Intermezzo in A

This Intermezzo is intended to be the first of four little piano pieces I intend to finish. I write this as relaxation piece after finishing the very heavy String Sextet which would be published in the near future. For me this piece contains some beauty and I hope to maintain simplicity in all four pieces. 

Here is the score and YouTube video:

(Final) Intermezzo in A.pdf

The recording is played by myself and recorded in a rush since it’s completely unplanned to record this one this quick haha. Feel free to comment on this one! Hope you enjoy!

Henry

Kia ora Henry,

Lovely little light piece. Brilliant performance as always.

Ngā mihi,

Arjuna

Hello Henry,

A lovely intermezzo based on a theme from your second sonata, was there a particular motive for quoting yourself?

you've incorporated many compositional techniques organically such as phrase elision and counterpoint, and as with many of your compositions, you never sacrifice emotional expression. I don't really have anything to comment on, just enjoying the piece for it's optimism. 

good stuff 👌

Hello

A very nice and effective piece. The motif is simple but it sticks in your memory.
I like how the half phrases are linked in a kind of elision.
Very interesting harmonic journey and some surprising moments like in measure 16, this makes it more attractive.
Also the contrasting part is very balanced and the final repetition with its ornaments the same.

Thank you. Best regards.

Hey Arjuna,

8 hours ago, expert21 said:

Lovely little light piece. Brilliant performance as always.

Thx! Just wanna write something light after finishing the very heavy Sextet. The performance has some mistakes as the decision to make a recording is completely fortuitous and I never practice the at all until the recording day haha.

Henry

Hi @Mooravioli,

6 hours ago, Mooravioli said:

A lovely intermezzo based on a theme from your second sonata, was there a particular motive for quoting yourself?

you've incorporated many compositional techniques organically such as phrase elision and counterpoint, and as with many of your compositions, you never sacrifice emotional expression. I don't really have anything to comment on, just enjoying the piece for it's optimism. 

good stuff 👌

Thx! There isn’t any particular motive for quoting myself, maybe the only reasonable explanation is laziness. I will have another one in the next piece, that one would be quoting the 1st Sonata’s theme with the key and texture of the 2nd Sonata, a kind of reverse with this Intermezzo.

For me all techniques are only means to serve emotional expression. I would rather express myself without (consciously) using any technique. I do use a lot of motivic coherence and counterpoint here since they seem to be the easiest way to write now, apart from writing fugues which would be quite easy for me now. They can all be written with laziness and idleness since the same material play over and over again haha!

Henry

Hi @Luis Hernández,

2 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

A very nice and effective piece. The motif is simple but it sticks in your memory.
I like how the half phrases are linked in a kind of elision.
Very interesting harmonic journey and some surprising moments like in measure 16, this makes it more attractive.
Also the contrasting part is very balanced and the final repetition with its ornaments the same.

Yeah I don’t know why I go for that 3+3 1/2 bar structure 10 years ago lol, so I kinda develop that idea 10 years later which is now. The bar 16 modulation to Eb is really surprising in an A major setting, but at do that because I need to coherently modulate to A flat major, which is where I stop 10 years ago. I don’t know how to smoothly to A flat major nor how to move away from it 10 years ago but now I can!

For me I really love the ornamented ending! The contrasting part is just built from the materials from the first section but giving it some harmonic change make it sound contrasting.

Henry