effect will be very difficult especially for a Beethovaninan like me!

Henry

21 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

And you spend much time reviewing pieces here.

Lately less that what I'd desire but life goes on and through and I cannot stop it, seemingly.

22 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Maybe it's only for this particular piece that I find the D major usage frivolous.

Who knows, we'll see whenever I publish that sonata. Looking forward to check your wind quintet too!


Regarding the commentary on difficulty: I always that playing intensely tends to be easier to learn than playing equally technical but with that lightness as you describe. Just to put an example on Beethoven seeing that you mentioned him, the beginning of his Sonata No. 17 Mvt. III turned out to be more "difficult" to me than the 3rd movement of his Sonata No. 14. 

 

17 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

Who knows, we'll see whenever I publish that sonata. Looking forward to check your wind quintet too!

Haha I have yet made the video of it!

28 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

Regarding the commentary on difficulty: I always that playing intensely tends to be easier to learn than playing equally technical but with that lightness as you describe. Just to put an example on Beethoven seeing that you mentioned him, the beginning of his Sonata No. 17 Mvt. III turned out to be more "difficult" to me than the 3rd movement of his Sonata No. 14

Exactly. In thick textures you can conceal your errors especially with pedal; while in light texture you cannot and audience will always spot your errors or notes that are not beautifully played. (Of course you can choose to play an atonal piece so that no one notice your errors!) My teacher always says it's freakingly diifficult to play Mozart, Bach's Two Part and Three Part Invention and Chopin Mazurka.

Henry