original composition after 4 months, the scherzo is complete!

as the title suggests, for 4 months (pretty much exactly) since july 1st to yesterday, ive been working pretty non-stop on this scherzo. it has been a crazy ride, full of adventure and auto-pilot composing. many times where i just composed without thinking, and somehow it resulted in something good, maybe i should hone in on that... anyways, this was a lot of exploring uncharted territory for me. for starters, this is the first time ive ever composed something this fast, in terms of tempo (ideal tempo is ♩. = 210). used to sticking to my slow tempos, always found them easy to write in, but i thought i would use this opportunity to push myself. the other thing is ive never written a piece so non-linearly. i started the piece by writing the first 46 measures of the tempo primo after the slower trio-esque section (which i will from now call the trio). then i moved to the first fast scherzo section, in the middle of which i began writing the beginning and the final climax of the trio. sort of near the end of the first fast section, i wrote the final 21 measures of the piece. after that it was completely linear work. im definitely warming up to that process, it's the second time ive used it for a major piece of mine. 

all being said and done, 4 months, 1096 measures, and 17 minutes later, ive finished my scherzo (my longest purely developmental piece yet)! a big inspiration came from suk's scherzo fantastique and the scherzos from shostakovich's 6th (i think the 2nd mvmt counts as a scherzo) and 9th symphonies. generally, the point of this scherzo was to have lots of completely unexpected but natural things, and a lot of jokes, and to never take itself too seriously. even the slow section is, at least the way i look it, light-hearted, not deeply emotional or intense. i am EXTREMELY proud of this piece, though this is before any cleanup and editing, still have that adrenaline rush and love eyes/ears that come from finishing a piece lol (though im open to feedback of course). would love if you could take 20 minutes to listen to it, i hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed writing it! 

This is a bit over my head musically, so I can't offer any suggestions, though to my ears it doesn't need any. This a tremendous undertaking and a really powerful piece. Well done! Excellent textures, beautiful melodies and plenty of power. Dug it.

On 11/1/2024 at 6:48 PM, barko said:

This is a bit over my head musically, so I can't offer any suggestions, though to my ears it doesn't need any. This a tremendous undertaking and a really powerful piece. Well done! Excellent textures, beautiful melodies and plenty of power. Dug it.

 

thank you for your response, it means a lot!

It's a fun work for sure.  And congrats on your endeavor.  It's hard to point the style though ... it has lots of cinematic features.  Your development really holds the listeners attention with lots of variation and nuance ... I enjoyed the midsection with its colorful expressive slowdown.  As for the title Scherzo ... I find the entire work more profound than light and "joking".  Neo-Romantic? Bravo!

11 hours ago, MJFOBOE said:

It's a fun work for sure. And congrats on your endeavor.

thanks for the reply, im glad you found fun in it! 

11 hours ago, MJFOBOE said:

It's hard to point the style though ... it has lots of cinematic features. 

i do like being ambiguous when it comes to writing music, makes it more fun and is quite freeing, but you correctly pointed out, i do love myself some good movie music. perhaps it is neo-romanticism after all, though i do often enjoy myself a healthy dose of contemporary music!

11 hours ago, MJFOBOE said:

As for the title Scherzo ... I find the entire work more profound than light and "joking".

ah, maybe thats something to leave to the listener to decide then! i definitely took it... how to say, seriously unserious? had fun but made sure something was happening, you know?

11 hours ago, MJFOBOE said:

Your development really holds the listeners attention with lots of variation and nuance ... I enjoyed the midsection with its colorful expressive slowdown.

im glad you thought so! a big challenge for this was really finding that balance point between keeping the energy going but not tiring the ears, to not sound monotonous and boring. i often found this through experimenting with different colours, especially in the middle section. i was worried about it sounding monotonous, but i just trusted my gut and played around, and i was pretty happy with what turned out!

also if anyone is interested, i just published the youtube video. decided that "sorprendente" was the word i was looking for, add to the irony of using an italian word to fool english audiences into sophistication, if it ever gets to that point. all just for fun!

I don't have much to say, except that this is great.  I was skeptical that a scherzo could keep me interested for 17 minutes without getting monotonous, but it did.  I love the harmonic language and the orchestration.  I can definitely hear a lot of Shostakovich influence in it, but also some Holst as well as some late Romanticism. 

54 minutes ago, Aiwendil said:

I don't have much to say, except that this is great.  I was skeptical that a scherzo could keep me interested for 17 minutes without getting monotonous, but it did.  I love the harmonic language and the orchestration.  I can definitely hear a lot of Shostakovich influence in it, but also some Holst as well as some late Romanticism. 

 

thank you, im glad it did what i set to do!

Hey @sned

The chromatic melody in the flute in the beginning reminds me of Prokofiev.  I think it's probably not the first time I've told you that your music reminds me of Prokofiev.  He also has a tendency to compose these furiously fast works full of furor.  This is a piece that I find accessible and easy listening despite its complexity, which I think is a testament to your prowess.  I can put it on and do other things and be entertained by it.  The part for double reeds around the 5 minute mark is very cool.  Reminds me of some kind of crab or hunchback character LoL.  The slow middle section is also a great choice to put into the middle of the piece, for contrast.  And there's some great punctuation with occasional silence and a very charming melody accompanied by a tonic pedal in the bassoon.  This part also reminds me a bit melodically of James Horner's score to "Apollo 13".  The chromatic neighbor tones in the slow middle section are also very endearing.  The slow accelerando back up to the tempo primo is also a nice touch.  Some of the sneaking qualities of the scherzo are quite cinematic in style.  The brass chords near the end of the whole thing seemed like a good preparation for the next to last chord that finalizes and concludes the movement.  Great job and thanks for sharing!