Prelude No.12 - Live Performance by Henry Ng

Welp, the end has come. The season finale is here. Now I can write for guitar again.

I used a lot of forms and styles for this set of pieces, and decided to write a love song type of thing to end it. 

This was inspired by Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" theme, as well as Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Lot's of lovey dovey pentatonics in this. 

Hope you enjoy, and thanks so much to those who have been following along with the progress! You guys are awesome, and when I make final edits, I'll be sure to take everyone's comments and advice into consideration. 

Hey my buddy,

The structure is interesting here. It's great to have the introvert and extrovert of this farewell prelude. It really reflects both sides of you, Vince Meyer the person, like the Schumannian Davidsbündler, and also musically as the first half of the set more introvert and the next 5 more extrovert. This really is a great summation of the whole set to reflect the varied styles and moods of the set!

I'm thinking of adding the Lebewohl motive at the end haha! But it's great you end in A major. I remember in your first one is a tragic song in A minor and this makes a cycle for the whole set of prelude!

The opening certainly reminds me the opening of the famous Dvorak World Symphony theme. I freakingly love this part. Where can you find a more introvert and transcendental key than G-flat major??!! (Yes I'm advertising my Sextet movement in G-flat major right now LoL!!) Your quartal harmony here does create the lebewohl feeling for me. The A major modulation is utterly beautiful and those shiny notes in the high register! That's a good foreshadow of the end too! For this part this is the personal Vince that's telling straight to our heart his story.

In the latter half you go for a "blue" version of the opening section. This is the chill Vince who appears playful in his appearance. Many decorations, much more movement in the right hand, funnier harmonies, yet the theme comes from the beginning and this is a great variation of it.

In the coda you just go back to your personal mode. Simple but very fulfilling ending! It's like cancelling all those appearance and honestly get back to yourself again.

It should be "amoroso" for the expression in the beginning.

2 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Hope you enjoy, and thanks so much to those who have been following along with the progress!

Really I'm happy and proud to follow your progress and review all of them. I'm real sad I'm still stuck in the 4th prelude! But this set is amazing and I love them so much. My fav will be no.12, 3, 6, 2, 11. They are all slow and quiet ones isn't it?!

Thanks so much for sharing Vince! Hopefully you post your guitar stuff here in the future! You know that I fall in love with your Dandelion!

Henry

Thanks Henry. It's nice to know that at least someone out there cares about what I'm doing with music, even though you're halfway around the world from me. 

Thanks for following along, and your lovely performances of them. I'm forever grateful to your kindness and friendship. 

10 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Thanks Henry. It's nice to know that at least someone out there cares about what I'm doing with music, even though you're halfway around the world from me. 

You too on me and my music! I'm very happy to know you Vince.

10 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Thanks for following along, and your lovely performances of them. I'm forever grateful to your kindness and friendship. 

I really enjoy your set! Sad, I'm still in the hurdle of the 4th Prelude and I probably won't get the recording of the set done in recent times as I'm practicing real crazy accompanying pieces, and after that I may focus more on my 5th mov of the 2nd Piano Sonata first. Still I want to have it done!

Henry

Sup Vince,

This is a great piece. It truly is. I love the sort of sombre yet not sombre mood that you've managed to create in this piece. 

Quote

This was inspired by Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" theme, as well as Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Lot's of lovey dovey pentatonics in this. 

Pink Floyd is my favourite band, and I can definitely hear some mid-Gilmour era stuff in this.

I dont really have much else to say other than restating that this is a great piece.

Adios,

Arjuna

Hey, Vince

I rarely hit play immediately after I finishing listening to a piece but after the final chord, I felt the sadness of the silence. I bet others have too! Smash the heart button on Vince's original post above if you did! 

This is so beautiful! Especially at 0:29, that surprising chord hit me in the chest. I wanted to rewind and play it over and over but you can't with the built in media player. At 1:37, another hit to the chest.

2:22 is a bit ugly, perhaps purposely so, my immature side wants it removed for daring to contradict the beautify that preceded it but oh my, its so human and perfectly placed that it needs to stay! You tell a story with your music, I get so many pictures in my mind.

I think others will agree, it's humbling to hear some of the compositions on here. I'm reminded how little I know but inspired to keep trying because it's proven to me time and again, there's always new music to be written. Fresh as a bakery.

I feel so chilled listening to your music like I do when I listen to jazz. You composed this entirely through a midi? If so, it's well hidden because it sounds so natural for a pianist the way you've written it.

I envy your grasp of harmony! I wish I had the patience to study 😞

On 5/23/2023 at 11:03 PM, expert21 said:

Sup Vince,

This is a great piece. It truly is. I love the sort of sombre yet not sombre mood that you've managed to create in this piece. 

Quote

This was inspired by Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" theme, as well as Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Lot's of lovey dovey pentatonics in this. 

Pink Floyd is my favourite band, and I can definitely hear some mid-Gilmour era stuff in this.

I dont really have much else to say other than restating that this is a great piece.

Adios,

Arjuna

Anything you have to say is worthwhile, and I'm glad you liked this one. It's one of my favorites of the set. You're right about the mood, it's bittersweet as is my perpetual quest for love. 

I really tried to write the 2nd half of the piece as if it was a guitar solo, and I thought of Gilmour. I love how he doesn't do anything fancy, mostly sticking with pentatonics... but he just does it so damn well. And his phrasing is legendary, it pulls my heart strings much more than for instance music Babbitt or Berg would write, even though it's more low brow. I like music that speaks to me, regardless of how intricate or thesis-topic-worthy it may be. Thanks for checking it out. 

