Echoes in Absurdity

Hi guys! Long time no see. A solo work for piano, named 'Echoes in Absurdity' tries to express just that. The primary theme in minor speaks of the aftertaste of war and of the echoes of pain and suffering which yet linger. The contrasting major theme expresses acceptance, tenderness, consolation, and compassion and hopes for a bright future uninterrupted by calamities caused by ignorance and greed. The off-tonic feint at the end of the composition (in Db major) before the coda symbolizes the utopian dream built by the Dionysian ideal of universal love and empathy. The restatement of the primary theme in the coda is cut short by a D# instead of the expected F#, highlighting the uncertainty and absurdity of the situation. I hope that I had in some capacity succeeded in expressing the above intentions in my music.

Hi @ComposedBySam!

Great to hear another one of your lucid compositions!  Many parts of it remind me of an adventurous hero beginning their journey or quest in some RPG.  Something that sometimes brings me out of this vibe is for example, in measure 57, your seemingly premature resolution of the harmony when it seems like a more extended resolution should have been forthcoming.  The harmonic resolution makes the music seem like a harmonic exercise for a second there, but maybe that was your intention with making this piece sound absurd?  I do think that was your intention since the piece ends in such an absurd and sudden way that it's almost funny.  Great concept!

Nit-picks:  I think this was rendered with the Musesounds Piano, am I right?  Something I notice in your rendition is that it is often difficult for it to sound like the melody is brought out.  When I write for piano in Musescore, I solve this problem by using the MS Basic soundfont for piano because that allows me to change the velocities on specific notes and gives me much more control over the volume of specific notes in the score.  That's how I can say, balance the different notes in a chord for one hand (if the melody is the top note and only that note should be brought out in high relief).  This problem with balance is especially apparent with pedaled trills in the left hand which end up sounding ridiculously louder than anything else that's happening on top.  You can change the velocities of specific notes if you select the note and go into the properties tab, but this only works with the MS Basic soundfont, not with the Musesounds Piano (but they both will still sound pretty good if you apply some reverb effects).  Thanks for sharing!

7 minutes ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Hi @ComposedBySam!

Great to hear another one of your lucid compositions!  Many parts of it remind me of an adventurous hero beginning their journey or quest in some RPG.  Something that sometimes brings me out of this vibe is for example, in measure 57, your seemingly premature resolution of the harmony when it seems like a more extended resolution should have been forthcoming.  The harmonic resolution makes the music seem like a harmonic exercise for a second there, but maybe that was your intention with making this piece sound absurd?  I do think that was your intention since the piece ends in such an absurd and sudden way that it's almost funny.  Great concept!

Nit-picks:  I think this was rendered with the Musesounds Piano, am I right?  Something I notice in your rendition is that it is often difficult for it to sound like the melody is brought out.  When I write for piano in Musescore, I solve this problem by using the MS Basic soundfont for piano because that allows me to change the velocities on specific notes and gives me much more control over the volume of specific notes in the score.  That's how I can say, balance the different notes in a chord for one hand (if the melody is the top note and only that note should be brought out in high relief).  This problem with balance is especially apparent with pedaled trills in the left hand which end up sounding ridiculously louder than anything else that's happening on top.  You can change the velocities of specific notes if you select the note and go into the properties tab, but this only works with the MS Basic soundfont, not with the Musesounds Piano (but they both will still sound pretty good if you apply some reverb effects).  Thanks for sharing!

 

Hi Peter! Thank you so much for taking the time to listen so attentively. Actually while composing it, I also found measure 57 a bit troubling… I thought of doing a smoother resolution but I was absolutely out of brain juice. Maybe I will revise this composition sometime and smooth out the parts which stick out. I have a love hate relationship with the ending. I just felt after a long, heavy, overly romantic coda, a little humour was needed to sort of knock some sense into the pig headed passions invoked by the section which came before. I think it kinda works? 😂

Thanks for you suggestion regarding the balance issue… I have nightmares thinking about trying to bring out the melody using muse sounds. I tried almost everything. I will surely try using MS basic once. 
Again, thank you so much for your constructive thoughts!

Great work that seems to me to have almost “symphonic” proportions.

On 10/1/2024 at 11:21 PM, Luis Hernández said:

Great work that seems to me to have almost “symphonic” proportions.

 

Wow that’s a huge compliment! Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and appreciate!