Piano Sonata no.2 in A-flat Major, 1st Movement

Hi everyone! I have previously posted the second movement of my second Piano Sonata here:

Now I am posting the first movement of the work! Here are the pdf and the mp3:

Piano Sonata no.2 in A-flat Major First Movement.pdf  

I've also included the YT video here:

I didn't introduce the inspiration of this sonata in my post in the second movement to have it here. Piano Sonata no.2 in A-flat major (2015) is composed right after the completion of the first Piano Sonata. It's the quickest composition at all since I had only used 3 weeks to finish the first draft of it.(It's very quick in my standard since well, I can use 6 years to compose my clarinet quintet...) I adopt a freer approach here to contrast with the first Piano Sonata which is very cohesive. Here I really just write what I want and this may result in less tight structure of the overall work. But it's definitely more akin to my emotion and feeling here! I only use 2 days to finish the first draft of this movement in 6-7 May 2015. It begins in a Schubertian manner and several episodes in it, stimulating the later movements and transformed into a Beethovanian one, akin to his op.110 in the same key. I really love how serene this movement begins and motivational at the end!

The overall form of the piece can be considered as follow:

B.1-32 (00:00-01:18): Main theme, serene and Schubertian in A flat major. Backbone of the piece

B.33-81 (01:19-03:16): Secondary theme begins in f minor but confirms the A flat major. Inspire 2nd movement.

B.82-98 (03:17-04:00): Doloroso in C sharp minor my favourite key! End of the first part. Inspire 4th movement.

B.99-135 (04:01-05:00): Struggling to create power in a Beethovanian manner.

B.136-159 (05:01-05:42) Reprise of the opening theme but in Beethovaian manner especially with influence of his op.110 in the same key!!(My favourite Beethovan Sonata too!)

B.160-183 (05:43-06:25): Crystallization of the opening theme? Inspire fifth movement esp. its coda.

B.184-194 (06:26-06:57): Affirmation of the opening theme though weakened at the end to pave the way to the denial in the second movement.

I am very happy to have composed this sonata as I feel like I am free flowing during the process. I also love how the emotions flow within it whether it's serene, hopeful, tragic, agitated or transfigured. I just ignore all those parallel 5ths and 8ves since the sound is great. It may suffer from the lack of coherence though especially in the first movement, but it helps inspire the later movements with the episodes so I am very grateful I make this!

The recoding is made in 18/03/2023. There are two obvious slips in 04:06 and 04:12. But the rest of the recording is quite beautiful and faithful to the music so I retain it.

Hope you enjoy this as well and thanks for listening!!!

P.S The post for the third movement is attached here:

The post for the fourth movement is attached here:

Henry

Your beginning jubilant and joyous piano chorale is quite impressive!  I like it a lot and all the harmonic changes are quite lucid and bring a great mood to the music!  I especially love the harmonic change from E major to Ab major 6/4 in bars 48-49.  As a performance note - I feel like the 16th notes in this section whenever they follow a dotted 8th note aren't short and rapid enough.  I would have performed them more in a way akin to martial music, but that just might be my own personal taste.

When the rapid arpeggiations come in, in bar 99, I feel like they are too fast for the tempo (at least eventually they seem too fast and make the piece feel unnecessarily rushed when they become 32nd notes).  I think you could have stuck with 16th notes at most and the piece would not only be easier to play, but would also sound not as hectic and break-neck.  It is a great idea to have the same harmonic and melodic material reprised in this way with a more elaborate accompaniment, but I think it was just too fast in this rendition.  Then again, if you slowed the whole piece down, then the beginning piano chorale might sound too slow and boring.  But I do feel like you added those really fast notes into the piece purely as an exhibition of virtuosity rather than for a musically cogent reason.

But overall I enjoyed this sonata movement!  Great job and thanks for sharing!

I love this. I've actually been going through a bunch of Beethoven sonatas recently, so this is right up my alley. The style, of course, is what I mean, not your voice. Although drenched in your heroes, your voice is your own. 

First of all, congrats on performing this one. I know you mentioned some mistakes here and there, but who cares. You play beautifully. I really enjoyed the character you gave this in your playing. Your sense of rubato really made the music shine, something no computer could have recreated. As I toil at my computer rendering piano sound samples, your music reminds me that I should just practice more. You just get so much more out of your music with your performance. The subtle changing of pace in the chorale sections, or the lovely rubato you give to the dolcissimo (which by the way, you can play lightly!), all make this recording wonderful to the handful of times I've listened to it by now. You should be proud of your playing, and any imperfections you come across can be fuel for you to continue your studies at the instrument you already play so well.

