Sketch: Dark Matter (piano solo)

That is a good idea!

These kind of comments are very meaningful and generous. Thank you, honjr.

Thank you, S_G_B. That is a very nice compliment. I have a great deal of respect for Ravel and his beautiful, impressionist-era tone palette and voicings. I have never learned any of Ravel's pieces and have never intentionally copied any of his, but of course I have heard most of his work, and most composers I believe will admit that they are inspired by and sometimes sound a little like their favorite composers.

There is one brief 2-chord, 2-measure section (which repeats a second time later) of this piece that, once I had composed it, I realized sounded like a voicing Ravel had used in one of his piano pieces (although I couldn't remember which). I was thrilled to have found it and became determined to use it (in fact, I'm going to try to find the exact piece it's in right now--be back in a while)

...

Well, I just listened to a two-CD set of the complete works for solo piano of Maurice Ravel but could not find the particular chord voicing and brief melodic motif I was looking for. I was sure that I had heard it in one of Ravels pieces, perhaps in one of his works for orchestra or orchestra with piano. Anyway, it was a pleasure listening to Ravel's music again; some of his music that sounds simple to play is melodically and harmonically exquisitely beautiful, and others of his pieces, while incredibly rich sounding, also seem to be incredibly difficult to play.

I'm not as familiar with the work of Faure as I am with Ravel. I'm not sure I have ever heard a Faure sonata. If you happen to remember or hear the piece you are reminded of, I hope that you will consider mentioning it; I would like to find it and listen to it myself.

I guess it's a shame that all composers and musicians have only 12 tones to work with (in the western equal tempered scale), and there are a limited number of possibilities for notes played individually, concurrently or in succession. No composer can stake claim to a C major triad. But it is still amazing how many different moods and unique "voices" of musicians and composers can be accomplished on and evoked within those 12 tones.

I'm pleased to have found your page at SoundCloud and plan to listen to the music you have posted there over the next week or so. Thanks.

If anything, I think I enjoy the uptempo version better. But it strikes me as one of those compositions that can work slow or fast, depending on your mood or motive.

The Faure sonata that might have that Ravel meme in it somewhere might be his violin (and piano) sonata in A. I'm listening to it now, but so far nothing jumps out. Not that it matters. To be reminiscent for a few bars of some other composer is no sign of being derivative. What counts is creating something new and good, and you have.

When you listen to my stuff on Soundcloud (mostly works in progress; mostly from the 90s; some from around 5 years ago), I must apologize in advance for the amateurish piano chops. I became a musician as a guitarist nearly 50 years ago and have only played keyboards since the 90s as a tool for MIDI composing/sequencing. I'm here on Pianoteq because last summer I began seriously working on those piano chops (I always wanted to be a pianist) and bought my first 88-key board (a Casio Privia 850) in the fall, with Pianoteq the resounding winner as a sound source. One of these days, "when I'm ready," I'll start sharing my very much Ravel et al. (Satie, Debussy...)-inspired piano improvs. I love how Pianoteq automatically records the MIDI of everything you play - no need to press "record" and get all choked up - and lets you easily export the good stuff as a WAV.

Syd
https://soundcloud.com/baumel

The Ravel trio in A minor is beautiful. I shifted from my tablet computer to my desktop in order to listen to it through my studio monitors. Thank you so much for posting this.

Thank you honjr for the compliments. I'm sure that everyone appreciates a little supportive sentiment now and then.

I would prefer to call you by your real name (at least your first name) if you don't mind sharing that.

I composed and recorded those latin jazz tracks for a collaborative effort among members of the Linux-Audio-User email list--

http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/

--for anyone who wished to add a guitar or percussion track, or in any other way flesh out the short piece. So far I'm only aware of one collaborative effort with it, not from a member of the linux-audio-user list but from a person who just happened across the tracks, liked them and used at least the piano track in his composition City Lights--

https://soundcloud.com/tom-149/city-lights

Rhythm was the first musical component that I became fascinated with when I was a child, and I often played the piano percussively, as though it were a drum set, concentrating on interesting (and usually syncopated) rhythms. Later I began to explore and learn more about harmonic musical ideas, and lastly, more recently, have been actively trying to learn more about melody.

I'm enjoying working on a new piece, tentatively titled Lost Isle, although I'm taking my time with it, putting pieces of musical ideas together to try to form a cohesive whole. I've thrown away about a third of the ideas so far, but what remains I like. I'll post a draft version of it here at the Pianoteq forums when I have it completed enough and practiced enough.

I'm glad that you post your work. It's very nice to listen to and to learn from. Thank you.