What have you composed for? Or what medium do you work around?
Other
"I liked this. Simple, yet captivating. The modified minor scale gives it a special flavor that adds to its charm. Thanks for sharing!"
"Very nice! Calm, serene opening, almost impressionist-like, then gradually opens up into an energetic, high-speed piece with lots of fun. Liked it!"
"Listened to the whole work. There are certainly many good parts and grand orchestrations that I enjoyed, but—since this is the analysis & critique section—one thing that stood out to me was that the work, as a whole, seems to be lacking in…"
"Gave it another 2 listens, second time with score. Very nice structure that only started dawning on me once I followed along the score. :-)"
"I think maybe I got a little too carried away with that whole-tone thing... it's not really the defining characteristic here, but the flair of fast notes in that distinctive style that identifies what I call your "signature". I don't really know how…"
"You know, even a major scale has 5 whole tones in it:)
Haha, I do actually like the whole-tone scale, y'know. ;-) During my college years I improvised a snow storm piece primarily based on whole-tone scales. Unfortunately it was never written down…"
Haha, I do actually like the whole-tone scale, y'know. ;-) During my college years I improvised a snow storm piece primarily based on whole-tone scales. Unfortunately it was never written down…"
"This isn't really the kind of music I usually listen to, but your work has always been interesting to hear. Sounds like the aural equivalent of impressionistic paintings... which applies to much of your work, I suppose.
Starting at around 1:20 or…"
Starting at around 1:20 or…"
"Wow, very substantial work! Grandiose and exciting; would love to hear it played a real orchestra! Liked the energy of the theme and the creativeness of the variations. Also the drama. Lots of fun!"
"Alright, alright, you got me. I apologize for the knee-jerk reaction and the needless mathematical diversion.
(Though, come to think of it, it would be fun to estimate just how large the space of possibilties are for some given constraints, say a…"
(Though, come to think of it, it would be fun to estimate just how large the space of possibilties are for some given constraints, say a…"
"And if you'll excuse me for an addendum: the number of possibilities even in tonal music is huge. Even if you restrict yourself to 7 notes of the C major scale, the number of possibilities grow very fast as the number of notes increase: if you write…"
"I'm sorry, I have to call BS on the "tonality == finite possibilities" claim. The exact same argument can be applied to atonal music, or music of any kind, really, that can be represented as a sequence of notes. In atonal music you just have 12…"
"Very interesting! And quite a unique flavor compared to your usual output. :-)"
"Wow, beautiful! And indeed, very soothing. A bit "too" calm for Ludwig, but I certainly do hear elements of him throughout. One of these days I'd like to hear both the 1st and 2nd movements together, to see how they fit.
Thanks for sharing!"
Thanks for sharing!"
"Hmm, the loud parts are still clipping (with slight distortion). Maybe try turning the master volume down?"
"The version I posted is still accessible in that ancient thread in this comment of mine. It even still has the score too. I don't know what got into me when I wrote that comment, though. It was a lot more ascerbic than it by all rights ought to be.…"
"gregorio X said:
[...]HS... I think I have the score somewhere - (I ended up doing 2 variations) Should I send you the score, or just post a link for the audio?
Just the link would be fine. Just wanted to hear your version again, to compare with…"
[...]HS... I think I have the score somewhere - (I ended up doing 2 variations) Should I send you the score, or just post a link for the audio?
Just the link would be fine. Just wanted to hear your version again, to compare with…"
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Hello H.S. and thank you for your very kind message. Actually, I'm just coming off a very serious eye condition triggered, I suppose by an equally serious upper and lower respiratory thing I picked up on a flight back from Berlin in May (I'm in Los Angeles). The eye required surgery to set things right and I'm just now getting my vision back in the one eye (the other was unaffected). Actually I've had problems with this eye in the past so I'm not surprised the respiratory condition reignited it. This is since May 3 when I got back and I'm just kicking the respiratory infection now. It's been a grueling---what--three months? I've never had anything like this before. Had to be some kind of exotic bug from the deepest parts of Asia or Africa or something because I usually bounce back from these things in 4-5-days. This took 3 different courses of antibiotics to finally get under control (coughing up blood and blowing blood out of my nostrils at one point, but no TB) and I was still coughing a month afterwards. Beware flying internationally. Nowadays you take your life into your hands getting exposed to all these potent diseases like Ebola floating around.
Greatly appreciate you letting me know you enjoy the concerto. You're right; I do get discouraged frequently because generally speaking most musicians aren't interested in doing an ultra-Romantic work these days, especially one that requires such large forces (expert pianist plus accomplished orchestra) to pull off properly. I did get word from someone who loves the concerto--psychologist and author Darrel Ray that he had a friend of his try to get it into the hands of David Stern, violinist Isaac Stern's son who is the conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra but I haven't heard anything since. This was about 6 weeks ago. Got my fingers crossed. Maybe someone can pull a miracle off. I hope so. Thanks so much for getting in touch. I will keep you apprised of any developments. Wishing you all the best and looking forward to any news you might want to share about your own career happenings. Take care,
J Joe Townley
Hi H. S. and thank you for your very kind comments re My Piano Concerto No 2. Not sure if you were able to get to my bio. Thunbnail; started studying piano seriously at 10; wanted to write a piano concerto desperately by 16 but didn't actually do it until 18 when I wrote a horrid 1st mov. to a Piano Concerto in C Minor in 2-piano/4-hand. Injured my RH forefinger severely at 19-20 (don't remember) but continued with BA and injured finger until giving piano up at 25.
I agree. I'd love to hear this live. The screen-capture mutilated the audio. The SoundCloud audio is much better, but still sounds like an electronic rendering. To put on a performance of this concerto would cost roughly 150K for a top-tier orchestra/pianist so that's not in the offing anytime soon. My advice: don't write piano concertos if you're thinking of getting them performed. Stick with smaller works for small ensembles. Much greater chance of getting them performed live. I will check out your music tomorrow. Just getting this message really late (nearing midnight--yawn) So glad you enjoyed the concerto and noticing that it is cyclic. You're the first out of roughly 5000 viewers to comment on that (including earlier versions on YouTube which I have since deleted). J Joe
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