Prelude No.4 - Live Performance by Henry Ng

Yo

Installment number 4 of my miniseries. Based around G minor/dorian for the most part. Enjoy!

Hey Vince 🙂,

I am so happy to see different styles in your installments of preludes. Lyrical no.1, Nocturnal no.2, Lamentable no.3 and now a neo-Bachian one. But I love how you use a prelude or toccata like form but using new elements in it even more: Syncopation all over the piece, unexpected and remote modulations, modal chords etc. For this type of writing it can be boring with the sameness of rhythm but you succeed in bringing drama in it with your great usage of harmonic chords and progressions, as well as refined usage of dynamics and cresc./dim. The dynamic usage reminds me of Bach's little prelude in C minor BWV 999. You even include the structural 6/4 chord but giving it new meaning and usage at the end and I love it!

I notice how you love using the augmented chords in these four preludes, here e.g. in b.20, 33 and 37 and they are all greatly used to present that sharp and intense passages! I love how you use the ambiguity of  augmented chords to modulate as well. e.g. in b.33 the augmented Bb-D-F# is used as the pivotal chord for G minor to modulate to B minor and in b.39 using that again but returns to G minor. Great!

Thanks for sharing and I can't wait for no.5!!

Henry

Cool piece!  I think there is a rhythmic illusion in it.  I feel like the first, syncopated notes sound like they're on the beat.  Then, the 8th notes that follow in the left hand sound syncopated in comparison.  I think if you wanted to keep the impression of the first notes being syncopated you should have placed some accents on notes that are on the beat to give the listener the right impression.  It's the old story of - if everything is syncopated then nothing is (kinda).  If it were my piece I would put an accent on beat 2 and 4 of each measure (even though they're supposed to be the weak beats).  Both the 16th note runs and the left hand accompaniment could be better defined rhythmically if they were accented that way.  Thanks for sharing!

On 3/19/2023 at 10:48 PM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

For this type of writing it can be boring with the sameness of rhythm but you succeed in bringing drama in it with your great usage of harmonic chords and progressions, as well as refined usage of dynamics and cresc./dim.

This was my hope 🙂 I think restrictions can bleed out creativity, and I was inspired by Bach's Prelude in C (major), you know, the famous one we all know. It's always a great test as a composer to restrict on aspect of music heavily, but then give room for the other aspects to flourish and rely on. 

On 3/19/2023 at 10:48 PM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I notice how you love using the augmented chords in these four preludes, here e.g. in b.20, 33 and 37 and they are all greatly used to present that sharp and intense passages! I love how you use the ambiguity of  augmented chords to modulate as well. e.g. in b.33 the augmented Bb-D-F# is used as the pivotal chord for G minor to modulate to B minor and in b.39 using that again but returns to G minor. Great!

I have 5-7 written out already, and sadly I strayed away from the augmented chords. I feel like it's something that's relatively new to my arsenal, but I ventured away from with the most recent pieces. It'll always be a part of my toolbox, but wasn't necessary with the content of the newest preludes. I really love using them in replacement of the V chord though, they're super fun. In fact, in one of the recent "rock band" songs I've pitched to the guys, I employ it's usage as well. I think it's functionality is underrated 😄

On 3/19/2023 at 10:48 PM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Thanks for sharing and I can't wait for no.5!!

I'm thinking Saturday I'll post it 

21 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Cool piece!  I think there is a rhythmic illusion in it.  I feel like the first, syncopated notes sound like they're on the beat.  Then, the 8th notes that follow in the left hand sound syncopated in comparison.  I think if you wanted to keep the impression of the first notes being syncopated you should have placed some accents on notes that are on the beat to give the listener the right impression.  It's the old story of - if everything is syncopated then nothing is (kinda).  If it were my piece I would put an accent on beat 2 and 4 of each measure (even though they're supposed to be the weak beats).  Both the 16th note runs and the left hand accompaniment could be better defined rhythmically if they were accented that way.  Thanks for sharing!

Hey Peter, always glad to hear your input. I feel like you've had differences in opinion of my rhythms before, and this seems no different. I thought about what you're talking about as I was tying double dotted quarters to sixteenths, but ultimately I never wanted the melody and first bass note to "feel" on the beat. I felt like there was a significance to it being written the way it was, even if more cumbersome, as the first melody note never is the down beat. Interesting take though, I dig the perspective. 🙂

Thanks for checking out the music guys, more soon to come! This has been a really fun project, and one that has kept me motivated in composition outside of band music. 

This is a nicely polished piece, and like the other commenters, I appreciate how the sophisticated use of harmony keeps it interesting.  The dynamics really lift it nicely as well.  If it were mine, I think I would have thrown in a few other elements to amp up the drama, without changing the overall pattern.  Maybe some accents in a forte section?  But it seems like one of your main goals was a smoothly flowing character, so maybe not...  I like it, and I agree that it is always a good challenge to work within a set of restrictions to force yourself into novel solutions. 🙂

On 3/27/2023 at 11:23 AM, pateceramics said:

 If it were mine, I think I would have thrown in a few other elements to amp up the drama, without changing the overall pattern.  Maybe some accents in a forte section?

I agree, I felt like I could have maybe strayed away from the pattern here and there. I was going for a Bach prelude in C vibe with this, but I love the suggestion. Always good to hear your input, thanks for listening 🙂

Works and fits very nicely for a prelude in my opinion. You have a certain idea/pattern and develop it without going too out of it but at the same time varying the chords and melody enough to make it never boring. I would say the others were more meaningful, but this one is definitely as good in terms of musicality in my opinion.

The dynamics you put didn't work very good playback-wise but that's not really an issue.

Kind regards!! 

I'm liking this series of preludes Vince!

Can definitely see the influence of Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" here.

My only suggestion is, perhaps it would be better to use G minor as the key signature rather than A minor.

Then you would reduce the number of accidentals.

9 minutes ago, Alex Weidmann said:

I'm liking this series of preludes Vince!

Can definitely see the influence of Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" here.

My only suggestion is, perhaps it would be better to use G minor as the key signature rather than A minor.

Then you would reduce the number of accidentals.

Hey thanks, Alex! For some of them, I went with a key signature. For others, I opted out. After looking at this again, I agree with you. 

By the end of this set of pieces, I'm going to refine all the scores based on yours and others suggestions. Thanks for checking it out 😄

On 3/20/2023 at 4:48 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I am so happy to see different styles in your installments of preludes. Lyrical no.1, Nocturnal no.2, Lamentable no.3

This comment made me laugh out loud, because "lamentable" means "really bad"!
Think the word you were searching for was "lamentation" or "lament".

15 minutes ago, Alex Weidmann said:

This comment made me laugh out loud, because "lamentable" means "really bad"!
Think the word you were searching for was "lamentation" or "lament".

Well probably I use its archaic usage of lament as I read too many Shakespere lol.

Once again, Henry is the man. Great performance Henry!

Updated the mp3 of @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu 's recording

4 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Once again, Henry is the man. Great performance Henry!

Updated the mp3 of @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu 's recording

I'm real slow on this one. I first think it's an easy one but there are quite some tricky spots like those wide leaps in b.23 & 30. Also you have no time to flip the scores since this piece is a continuous one with no rest between. So I decided to stick those pages together and finally recorded it.

Henry