Viola Piano

Hi all,

Here's my work (unedited) - I have not shared it with my Mentor as yet.

This work is composed in a time that life feels a bit heavier .... Viola-piano.pdf

Mark

I met with my Mentor ... overall he really liked the work.  He suggested I add a bit more development in two spots.  So I added a few extra measure of theme development.

Comments appreciated.

Mark

Hi there, 

I have listened to your duet. I appreciate the interaction between the piano and viola. The viola provides rather interesting material, and the piano provides great dialogue.  It reminds me of one of my favorite 20th century composers: Dimitri Shotoasky or maybe Stravinsky.  

I see nothing more to add. 

Kvothe,

I am intrigued you hear the Russian influence in the work. 

Thank you for listening to the work. 

10 hours ago, MJFOBOE said:

Kvothe,

I am intrigued you hear the Russian influence in the work. 

Thank you for listening to the work. 

 

You are welcome.

Hi @MJFOBOE

The melodic lines in this are quite asymptotic and jagged!  It has a certain Phrygian modal character to it.  I think there are things you could do to improve the score, as well as to make it easier to perform.  You have many 3/2 hemiolas throughout the piece, but you don't change the notation to make it obvious to performers that they could just count it as 3/2 and it would be much easier to perform rhythmically.  Also, you could have used an ottava line to make it easier for the pianist to read measure 7 & 32.  Another thing is that you could remove the empty measures of piano during the viola solos.  You did that already in meas. 9 - 11 but not in 35 - 44 which is a much more extended solo passage.  Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the review.  The engraving error - with the empty measures - was an oversight on my part in the first posting it was corrected in the 2nd posting (which had some additional material).

Changing the key signature I agree would make the reading easier as well as rewriting the piano part (8va). However, I wonder when the music is in 12/8 would the interpretation be different by the player.  I played both versions 3/2 and 12/8 and there is a nuance in the interpretation. The 3/2 feels more "square" on the beat and less fluid.

My interpretation - is a struggled - conflicted - forlorn story.

I looked up the term - asymptotic- which has a mathematical definition:  I am not sure of your intent.  Are you implying the work is elusive?

4 hours ago, MJFOBOE said:

I looked up the term - asymptotic- which has a mathematical definition:  I am not sure of your intent.  Are you implying the work is elusive?

 

adjective

1. Of, relating to, or being an asymptote; (of lines) approaching ever nearer, but never crossing.

Yes, at the asymptote, functions are usually discontinuous and undefined.  So as the function approaches a certain asymptote at a certain x value, the function might approach infinity or negative infinity in the y value, giving it a very jagged edge at that point.  I just meant to describe the shape of your melodic lines.