I like how clear and defined your sections are, which I'm guessing is from how well you give cadence to your themes and phrases. I'll mention some favorite parts of mine:

-The chords at bar 17 and 25, along with the pesante minor sections were very nice. I especially love the second theme, it's striking how much I was able to feel the emotions from building up the A theme into it. Well done!

-the con delore section was awesome, and I really liked the minor 9th created in bar 90

-I really liked the fast movement in the left hand at bar 99. Very powerful stuff. One thing that I would have done differently is maybe built up to those faster passages a little more. For instance, in the con delore section, I would have put a little more movement in it with eighths then possible sixteenths instead of keeping that stricter chorale structure. Maybe it could have led into it a bit smoother? Something to consider for the future as this piece is done already!

-AND, I really liked how you kept all of that fast movement to go back into the A theme

-I thought the dolcissimo section was really cool. At first I thought it was out of place, but it was a great way to give your piece a coda AND have a transition into a similar style in your second movement. 

I listened to both movements together, and I feel like this is a great start of a beautiful sonata. I think a big strength in your music is your ability to make everything connected and coherent. There's no question Beethoven's thematic unity has rubbed off on you, but you were able to create something of your own despite heavy influence. Your sound in this piece is something that I very much enjoy listening to for pleasure rather than with my analytic composer hat on, so I'm sure I'll be revisiting this one! Thanks for sharing Henry, I'm excited to hear it in it's entirety 😄

What an impressive piece and a fantastic performance! I like this work very much, and it reminds me of Schubert's style just by listening to the beginning of the music. The modulation from A minor to A-flat major with the German Sixth in bars 48-49 is brilliant, and the development in bars 123-135 is well executed. I have never tried writing a piano sonata for myself, as this task surely needs perseverance and dedication. Great job!

Hi guys,

Thank you all for your comments! I have a real busy day!

Peter, thank you for your comment and that beautiful badge!

12 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Your beginning jubilant and joyous piano chorale is quite impressive!  I like it a lot and all the harmonic changes are quite lucid and bring a great mood to the music!

I like that beginning chorale too, but I don't think it's joyous😅! For me it's contemplative and lyrical.

12 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I especially love the harmonic change from E major to Ab major 6/4 in bars 48-49. 

Yeah I like that chord progression by using a dom. 7th reinterpreted as German sixth too!

12 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

As a performance note - I feel like the 16th notes in this section whenever they follow a dotted 8th note aren't short and rapid enough.  I would have performed them more in a way akin to martial music, but that just might be my own personal taste.

I don't go exact here since I want to have some pacing as Vince noted to more expressively present the music here rather than in exact note value.

13 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

When the rapid arpeggiations come in, in bar 99, I feel like they are too fast for the tempo (at least eventually they seem too fast and make the piece feel unnecessarily rushed when they become 32nd notes).  I think you could have stuck with 16th notes at most and the piece would not only be easier to play, but would also sound not as hectic and break-neck

Well actually in the first draft bar 99 is with 16th notes but I am not satisfied with the lack of motion it creates, thus I change it to a 16th triplets and later 32nd notes. I actually don't think it's break-neck here since in my concept I don't have to stay with the opening Andante tempo here with the synchronization in heart. I would have the theme move to a more agitated and motivated manner here rather than staying in the serene mood. At least in my conception I never do things for the sake of virtuosity itself since it's uselss without content and soul in it. And it doesn't appear virtuosic (even with the badge) for me! It's just a little bit tired for the LH after b.99, lol!

Once again thanks for your review Peter! I greatly appreciate that and love how honest you are!

Henry

Hi @Carl Koh Wei Hao,

Yeah I thinl it's quite Schubertian opening and I love that! 

3 hours ago, Carl Koh Wei Hao said:

The modulation from A minor to A-flat major with the German Sixth in bars 48-49 is brilliant, and the development in bars 123-135 is well executed.

Yeah I quite like these two places too!

3 hours ago, Carl Koh Wei Hao said:

I have never tried writing a piano sonata for myself, as this task surely needs perseverance and dedication

I think you definitely have the ability to write one and play one!

Thanks for listening and your compliment!

Henry

Hey Vince,

I am so glad you love it! Though still Beethovanian I think I do have my voice here since I don't overthink too much in this sonata, thus more directly showing my real feeling here.

