Flowing Stone

Based on the attached painting.

This piece represents the stone through two different textural motifs. The first is the block chords, sparse yet rigid. Their fleeting nature resembles how the paintings appear on the rocky canvas, how they almost develop from the stone itself. As you glance over the wall, the art appears, and just as quickly disappears back into the rock. The second motif, the meandering fifths, represent the fluidity of the rock, the way the wind has shaped it into resembling something liquid, giving this solid structure movement. The two textures intertwine and interrupt each other, until they collapse into a wash of tumultuous arpeggios. Out of this tempest the final section emerges- while the texture resembles the first stony motif, the chords are stacked fifths, which calls to the second, fluid motif. Rather than interrupting and contrasting each other, they have learned to cooperate, and they slowly dissipate, together, into meditative silence. The two motifs are referenced through the impossible title: "Flowing Stone".

Hello Elias!

Congratulations on making it into the Estampas de España selections!

I like the pensive mood you created in this piece. It feels both modern and timeless somehow, like it could fit in a variety of settings, but the open voicings definitely evoke for me the way the paintings show the essential elements without excessive detail. I also hear the twisting of the animal figures in the changing harmony. I hope you keep up the good work. It's a pleasure to hear this musical vignette in full. 🙂

~ Gwen

 

Hello, I find amazing the level of symbolism showed in this piece, its concept is really scriabinesque. Not only it is thoughtful and precisely calculated, but it sounds quite nice. 

I think the decision to represent the flowing motif with perfect fifths is another extremely appropriate decision, given the external inspiration. It fits the primitive nature of the work

I am curious about how you write your harmonies. Apart from quartal/quintal harmony there have to be other techniques.

Thanks for sharing your music and congratulations for getting into the collaborative project

12 hours ago, Jqh73o said:

Hello, I find amazing the level of symbolism showed in this piece, its concept is really scriabinesque. Not only it is thoughtful and precisely calculated, but it sounds quite nice. 

I think the decision to represent the flowing motif with perfect fifths is another extremely appropriate decision, given the external inspiration. It fits the primitive nature of the work

I am curious about how you write your harmonies. Apart from quartal/quintal harmony there have to be other techniques.

Thanks for sharing your music and congratulations for getting into the collaborative project

 

Thanks for listening! As for how I write my harmonies, it's not as sophisticated as I wish it was. I just go by if it sounds good. 🙂

Hi @veps!

Congratulations on getting honorable mention in the competition!  To me the piece reminds me of Debussy's Preludes for Piano.  The chord voicings and interspersion with stacks of 5ths reminds me a bit of the Engulfed Cathedral.  Although there's definitely less parallelism.  I think my favorite section is measures 10 - 15 where you overlap the end of one set of 5ths with the beginning of another set of 5ths which is a very neat effect.  I also like the ending which I found to be a very inspired way to conclude the piece.  Thanks for sharing!