Liz Atems's Page

"Hi Gerd, I didn't mean that your work resembled Simpson's in any way (except, maybe, for the Beethoven influence ;)) - just that Simpson has a gift for spinning out developments at great length - a good example is the outer movements of…"

"Thanks, Dane. Okay, I see that we currently need $204 to keep the site running. Well, my offer stands then. I'll match anyone's gift, or several people's gifts, up to $100 - that's the total I'll contribute above the measly…"

"Hi Dane, Well, my contribution was fairly small. I was wondering if you knew where Gav's current total of member contributions stood at this point. But if we're really only $200 short, I would be willing to put up matching funds to any…"

"A delightful first movement, Gerd! Even though your ideas may be inspired by Beethoven, you have a lyrical style all your own, that I first really noticed in you Variations on the late Beethoven sketch, and which is very much in evidence here, in…"

"Why do you say this Dane? How far are we from the goal?"

"Unusual and quite beautiful setting of the well-known hymn, very nice. I have only one real criticism, the 8th notes in the piano in bars 32-33 came out of nowhere and did not go anywhere. I quite liked the descending triplets later on, though. Of…"

"After thinking about Gerd's comments, I decided to try to make a conservative change or two to at least give the impression of greater variety in the first four variations. At this point the only changes I made were to tempo and articulation.…"

"Coral or choral(e)? It is indeed a beautiful chorale! I could not figure out if it is purely for organ, or if there is a trumpet or two in there also. I *did* listen over speakers, a pair of external ones, Bose Companions, and it certainly…"

"The second movement has much in it to admire - there is a lot of very intricate interplay between the two hands and the music never does quite what the listener expects. Very fresh-sounding. My only real criticism is that the performance (or…"

"Hi Gregorio, Yet another very beautiful and expressive work in your neo-Bachian idiom. I love the two-voice counterpoint that dominates the earlier pages, reminiscent of some of the slower WTC preludes, and the unusual (and very un-Baroque)…"

"Hi Gerd, Thank you so much for listening and for your comments! I'm flattered by the reference to Op. 131, as that is a height of expressive fugue writing that I could never hope to approach. My model for this work was actually Carl…"

"Dear Liz, what a gigantic labour  you must have put into this work! It took me several attempts to get into these varations. This morning in vaccation in the awesome dolomites of northern Italy when I listened to your whole work again.…"

"Hi Dane, I wasn't talking so much about "classical form" as just that sense that a piece is shaped in a way that works, that coheres and makes sense musically. I don't think one needs to have a strong theory background to know…"

"From about 1:12 on, I found this quite exquisite. Agree with Jon, Chopin was the first composer that came to mind listening to this. Before 1:12, I felt the rhythmically simpler music with which the piece begins was spun out too much - would like to…"

"Hi Dane, I certainly would NOT say that your sense of form needs "dusting off the cobwebs"! Just that that side of your musical thinking comes out more clearly in the tonal works I've heard from you so far. And I totally agree with…"

"Indeed, NotePerformer is an amazing product that improves the output from notation software (Finale, Sibelius, Dorico) by orders of magnitude. But I feel the need to point out that it is not perfect, and has odd bugs that can cause no end of…"