Keep me updated on your music, I can't remember if you've posted anything recently, but feel free to PM me when you do and I'll share some thoughts.  

On 5/24/2023 at 12:33 AM, Papageno said:

This is so beautiful! Especially at 0:29, that surprising chord hit me in the chest.

Add the II7 in a major key to your arsenal! (in C, it's D7)

On 5/24/2023 at 12:33 AM, Papageno said:

I wanted to rewind and play it over and over but you can't with the built in media player.

sucks, right? I usually just hit refresh in the browser to relisten. I'm glad you enjoyed this one enough to give it another listen 🙂

On 5/24/2023 at 12:33 AM, Papageno said:

2:22 is a bit ugly, perhaps purposely so, my immature side wants it removed for daring to contradict the beautify that preceded it but oh my, its so human and perfectly placed that it needs to stay! You tell a story with your music, I get so many pictures in my mind.

I almost removed it. In the measures before, that line used to be just the chromatic scale, so it made more sense before I changed it. However, I wanted some kind of transition...perhaps I could have done better. After I give it some time, I'm going to go back and make final edits to all of these with everyone's comments in consideration, so I'll re-think this spot

On 5/24/2023 at 12:33 AM, Papageno said:

think others will agree, it's humbling to hear some of the compositions on here. I'm reminded how little I know but inspired to keep trying because it's proven to me time and again, there's always new music to be written. Fresh as a bakery.

I feel so chilled listening to your music like I do when I listen to jazz. You composed this entirely through a midi? If so, it's well hidden because it sounds so natural for a pianist the way you've written it.

I envy your grasp of harmony! I wish I had the patience to study 😞

You're too kind, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. What's great about YC is that any of us can get feedback from tons of different perspectives. I care just as much of the opinions of amateurs and professionals alike; we all have a voice and opinion that I believe is valid. 

Thanks for listening! 

I absolutely loved this. The vibe is sincere, and it really drew me in. When it comes to pieces like this, I find that it tends to be a bit too "syrupy" for my tastes, but I felt like this had the right amount of sweetness without going overboard. I think the piece exhibits some subtle humor and irony throughout the wistful atmosphere, too, and that really helps.

20 hours ago, SergeOfArniVillage said:

I absolutely loved this. The vibe is sincere, and it really drew me in. When it comes to pieces like this, I find that it tends to be a bit too "syrupy" for my tastes, but I felt like this had the right amount of sweetness without going overboard. I think the piece exhibits some subtle humor and irony throughout the wistful atmosphere, too, and that really helps.

Yo are you back dude?!?

Thanks for checking this one out man, I'm glad it had just the right amount of syrup for you. I wanted something simple and sweet, I thought of the ode to joy melody when writing it. 😄

Updated with Henry's recording

Hey Vince,

I am really happy I have the chance to play all of them. I enjoy this journey very much and thanks for letting to play of them with my own interpretation and freedom haha.

As one playing all of them, I now has my own priorities over them:

12>9>6>3>2>7>5>10>11>8>1>4

It's strange my favourite ones are all in the multiples of 3. But that may show the pattern of the preludes. Maybe The 1,4,7,10 ones are opening pieces of a subset and you are trying new directions in each of them: No.1 is the beginning piece, no.4 you are trying with tossing with the Baroque style, no.7 getting away from the inwardness of the 1st half of the prelude set, and no.10 the longest one when you are dealing with motivic method to compose. They are great too, but the others are even greater! The middle pieces 2,5,8,11 they act as the contrasting piece of the first one: no.2's warmness versus no.1's coldness, no.5's lightness versus no.4's learned style, no.8's heaviness versus no.7 carefree style, and no.11 as the shortest piece and the introductory piece to no.12 versus the longest piece of the set, the no.10 one. But it's like in each ending piece 3,6,9,12 you achieve great synthesis of the first two, or a great conclusion to them. No.3 has both the sadness of no.1 and warmness of no.2, no.6 as both the counterpart of the less emotional no.4 and 5 and the tragic no.3, no.9 of course the great dance reacting with the no.7 and no.8, no.12 the great summation of the set, quoting moments from no.1,2,3,6,7,8.

My favourite is changed to the no.12 one after playing it, over no.9 No.9 is a very enjoyable piece with great rhythm and fire, but the no.12 one just penetrates right into your heart. That Gb major is so well chosen, or fortituosly chosen when it's the only note left, but it makes the piece so consolatory and introvert, hinting at the farewell mood as in Haydn's Farewell, and the pentatonics in Gb is great like Chopin's Black Keys. The middle section is so soulful: it appears to be carefree but definitely not inside. The return to A major which kind of replies to the A minor of the no.1 is great too. I defintely feel the piece while playing it.

Thx for sharing your set of preludes Vince. I thoroughly enjoy them!

Henry

On 11/28/2023 at 2:41 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I am really happy I have the chance to play all of them. I enjoy this journey very much and thanks for letting to play of them with my own interpretation and freedom haha.

I love your interpretations

I really appreciate your time, effort, analysis, care, talent, etc. etc. I'm in awe someone would take the time to be so kind to me in unimaginable ways. 

The next step with these surpasses YC. I'll message you in discord about it 😄