# Prelude and Romance for Flute and Piano



## Aramis

Finale playback I give you

Score I do not give you because noone cared to see it when I gave it to you last time

I'll give it to you if asked to do so

The prelude is prelude that I already presented in diffrent arrangement, the romance is musically inspired by Vincenzo Bellini and is actually an aria, I wrote flute part to words which are meant to stay unknown.


__
https://soundcloud.com/aramistm%2Fgrandioso-unico-un-vero

I know that ending is rather weak but I wrote it in haste - today evening I want to show the score to musician that may help me get this stuff performed.


----------



## Aramis

--- --- --- --- ---


----------



## tdc

Not a bad work. Compared to most music that is popular nowadays, this is a stunningly beautiful piece of music. Within classical circles however I could see it being criticized for being very conservative, and nothing really too new or exciting. 

It shows potential and has moments of real beauty.


----------



## Aramis

Thank you - "real beauty" is the complement that I desire the most and I'm glad you found a little bit of beauty in my work. For things new and exciting because of their freshness time will come as I will progress in searching for more original musical language, so far I'm truely contented with comments like your.


----------



## Pieck

I agree with tdc, some parts I thought really pretty, although I didnt get most of the beginning, but on the other hand I listened to it only once, and I'm very tired.
"It shows potential and has moments of real beauty."


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

It needs a real performance, I intensely dislike fake instruments. But I listened through the recording and I liked it. You make the flute really sing, I can imagine the real performance. Unlike other pieces I've heard for flute *cough* Nielsen flute concerto *cough*


----------



## Aramis

Thank you, I always knew I'm going to be better composer than Nielsen. It's also great to hear that I managed to make the flute sing. It sits next to me right now and sings "nooooow, o la la la, make me taaa-aa-aaaaalk!".


----------



## emiellucifuge

I do agree with the others, there are some very nice spots that work very well.

However, overall the piece is rather disjointed, random and is not unified. With a little more structure and planning you could go from having beautiful individual moments to making a piece of true and deep beauty.

BTW, there are some rests missing in the Fl. in bars 25-


----------



## Saturnus

Yes, the piece sounds more like an improvisation and for such pieces a human interpretation is necessary if they are to sound convincing. The accompaniment is really simplistic in the first half of the piece, I don't think even Schubert would have gotten away with such a simple accompaniment, and the flute melodies didn't catch my attention. 

I'm sorry for being so unaffected by your music, but composition is a difficult art. You're on the right track though. I'm no expert on composition but I think you shouldn't separate the melody from the accompaniment so much.


----------



## Aramis

Yes, the form is my weak point but I think that first 3/4 of the piece made it quite well, first comes the prelude clearly separated from the second part, as it was meant, then everything comes out straight from the previous until last part. Little of thematic developement but I don't hear any clumsy or pasted-like entrances. Thank you anyway, even for the less positive comments.


----------



## Romantic Geek

emiellucifuge said:


> I do agree with the others, there are some very nice spots that work very well.
> 
> However, overall the piece is rather disjointed, random and is not unified. With a little more structure and planning you could go from having beautiful individual moments to making a piece of true and deep beauty.
> 
> BTW, there are some rests missing in the Fl. in bars 25-


I'd have to generally agree with this. There are a few funky voice-leading things - and I know that you're trying to break the norm - but there are some things that typically don't sound good - and especially considering the measures surrounding these spots, it's just a little out of place.

For instance, measure 97 does not sound very pleasing compared to what is on the other sides...and generally any time you're doubling the flute with the piano, it's not great. You have to remember under certain circumstances, the piano may overpower the flute. The flute is a weak instrument and any time you double it in something like a piano, it's going to have the potential to be overpowered.

There's one funky notation thing which is the three dotted eighth notes in a row (can't remember the measure offhand) but typically composers notate that as a quarter-note triplet.

Definitely form is your weak point - and a prelude/romance doesn't necessarily need to have a form per se but it needs to have something the listener can grasp onto. A fleeting recurrence of a melodic motive. A common harmonic change. Some general mood shift or rhythmic motive. Otherwise, especially in today's world, you're audience's minds are going to wander off. Every _good_ composer does this, at least a bit...if not extensively.

Keep working, keep experimenting. It's how you grow as a composer. This by no means is bad (and the computer rec doesn't do it justice) but think about some of the things I said and hopefully it helps you craft you composition.


----------



## Aramis

Thank you for your extensive commentary. Out of all, I just want to defend the idea of doubling flute and piano. I know that flute may get overpowered but I belive that if the registers of both instruments are choosen well the combination will work. I used mostly the lower register of flute mainly because of this, I think it's lower tones will melt with timbre of piano better and though it may cause some problems with balance of dynamics, it would come out in very first rehearshal with real musicians and could be easily fixed by adding couple of aditional dynamic marks.


----------



## Romantic Geek

Indeed - a lot changes in the first rehearsal :tiphat:


----------



## Kopachris

One thing I noticed: m. 67-70, the arpeggio lines on the chords in the left hand are clashing with other grobs and are too long. For the sake of readability and professionalism, you may wish to fix that. The line (top of page 7) should look a bit more like this:


----------



## Saturnus

I would transpose a lot of places up an octave, especially bars 40-48. 
The lowest octave of the flute is really dull and uninteresting. In the design of the flute everything is compromised towards giving the two upper octaves the most brilliant sound, the lowest octave is really just a bi-product of the instrument.


----------



## Aramis

Saturnus said:


> I would transpose a lot of places up an octave, especially bars 40-48.
> The lowest octave of the flute is really dull and uninteresting. In the design of the flute everything is compromised towards giving the two upper octaves the most brilliant sound, the lowest octave is really just a bi-product of the instrument.


I disagree a lot - all of flute's registers have special character but none is better than another, the high is green falling into yellow but the middle and low registers are deep, dark green, like in the evening after rain, when the smell of it hangs in the air and the half-darkened, dark blue skies are covered with clouds and you look at the grass, forest, all green aspects of nature - that's the lower register of flute.


----------



## Saturnus

Aramis said:


> I disagree a lot - all of flute's registers have special character but none is better than another, the high is green falling into yellow but the middle and low registers are deep, dark green, like in the evening after rain, when the smell of it hangs in the air and the half-darkened, dark blue skies are covered with clouds and you look at the grass, forest, all green aspects of nature - that's the lower register of flute.


Well, to me it sounds more like the english horn you're describing. 
Anyway, it doesn't matter, this is _your_ piece, and if you've already heard the piece performed and it works in your opinion there is nothing wrong. I'm only advising you because I've been involved in a lot of woodwind music and assigning too heavy duties to the low register of the flute is just so a heartbreakingly common beginner's mistake in composing for flute.


----------



## Aramis

I appreciate your advise. I hope it will soon turn out if you are right or if I am but for now I won't make such transposition since, like I said, I wrote flute part so low because I had my vision - it may fail, but we'll see.


----------



## Bix

The middle section on the piano made me think of a mazurka, lovely, truely


----------