You definitely should try playing your pieces and record them! I play them myself since I don't want my pieces to go unnoticed or altered by the computer rendition. 

5 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

The chords at bar 17 and 25, along with the pesante minor sections were very nice. I especially love the second theme, it's striking how much I was able to feel the emotions from building up the A theme into it. Well done!

Haha thanks! It does unconsciously build up the main theme of the 2nd movement!

5 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

the con delore section was awesome, and I really liked the minor 9th created in bar 90

I love that very much. You will find much more of that in the 4th movement, my favourite of the sonata, which is ofc in C sharp minor!

5 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I really liked the fast movement in the left hand at bar 99. Very powerful stuff. One thing that I would have done differently is maybe built up to those faster passages a little more. For instance, in the con delore section, I would have put a little more movement in it with eighths then possible sixteenths instead of keeping that stricter chorale structure. Maybe it could have led into it a bit smoother? Something to consider for the future as this piece is done already!

I love the agitation too and find the build up abrupt. But I also want to keep the doloroso seld contained and static (as it's also static in the 4th mov), so I just keep it this way.

5 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

AND, I really liked how you kept all of that fast movement to go back into the A theme

It becomes quite like Bee's op.110, sonata no.31 here though.

5 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I thought the dolcissimo section was really cool. At first I thought it was out of place, but it was a great way to give your piece a coda AND have a transition into a similar style in your second movement. 

Actually only you point this out! I have never considered the dolcissimo similar to thr 2nd mov but now it looks quite similar! That's quite beautiful here but it will turn to something magical in the coda of the 5th mov. I guess.

Thanks so much for your kind words Vince. I hope I can have the entire sonata too, even I don't even start practicing the 5th mov at all!

Henry

This is great and your playing throughout is so sensitive, it really does credit to the piece!  

I think the staccatos in the opening section work really well.  (Ex. M. 22)  

I would love to see some more dynamics written in around bar 32.  That section seems ripe for big contrast between the mini phrases.  

I just got to bar 92, and thought, "oh, good!  It's about time to play with tempo!"  You do an excellent job of picking the right moment to change the character of the piece.  I might have hinted at the right hand subject matter at measure 123 a little earlier in the piece though, if it was mine.  It makes a good contrast.  A sneak peak of even half a bar somewhere would have made the listener sit up and listen if it interjected earlier.  

Measure 160:  ooh!!  

Part of me wishes that this had crashed to a more sudden stop.  Thunder, thunder, thunder... two bars of still repose to remind us of the stately character where we started.  

This is really excellent.  Congratulations and thank you so much for sharing it with the community here!

Hey @pateceramics,

Thank you so much for listening and your compliments! I am really appreciated you love this movement!🥰

10 hours ago, pateceramics said:

This is great and your playing throughout is so sensitive, it really does credit to the piece!  

 

Haha it really takes me some hard works particularly the fast passages! The opening chorale is not easy at all since you have to bring the melody out while maintaining the harmony, but I am happy I don't play too bad! I really don't want my piece ruined by computer rendition though so I decide to play them!

10 hours ago, pateceramics said:

I think the staccatos in the opening section work really well.  (Ex. M. 22)  

I am afraid it will make others feel a little bit off since most of the chorale is in legato, but thank you!

10 hours ago, pateceramics said:

I would love to see some more dynamics written in around bar 32.  That section seems ripe for big contrast between the mini phrases.  

Yes I should! Otherwise it can be quite repetitive.

10 hours ago, pateceramics said:

I just got to bar 92, and thought, "oh, good!  It's about time to play with tempo!"  You do an excellent job of picking the right moment to change the character of the piece.

Yea that's the moment I decide to give it a go when composing! Looks like my intuition works this time!

10 hours ago, pateceramics said:

I might have hinted at the right hand subject matter at measure 123 a little earlier in the piece though, if it was mine.  It makes a good contrast.  A sneak peak of even half a bar somewhere would have made the listener sit up and listen if it interjected earlier.  

That's a good suggestion, but when I was composing then I just composed what I want without any prior planning. The upward fourths can be said to be hinted by the opening downward fourths of the opening theme but it's interpreted too much.

10 hours ago, pateceramics said:

Measure 160:  ooh!!  

Part of me wishes that this had crashed to a more sudden stop.  Thunder, thunder, thunder... two bars of still repose to remind us of the stately character where we started.  

