# A Latvian Waltz (Waltz No. 6)



## Samuel Kristopher (Nov 4, 2015)

Hey guys, back from my big hiatus. Been super busy with studies, work, moving apartments, preparing for my New Zealand holiday in August, and piano lessons.

I had an amazing experience at Mariinsky Theatre the other week watching Neeme Järvi conduct Sibelius' 2nd and 5th symphonies along with several of his other orchestral works. I got front-row seats (how could I not?) and one of the highlights was veteran Russian conductor Valery Gergiev sitting right next to me on my right for the 2nd half of the performance! Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to talk to him, and I'm sure he's not interested in that anyway, but the whole event inspired me a lot.

The combination of Finnish music and Estonian music-makers got me interested in Baltic musical tradition in general and I went through a phase of listening to folk music from the area - in particular there were two Latvian folk pieces that stuck out. Yesterday I decided to pen a waltz to the themes, one in major, one in minor.

Not satisfied with how short it felt, I decided to stick a development theme in and a cathartic restatement of the themes at the end. Some of the transitions feel a little forced (although a lot better after spending about four hours labouring over a single chord change). I've also experimented a lot with harmonic relativity and modulating within passages without drawing too much attention to it. I think my favourite aspect of the waltz is the progression of the 1st theme in its second period:

G > B > C#m > G#m > A > D#dim > Em​
The E minor, of course, leading us to Theme 2 in a relative minor.

Anyway, enough waffle about the piece. I hope you enjoy!


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## MarkMcD (Mar 31, 2014)

Hi Samuel,

I think the waltz (or something in 3/4 time) is one of my favourite time signatures and this is lovely example. I like the tempo change which ratchets up the tension and the subsequent section is my favourite part of your piece. Do you play the piano well enough to do a live recording? I say that because I think the piece would sound much better with some live rubato which is really difficult to achieve with notation software.

I think you've captured the flavour you were looking for without going overboard on the Baltic seasoning :lol:

I don't know if the opening few bars quite match the rest of the composition, being very simple and (for want of a better term, basic), unadorned maybe, where as the rest of the piece uses some really unusual and effective ornamentations, but perhaps that's just me.

To say you only spent a day or so composing it is quite impressive, it usually takes me months to get something the way I really want it.

Regards
Mark


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## Samuel Kristopher (Nov 4, 2015)

Thanks a lot! I'll give the opening bars some more thought and see if I can work something else out!


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

My suggestion is once you've established the standard accompaniment pattern (oom-pah-pah), say in the first 30 seconds, break it off now & then by doing a measure that is just "oom-pah" (In other words make the second beat note last two beats for the rest of the measure) and once in a while avoid a bass downbeat (the "oom"). It will make the waltz pattern less predictable. Predictablility is a killer for modern composers that write traditional sounding music.


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## Samuel Kristopher (Nov 4, 2015)

> Predictablility is a killer for modern composers that write traditional sounding music.


It definitely is - I should pay more attention to this! Thanks mate))


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## JamieHoldham (May 13, 2016)

Congratulations. You have written a piece that is bland and uninteresting, if you want me to point out why, I will be GLAD to let you know.


...........

/endsarcasm

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In seriousness it's short, simple and has good harmony, but it's too bland with the dynamics, the only thing I can remember from listening to the peice is the crescendo at 1:28. Not saying you haven't used enough dynamics, you have, just not in a masterful enough way to produce much tension.


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## Samuel Kristopher (Nov 4, 2015)

Thanks for your thoughts Jamie! I'll take them on board


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