Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Composer's Lounge a couple of violin duets from yours truly!

I think that everyone here seems to think that I compose for piano only.

This is not the case.

And here are a couple of youtube vids to prove that I do indeed compose for other instruments.



and the second movement



The first video (for those who are here long enough) was previously known as "MFL". As you can see I've changed the title after all!

Comments?

1) Very excited to hear these works.

2) I hate to nag but the expression is "yours truly" not "yours only".

[u][/u]This was before you listened to them, or after? :P

In any case Thank you!

Gargh... Corrected, but really... I KNOW THIS! I'm not supposed to make such errors... Consider it a tpyo... :P

Thanks ^_^

Before. Listening to no. 1 right now.

Looking forward to your comments... These two (out of four) are definitely not my happy, quirky side. They are really angry, frustrated and depressed works! I guess the titles give the right impression for me!

I admit they make me worry about your sanity. Just kidding! But really, I hope you're alright.

About the music:

They definitely sound the way their title describes. I enjoyed them, but as you probably already know -- I don't really understand any of it. Is this 12-tone music? I don't want to use the word 'atonal' for obvious reasons.

I enjoyed it and I think it's well-composed. I wish I could offer more comments, but I don't know how to. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I know how to analyze this. Others can, but I can't.

Hey Joel,

Thanks!

Yeah... I'm alright. The first one was composed in 2004, when I was having a hard time (once I moved in London), and the other three were composed around the end of 2011, when things were again not so nice...

So yeah, they do reflect much of my sanity going away...

Now, the "what it is", is an interesting question. In the first one, the theme is almost tonal (with so many repetitions of the note D and the coming back to it). and it even has a small cadenza C#DED for the other voice to move in. Of course that theme goes into all 12 different pitches, so it's not fair to call that tonal. The chord structure (when met) is a semi-triadic one, so again it is detached from the classical tonal sense, but not too far away...

The second one is based almost exclusively in the use of intervals, instead of pitches (you can glance at the score while listening, so perhaps you can get a bit more).

Hope this gives some insights (though they are far from complete as replies to "what the heck this is". I don't consider it atonal, due to the tonal centers surrounding the whole works).

I do prefer atonal music over tonal music. I like the unpredictability and surprise element found in atonal music.

First movement clearly has a motive, the repeated notes followed by twelve 16th notes. This motive is appears throughout the music as sequences, which unifies the entire piece. The motive is both rhythmic and melodic so it was easier to identify.

Dissonance continues throughout the piece by the two voices.

I like that it made me think a little.

I think they're awesome! Nikolas you may recall I had people questioning my sanity when I posted Elegy. I find these pieces very effective. I loved the squiggly lines in the first one. I didn't quite get the slow ending to the first movement, but that's okay, the rest was worth it. Nice job.

Schubertslieder: Thanks for listening!

If you actually take a closer look to the melodic lines in the second movement, you'll notice that they are quite consonant (using mostly consonant intervals (thirds actually), so the dissonant part is a result of my moving 1/16th ahead of time little by little and other nifty (and not noticeable, so I'm very much an egomaniac here) stuff.

Steve: Thanks man! In very short it's Anger AND Depression (ending is definitely the "end" (remember that this work used to be called "MFL" (can't mention the middle word, enough of it already)...

But yeah, I think they do work. I do hope that in the near (yeah... a months time?) time I'll make a video for the remaining two movements. They're very much worth it I think!

Is that right? Second movement has consonance?

I didn't get a chance to look at the second movement or the second video. I was busy on another thread because someone was calling me a troll.

I guess I will just act surprised when I see it.

By second movement, I mean the second video, right? The full work has 4 movement, two of which can be found in youtube, right now...

and, yes, do act surprised and add an "OMG!" in your next post!

I will add OMG now, then look at it later.

Oh, I forgot to mention... I really liked the visual effects!

I got a chance to look at the second movement or the second video.

A large portion of music consist of major and minor 3rds. There are also perfect 4th, perfect 5th, unison and octaves.

There are a few tritone, diminished and augmented intervals as well.

I liked it because it is unpredictable and different.

Nikolas, I truly enjoyed it. Besides what you did with harmony, atonality, the feelings you were trying to express, what I really liked is that you took full advantage of what the instrument can do. The textures of bowing, articulations, the "squiggly line" whatsits where a violin is not stuck on fixed pitches but can slide everywhere. Kudos also to the performers.

Schubertslieder: Thanks! And a nice pair of ears and eyes you've got! What you say is indeed true!

keystring: Thank you so much! Yes, the first one, in particular was written for a violin workshop, when I first moved in England so it was a very conscious decision to try and use all the various techniques I knew (without the col legno ones... I knew they'd hate me if I did that! ), so this is a short collection of works, all encompassing most techniques found in violin repertoire!

And yes, major kudos to the performers! They were slaved for quite some time in order for this recording to happen (actually the first one was recorded in a couple of hours in London, but the second one was recorded along with the other movements and was more difficult to accomplish).

Thanks. I use them all the time.
Glad to know that you think I am not making things up as I go along.

Nice work Nikolas, I'm glad you shared these. And some strong performers too! Is this your youtube page? I'd be glad to subscribe if so.

Charles: This is the youtube page of my publishing house. Not just my own works... There are about 20 (probably a bit less) videos in there right now and more are coming soon (as more works are being published about every 6 months).

Check my signature!