Wow that will be quite Mahlerian there with the banger haha! I am afraid the transition will be too abrupt actually but thanks to your suggestion!

Again thank you so much for your review! i do have posted the second movement here as the link is attached here also. Maybe you can have a look on it too🤔🤔🤔🤔?

Henry

8 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hey @pateceramics,

Wow that will be quite Mahlerian there with the banger haha! I am afraid the transition will be too abrupt actually but thanks to your suggestion!

Again thank you so much for your review! i do have posted the second movement here as the link is attached here also. Maybe you can have a look on it too🤔🤔🤔🤔?

Henry

 

I've been working on an all Mozart program with one of the groups I perform with, so I'm appreciating the effectiveness of frequent surprises. 🙂. I'll see if I can find time to take a look at the second movement too!  

Best,

Maggie

Hello Henry,

It was a great pleasure to listen to your piece. I think that it is very very good.  When I first heard it, I somehow got an association with “Caro mio ben”. I don´t know why, because the pieces are very different.

A great kudos for your performance! It is not easy to play those chords and keeping a clear melody on the top notes. And you did very well here! (If this is not done well, the chords will get “thick” and boring)-

The structure of your piece is very coherent. The repeated melodic theme is compelling, without getting tiresome, since you made transitions and modulations at the right moments. The transitions in bar 48-49 (and the equivalent in bar 72-73) are wonderful. Impressive! The minore part in C-sharp minor (btw, also one of my favorite keys) is excellent. Perhaps, I would not have repeated b. 92-94 exactly in b 96-97. Instead, it could be an idea to prepare for a smoother transition to the più mosso section. It could be done with very small changes. (for example by adding a B in the upper chord of b. 97-98). The meno mosso-rit.from b. 94. also helps of course.

I have no problem with the rapid 16th triplets, even the 32^nd notes are fine with me (in fact very good!). The only thing is that it is necessary to play them soft AND legato. And this is difficult! But difficult does not mean awkward of impossible.

I have only a few additional thoughts:

In bar 3 I would prefer to use a dotted G followed by a 16^th F, in a similar way as done with the following two chords in the bar. And I would mostly do the same in other similar situations, for ex. bar 11, 15 etc. From your recording, I can hear that you are already playing it a bit in this way.            In order to strengthen a contrast between the first part and the “con dolore”, I would not make such changes in the latter part. In the Più mosso section, this is not an issue, since you use four 16^th notes in the r.h. (nicely done!)

I think that interruptions in b. 22 and 30 are essential, but I would not play the staccato´s too short. To avoid a possible misunderstanding by musicians, I would suggest writing these notes as 1/8-th with a l/8^th rest.

In b 84 and 88, I would change the B in the third chord to an A. For my ears, in sounds better.

In the ending, I would prefer to add an additional measure after b. 189. It felt a bit incomplete to me,   but maybe you had something special in mind. I made a quick try on my digital piano and I have added a little sound file here, so you can hear what I suggested. 

I hope that my little review makes any sense. Thank you for posting this marvelous piece!

Johan  

.

Hi Johan!

Thank you so much for your comprehensive review and suggeations!

18 hours ago, panta rei said:

When I first heard it, I somehow got an association with “Caro mio ben”. I don´t know why, because the pieces are very different.

That's the first time I hear the piece and I agree with you! The chordal style and the falling fourths is quite similar actually!

19 hours ago, panta rei said:

A great kudos for your performance! It is not easy to play those chords and keeping a clear melody on the top notes. And you did very well here! (If this is not done well, the chords will get “thick” and boring)-

You are absolutely right, it's definitely not easy to play those chords highlighting the melody but I am happy I am able to do that!

19 hours ago, panta rei said:

The minore part in C-sharp minor (btw, also one of my favorite keys) is excellent. Perhaps, I would not have repeated b. 92-94 exactly in b 96-97. Instead, it could be an idea to prepare for a smoother transition to the più mosso section. It could be done with very small changes. (for example by adding a B in the upper chord of b. 97-98). The meno mosso-rit.from b. 94. also helps of course.

I probably won't do this if it's composed now, and you suggestion is very sound.  But then I was just repeating without much changes as in all other previous passages in the chorale which is not quite matute.

19 hours ago, panta rei said:

The only thing is that it is necessary to play them soft AND legato. And this is difficult! But difficult does not mean awkward of impossible

Haha yes they are very difficult! My LH always gets fatigued after playing the movement.

