Sonata for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano—Op. 33 (part 1/3)

[Arrow9100kj]

Beautiful. Reminds me of Hamauzu's style of hybridizing contemporary styles with classicism. This sounds like some of his Saga Frontier 2 works and his Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon stuff =).

[Chanmin2007nz]

Quite modern. It's been some time since I heard something like this. Please keep it up! It's very good, and if they grade you less then A+, I'll bash them up or something!

[kylelandry]

Awesome. I recommend buying some professional sounds, like garritan personal orchestra 4. It's so cheap for how much you get out of it!

[ThomasLigre]

Very interesting! It would be nice to hear it live!

[jabarisr]

this beautiful piece make me think of a fun video game when the main character is in his house or something

[nin456]

I've got to say this composition is amazing, and I really can't stop listening to it. I've listened to a lot of your other compositions and arrangements as well, and just wanted to ask how you became so good at writing counterpoint and fugues? What did you use to practice? I'm a first year music student, and would love to be able to write compositions like this!

[zeryx28]

@nin456 I was introduced to counterpoint in my early teens (mid 1990s), when I played my first Bach prelude and fugue. I was immediately drawn to the mathematical nature of the fugue form so I attempted to compose my own. Then later on, I studied counterpoint with my piano teacher as part of the theoretical component of my piano studies (RCM), which helped me better understand the formal elements of a fugue. Many years later, I studied Bach's fugues for personal interest. (cont'd)

[zeryx28]

@zeryx28 This would mean to take a score, look at it closely to identify its structures while listening to it many times. But it was all for the sake of personal enjoyment. For me, the notion of studying a fugue for personal enjoyment seemed outside the realm of the academic process. Reading books helped me learn what a fugue is, but it is the studying of scores that helped me learn contrapuntal writing as an art. (cont'd)

[zeryx28]

I would suggest to write lots of fugues. When first starting out, don't worry too much about correctness. Over time, as you become more familiar with the different rules, writing styles, and idioms, the process will become more and more transparent. But it is the inherent opacity of fugal writing that makes it fun!

[Anonymous47]

Not sure I like this that much! The harmony is really simple, which isn't necessarily a problem, but the themes don't have enough melodic interest. Everything's a bit too "straight" and measured for my liking. Maybe you could experiment with providing a bit more rhythmic interest? Also you can do a lot more interesting things with texture, don't be afraid to venture outside the simple textures you've presented here! Think more about the colours of the different instruments.

[sushidudeiscool]

This is really great! I would love to hear it live. As a clarinetist I can say that the part looks very do-able, however in D it might be a little more difficult (its concert pitch in the score).

[zeryx28]

@sushidudeiscool Thanks! Good to hear that coming from a clarinetist. :) Have you had a chance to look through the other movements too?

[kentokhromatic]

Your music is quite beautiful, do you use any online messengers?

[stefomate]

awesome stuff, u shud think about gettin a new sound driver for the strings

[zeryx28]

@stefomate Yeah, thanks for the suggestion. I actually don't know much about using samples. The closest I'll for the time being is using Sibelius libraries. :) I was using a less-advanced notation software while composing this work, so the audio wasn't as good.

[MiserableWish]

Wow this is very cool... reminds me of video game music.

[KahGor]

Everything you do is like Final Fantasy music ... and thats AWESOME! I hope you'll earn a lot of money with this awesome arrangements!

[Todesviper]

Hey, nice work. I like that you keep on usin one main theme with variations, this is my problem, I throw to many ideas in one project, a stretching and changing of one idea can be so much better. and saves ideas for other pieces ^^

And yes your right, your piano part is much more detailed than the other instruments, but I know this problem. I have also some difficulties in writing for other instruments. One of my projects was not playable because of that :(

[zeryx28]

Well ... the sonata form kind of takes care of that. It forces you to stick to two themes pretty much. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. In general, themes that are longer and that contain contrasting internal motifs are easier to work with. In effect, you can extract the internal motifs and manipulate them to your liking. Thanks for posting. :)

[ytmhcubed]

For a first try seems alright. I would get rid of the repetitions though since it seems that you're just wanting to extend the length without adding anything. You got a slightly Hindemith-esque thing going, but you're still holding back so much that it's barely noteworthy. Loosen up, dude, it ain't the 19th century no-more.

[zeryx28]

True, the repetitions seem unnecessary. Actually, the repetitions were a last resort to fulfill the length requirement because I was short on time. I'd say Hindemith is probably the only Contemporary composer that I am sufficiently familiar with, so it is likely that he is an influence. My musical style isn't so much a conscious political statement, but rather personal taste. So I guess I am somewhat of an anachronistic. It's not that I don't want to change, but rather I don't see a reason to.

[AlexClouseComposer]

I think I know what your modern influence is. This kind of sounds like Nintendo music. I'm thinking Legend of Zelda in particular. Did you ever play those games?

[shizohal]

Hey man, this is burnin'! I can tell you're a composer who started on piano. I can't write for the blasted instrument at all. Have any clarinets given it a spin yet? I'd be curious to see how idiomatic the part is. It sounds great :)

[zeryx28]

Haha, yeah, you can tell probably because the piano part is so much more detailed than the other parts. :)

I was supposed to attend a reading session, but I slept in (at my desk) because I was working it all night. But my prof was nice enough to squeeze me in during the other busy sessions.

The clarinet part has gone through a few changes. Generally it is playable. The arpeggios at 2:37 might be a bit of a challenge though.

I may redo the audio with better expression.

Thanks for your post!