# My compositions.



## macgeek2005

Hey everyone,

Since I'm a composer I figured I ought to post links to some of my works here. I'll just post a handful, and you can check out whatever interests you!

1st movement of my 2nd symphony: 




1st movement of my 3rd symphony: 




2nd movement of my 3rd symphony: 




4th movement of my 3rd symphony: 




4th movement of my 1st string quartet: 




2nd movement of my 1st piano sonata: 




The videos of my 3rd symphony are conducted by my brother, by the way.  He's younger than I, and going to Curtis this fall.


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## Couchie

What I listened to was good, but then again you do tag yourself as a _"Talented Composer Talent Gifted Prodigal Prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Franz Joseph Haydn Brilliant Student"_.

Also, I'd look up the definition of _"Prodigal"_... :lol:


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## emiellucifuge

Certainly very very old fashioned, and therefore doesnt really offer me any great philosophical revelations.
But certainly very beautiful and extremely skillfully composed, well done!


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## Aramis

emiellucifuge said:


> doesnt really offer me any great philosophical revelations


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## emiellucifuge

Well I would rather not get into this whole purpose of art discussion here, but I certainly do find this in the masterpieces


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## Rasa

Skillfull, stylish and obsolete.


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## Jeremy Marchant

emiellucifuge said:


> Certainly very very old fashioned, and therefore doesnt really offer me any great philosophical revelations.


They are pastiches. Why write music that betrays nothing of the past two centuries and more? What are you frightened of?


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## emiellucifuge

Nothing, I enjoyed its beauty. Though, for the above reasons its not something I would repeatedly listen to.


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## macgeek2005

Well, I didn't thoroughly study the definition of "prodigy" but ever since I was little (when I began playing pieces by Bach, Purcell, Handel, etc on the piano entirely by ear at age 3), people have said I'm a prodigy. I'm not attached to that label by any means, and I'm not an arrogant person.. I do recognize that I have musical talent though. I began composing at age seven, and had completed two symphonies by age 14, without much formal training.

I'm glad you guys enjoy the music! As you can imagine, I often hear that it's archaic, and irrelevant to today, etc, and that's okay with me, because for now, when I sit down to write, this is simply the style through which I find myself able to express emotion. At this point, the most "modern" I could see myself writing (in the event that I undergo a lot more formal training and hard work) would be along the lines of Mahler/Wagner/Brahms, etc. Late romantic, even early-20th century style.


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## Couchie

macgeek2005 said:


> Well, I didn't thoroughly study the definition of "prodigy" but ever since I was little (when I began playing pieces by Bach, Purcell, Handel, etc on the piano entirely by ear at age 3), people have said I'm a prodigy. I'm not attached to that label by any means, and I'm not an arrogant person.. I do recognize that I have musical talent though. I began composing at age seven, and had completed two symphonies by age 14, without much formal training.


_Prodigy_ is "a young one, endowed with exceptional abilities", _prodigal_ is "a person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way".

I would say playing Bach at age 3 by ear definitely qualifies you as a prodigy :tiphat:. Your 2nd symphony is remarkable for a 14 year old, did you ever enter it in any composition competitions? Also can I ask why you haven't undergone much formal training? If my kid imitated my Bach playing at 3 I would be running him to the most esteemed musical teacher in town pronto. :lol:



macgeek2005 said:


> I'm glad you guys enjoy the music! As you can imagine, I often hear that it's archaic, and irrelevant to today, etc, and that's okay with me, because for now, when I sit down to write, this is simply the style through which I find myself able to express emotion. At this point, the most "modern" I could see myself writing (in the event that I undergo a lot more formal training and hard work) would be along the lines of Mahler/Wagner/Brahms, etc. Late romantic, even early-20th century style.


Nothing wrong with that, you don't have to jump off the boat into extreme dissonance and atonality to be credible. It seems you are just getting into Wagner now, it will be interesting to see how his heavy chromaticism and harmonic ambiguity will influence your writing. Maybe after a while 20th century music will suddenly sound a lot more tolerable and you'll get more daring with your dissonance.


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## Aramis

A true talent combined with a solid portion of luck in life, the question is what will you do with it. At your website there is a note that you're interested in making movie music. Not the most ambitious idea one can think of but perhaps you could achieve something if you won't turn from imitating classical period music to imitating contemporary movie music and create some new quality instead.


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## emiellucifuge

Agreed with the above two. As you mature artistically im sure youll find your own voice


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## Iforgotmypassword

Well I really enjoyed the ones that I listened to, pleasant even if they are a bit on the dated side for some people, so long as you wrote with your heart who cares what era it sounds like?


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## Saturnus

I liked the pieces and they are great as student/hobby pieces. But. If you choose to write in this style professionally you must realize you're competing against the great composers, who are better known, have greater artistic merit & educational value. 
What you're doing as a student is great, training the ability to write down what's inside one's head is of greatest importance for a composer, and the reason for that most composition students to day are just plain bad (compose muddy ugly pieces without any style) is the lack of this ability. But if this is the only thing that's inside your head, you're maybe too sane to become a progressive composer.


