Laya for Piano Quartet

[Matthew Whiteside]

Hey guys,

Just got a new piece performed last week by a group called Yurodny in Dublin and want to see what you think of it.

Yurodny is a world music group so that changed the way I approached the composition a little. I started off with a modal melody that I wrote about 5 or 6 years ago, threw in a little bit of Indian rhythms (you can't hear them but they were part of the process and the reason for the name) and the traditional African musical idea of being just before or after the beat. All this came together to create Laya which you can listen to at the link below (might take a few mins to load). Any comments are welcomed.

Cheers,
Matthew


http://www.matthewwhiteside.co.uk/Matthew_Whiteside/Compositions_2010/Entries/2010/9/1_Laya.html

Laya.mp3

[Matthew Whiteside]

Come on someone must have some kind of opinion on it.

[Tyler Hughes]

I loved it, the intro was very "other worldly". I loved the piece as a whole, very cool, very modern. Very much on the pulse of 21st century music in a way, which I liked.
The only thing that would have bothered me just slightly is that some of the sections felt like they either came out of no where or werent really set up and just seemed like it could have been a new movement with no break in-between.
Other then that, great piece
Keep up the good job

[Matthew Whiteside]

I'm glad you liked it so much. What bits do you think weren't set up that well?

Tyler Hughes said:

I loved it, the intro was very "other worldly". I loved the piece as a whole, very cool, very modern. Very much on the pulse of 21st century music in a way, which I liked.
The only thing that would have bothered me just slightly is that some of the sections felt like they either came out of no where or werent really set up and just seemed like it could have been a new movement with no break in-between.
Other then that, great piece
Keep up the good job

[Andrew Gleibman]

Matthew, can you please upload the mp3 version of this track to the Composers Forum site?
Your link requires installing something which is not present on all computers.

[Matthew Whiteside]

Just uploaded it.

What does it ask you to install? I thought I'd made the site in such a way that anyone could get at it.

Andrew Gleibman said:

Matthew, can you please upload the mp3 version of this track to the Composers Forum site?
Your link requires installing something which is not present on all computers.

[Andrew Gleibman]

After pressing your link I've got the following message:
The website wants to install the following add-on: 'QuickTime' from Apple Inc.

This is an ActiveX control.

[Matthew Whiteside]

Ahh ok, didn't realise that. Will have to look into changing it about a bit. Its uploaded her now anyway.

[Andrew Gleibman]

I loved it too, although do not find it "wordly" since the instruments are classic European, especially piano.
The piece has a very well developed and interesting atonal contemporary feel. The quick part is the most interesting and well contrasting with other parts of the piece.

Some attempt to criticise: The first 50 sec. and the last 50 sec. of the piece almost do not contain events but the performer's modulations of a few very long notes. This may impose problems with the listener's attention if this is a stand-alone piece without additional info (tale, video-sequence, narration, other movements etc). The main culmination is not too distinctive. The piano is slightly out of tone - is it intended?

[Matthew Whiteside]

Cheers for the reply Andrew, glad you like it. I wasn't meaning it to sound worldly, I just said about indian and african stuff because they were a small influence, it was just meant to sound like me. The piano was meant to be in tune, unfortunately it wasn't tuned for the performance. I understand what you mean about the first and last 50 sec but its kind of the point. I mean the lose of duration was something I wanted. Yes you can pick up the rhythms and durations of the notes but I wanted it to be blurred a little and any change to be a bit unexpected (especially in the opening). Weirdly those are the two bits I love in the piece, the first time I heard the ending live I thought it was magical! Way better than I heard in my head.

[Andrew Gleibman]

I am listening to your quartet now and enjoy it very much!
Other pieces too...