19 hours ago, panta rei said:

In bar 3 I would prefer to use a dotted G followed by a 16^th F, in a similar way as done with the following two chords in the bar. And I would mostly do the same in other similar situations, for ex. bar 11, 15 etc. From your recording, I can hear that you are already playing it a bit in this way.  

I do love to have somr rubato in section, but will probably retain the even quavers there because I like it haha!

19 hours ago, panta rei said:

To avoid a possible misunderstanding by musicians, I would suggest writing these notes as 1/8-th with a l/8^th rest.

I don't write this because of I am afraid the staccato will be taken too short so I just use a crotchet there. I am afraid the staccato will be too abrupt though.

19 hours ago, panta rei said:

In b 84 and 88, I would change the B in the third chord to an A. For my ears, in sounds better.

Yeah I struggle between the two! But I choose B since I want to have the spiker sound of that.

19 hours ago, panta rei said:

In the ending, I would prefer to add an additional measure after b. 189. It felt a bit incomplete to me,   but maybe you had something special in mind. I made a quick try on my digital piano and I have added a little sound file here, so you can hear what I suggested. 

You suggestion is very reasonable! But I just want that ending to be incomplete, so I get rid of the PAC there and instead have the sole plagal cadence to weaken the Ab major cadence which will better prepare the next movement and having the real cadence solved in the last movement. I love your suggestion though!

19 hours ago, panta rei said:

hope that my little review makes any sense. Thank you for posting this marvelous piece!

Johan, your review is by no means little! Very comprehensive and reasonable throughout! Thank you so much for this and hope to see more your precious reviews to other members as well!😍

Henry

Hi, Henry! I will try to be brief.

• M1-32, very nice and solid exposition which doesn't get boring nor uninteresting to me despite of its tempo. Particularly the very last bars of this section were my favourite and those which gave it the final touch of solidness it needed.

• After M32, the almost immediate next motive I heard in and that you later repeated is very similar to one made by Beethoven, not in op.110 but in his 8th sonata. However, you resolve it in C, and take a different direction. Very nice too.

• The few last bars preceding the più mosso part sound VERY Spanish to me —for obvious reasons—, haha. Some other parts inside the aforementioned section do give me that vibe too, but M90-99 have more prominence than the others.

There's not much criticism to make here, almost every complain would be about the recording device more like about the piece itself... Perhaps the 32nd notes + the recording device made the piece a bit too dense to my taste in some parts. 

Finally, the way you reach the coda and the way you perform it is 10/10 to me. Congratulations, Henry.

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

Hey buddy Daniel @Omicronrg9,

Thanks for your review!

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

M1-32, very nice and solid exposition which doesn't get boring nor uninteresting to me despite of its tempo. Particularly the very last bars of this section were my favourite and those which gave it the final touch of solidness it needed.

I am afraid it will be boring due to the repetitions but I think the recording save that by providing some emotions into it. I like the plagal cadence throughout the whole sonata and use it more frequently than I normally use it. Maybe there's some religious thing in the usage of it as one of my friend had said so, though composing then I just wrote what I want.

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

After M32, the almost immediate next motive I heard in and that you later repeated is very similar to one made by Beethoven, not in op.110 but in his 8th sonata. However, you resolve it in C, and take a different direction. Very nice too.

Well after you point this out I do think the section quite similar to b.17 of the slow movement of Pathetique! Great catch on that even though I have never thought of this haha! That C major is quite a magical solution there which I don't know why I put that there, but I am happy you love this!

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

The few last bars preceding the più mosso part sound VERY Spanish to me —for obvious reasons—, haha. Some other parts inside the aforementioned section do give me that vibe too, but M90-99 have more prominence than the others.

That's one of my favourite section too! You will find much more of that in the fourth movement of the sonata, which is my favourite. But why does that sound Spanish? I am not really familiar with Spanish music though I always think Spanish music and arts are very colourful.

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

There's not much criticism to make here, almost every complain would be about the recording device more like about the piece itself... Perhaps the 32nd notes + the recording device made the piece a bit too dense to my taste in some parts. 

Yup I recorded that with my Samsung phone... The 32 notes is quite dense recorded by the device.

18 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

Finally, the way you reach the coda and the way you perform it is 10/10 to me. Congratulations, Henry.

Thanks! Again as Vince said you are a "coda expert", so your compliment is highly appreciated!

Thanks for your review again!

Henry