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## macgeek2005

Couchie said:


> _Prodigy_ is "a young one, endowed with exceptional abilities", _prodigal_ is "a person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way".
> 
> I would say playing Bach at age 3 by ear definitely qualifies you as a prodigy :tiphat:. Your 2nd symphony is remarkable for a 14 year old, did you ever enter it in any composition competitions? Also can I ask why you haven't undergone much formal training? If my kid imitated my Bach playing at 3 I would be running him to the most esteemed musical teacher in town pronto. :lol:
> 
> Nothing wrong with that, you don't have to jump off the boat into extreme dissonance and atonality to be credible. It seems you are just getting into Wagner now, it will be interesting to see how his heavy chromaticism and harmonic ambiguity will influence your writing. Maybe after a while 20th century music will suddenly sound a lot more tolerable and you'll get more daring with your dissonance.


I did enter the first movement of my 2nd symphony in a composition competition recently, and won one of the five divisions of the competition. I won second place with it in some other young artist competition several years back. I haven't yet gone to great lengths to publicize my compositions though. Over the summer I'm going to be writing an orchestral piece in a slightly more modern style, to showcase the highest potential of my current abilities, and I'm going to submit it and my 3rd symphony for consideration to the Curtis composition department for fall 2012. It would be nice to go there for graduate school.


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## mleghorn

Lennon you have an amazing gift! Please continue to grow! I listened to some of you pieces that you shared here. I'm hearing how your craft has progressed, going from the first mvt of you 1st symphony to the last mvt of your 3rd. I strongly urge you to absorb and appreciate as much great music as you can, and incorporate it into your aesthetic. Take your time, but by all means, venture into Mahler, R. Strauss, Stravinsky, Prokoviev, Respighi, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Bartok, Shostakovich, Debussy, Ravel, Puccini.

Mike


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## Vor Gott

I feel that the only improvements you could make cannot possibly come from here, but only from the greatest composers of our day and the study of those of yesterday. Criticism from anywhere else is preposterous. 

I hope to see your works again someday, but famous. Perhaps when we are both old men.


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## tdc

I agree that you are incredibly talented, and I would not be one to criticize anything you've done. Your piano improvisations are great. Looking through your youtube videos, I would love to see you tackle more of the great solo piano pieces from the repertoire like - Beethoven, Ravel, Prokofiev, Bartok etc. I think if you started playing some of these great and really innovative composers, you could start to integrate elements of their sound into yours, and it might start giving you a sense of musical direction, and add some elements of more modern complexity to your sound - and just inspire you to gain new insights and ideas.


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## TresPicos

I started listening to the 3rd symphony, mvmt 1, and then continued browsing TalkClassical's other threads. Due to my short attention span, I found myself wondering what that nice music was that I was listening to. Must be some Haydn symphony, I thought, before I realized what it was. 

So, I can only concur: you have an amazing gift! :tiphat:


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## mleghorn

critical, dismissive, arrogant, unappreciative:


Rasa said:


> Skillfull, stylish and obsolete.


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## chee_zee

incredible. what types of music are you into besides classical? there are jazz and countless world musics to dive into as well after all. do you have perfect pitch or something, how can one play stuff by ear at 3?


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## Tomposer

Let me tell you something.... anyone who cannot find something positive to say about your productions here must be either inexperienced or flat out jealous.

Your pieces are "anachronistic," there's no two ways about that. Clearly that's your thing.

What a lot of readers might not understand is how much plain old effort and skill goes into organising actual performances, etc., of which yours are of great quality. People typically don't understand this until they've tried it.

Another thing: in my own view, something like half of a composer's skill is orchestrational ability (if they do in fact intend to have actual acoustic performances of their works). Regardless of where you end up stylistically, your work here demonstrates solid orchestration and this skill is 1) invaluable and 2) will remain with you. It's all too easy to write for a MIDI computer these days... learning to write for an orchestra is a real undertaking, which cannot be substituted by using software alone.

And you have a flair for conducting!

These things by themselves distinguish your work on display here.

Having said all of that, your music at the moment reveals to me that you have not yet "found your voice." Although your compositions are very good, the fact is there isn't much which is, errr, truly striking about them, and I'd say this is because they don't sound particularly novel.

Good music does NOT have to be "new". However, you're writing specifically _inside _of a tradition which highlights novelty.,.. a very difficult thing these days no doubt. Even people who make electronica and dubstep (an entirely different musical tradition) are frequently at eachother's throats about "new sounds"! And in either of those traditions and others like them where proponents achieve acclaim for their _adventurousness_, then, to be frank, you might not grab as much attention as you might if you don't challenge yourself in that way.

Don't get me wrong, I am not for a second suggesting you need to write "20th Century" type music, which I think is actually an old-fashioned thing itself now, nor should you become a minimalist, or whatever. What I believe though is that you're own, personal sound still needs to develop. If you like writing in an old style, certainly, make that your thing. But don't do it because you're naive about the wide world of music which is available for you to listen to at the touch of a button. Don't worry about a "style," but _do _understand that there are many others around at the moment doing amazing things, and that it's a very useful thing to become acquainted with those. Being influenced by contemporary music is a fundamental way of honing your own abilities, and will foster honesty in a pursuit of your own sound.


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## SenorTearduct

I really rather enjoy this! Are you a student? Where do you attend?


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## chopinsky

I like most of your work. There is definitely a classical feel to it with your own influence of course. At your age and talent, I would say that the future Is bright. very good work


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## Klavierspieler

Funny, I never can understand why people think that composing music from an older tradition is "obsolete." Rakhmaninov was composing Romantic style music well after any other romantic (at least those we deem of much importance) was alive and yet we put him among the greats. I think the problem is not that there is nothing more to be composed in a style, but rather that most people are not imaginative to see it happen.


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## Tomposer

> Funny, I never can understand why people think that composing music from an older tradition is "obsolete." Rakhmaninov was composing Romantic style music well after any other romantic (at least those we deem of much importance) was alive and yet we put him among the greats. I think the problem is not that there is nothing more to be composed in a style, but rather that most people are not imaginative to see it happen.


I think the problem with this is that if you restrict yourself entirely to a bygone style, you don't do justice your potential to discover your own sound.

Certainly, being _rooted _in a style is beneficial and is true of most artists. But artists need only occasionally listen to music _unlike _their own, for them to eventually be impressed by it (in the sense that it leaves an impression). This is because artists are engaged, and they cannot help it when this happens. Having such impressions leave their mark is very much a part of developing your own potential. So to only ever create music that has no trace of its shape being affected by the influence of a contemporary speaks of a mild sort of arrogance, in my view, or at least, it suggests there is a potential not being fulfilled.

This has got nothing to do with advancing art music in the Western tradition, which many people these days are not interested in or actively opposed to. Rather, it is about fulfilling your own potential - which of course is important to an artist.


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## Kopachris

Tomposer said:


> Let me tell you something.... anyone who cannot find something positive to say about your productions here must be either inexperienced or flat out jealous.


I don't know if other commentators are jealous, but I certainly am!


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## chopinsky

truly wonderful works


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## ricardo_jvc6

they're great.


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## Rasa

mleghorn said:


> critical, dismissive, arrogant, unappreciative:


Sorry? It sums it up pretty well.


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## Kopachris

I just wrote a lengthy blog post/essay/rant that will likely be extremely controversial and will spark much hate speech but which expresses my thoughts on this subject in their entirety. I don't expect you to change your own philosophy based on my rant. If you have hate speech against me for my rant, please post it as a comment on my blog instead of on these here forums. That way, a moderator here won't have to start smacking people.


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## humanbean

Not sure if you're still lurking around here, but I have to say I listened to these works quite a while ago and just today felt like expressing my opinion of the third symphony. It's excellent! Keep up the good work, and don't listen to people who tell you to quit composing in this style because it's "old fashioned". These people are probably the same ones who say Haydn wrote 100 variations of one symphony, or Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 500 times. They just don't "get" this style of music. I mean, I don't have a problem with others' encouragement of putting your own flavor into these styles, but I don't get the criticism behind using the old forms.

Any new works to show us since you last posted here? Or possibly studio recordings?


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## Stargazer

Wow, I just listened to all of these and I have to say I'm really impressed! They're all very good


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## Moira

Followed Stargazer and am similarly impressed.


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## macgeek2005

Hey guys! I just noticed that this thread had been bumped fairly recently.

I actually didn't compose much music since spring of 2011, but I'm getting back into it now full throttle. I'm working on a second string quartet, and already talking to string players about getting together to play it when its done. I'll see if I can get a good recording.

I'm done with undergraduate college in a month, and afterwards I'll have much more time to compose, and I will be composing a lot of chamber music for whichever assortments of instruments I can put together out of whoever is interested in playing. I'm eventually going to shoot for putting on concerts and such.


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## macgeek2005

Kopachris said:


> I just wrote a lengthy blog post/essay/rant that will likely be extremely controversial and will spark much hate speech but which expresses my thoughts on this subject in their entirety. I don't expect you to change your own philosophy based on my rant. If you have hate speech against me for my rant, please post it as a comment on my blog instead of on these here forums. That way, a moderator here won't have to start smacking people.


I just discovered this! Thank you for posting it.

It's actually really interesting how you talk about the artist doing what he/she wants for themselves only.. because for me, part of my compositional process is also intentionally making sure that it will sound good to an audience. I don't feel I put nearly as much ego into my music as other contemporary composers. One of my foremost priorities is that audiences will enjoy sitting and listening to it, and that's a very classical ideal, which I'm proud to embody, and therein lies the only involvement of my ego in the process.


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