Very well done, David.
Hope you'll be able to have Becky perform it live soon.
Cheers.

Hi Fabio,

Just saw your comment on youtube.  Thanks again for listening and yes, the goal will be a recording with Becky down the road.  We've got our hands full with a little toddler who doesn't let us do anything remotely related to performance at this time :)

Cheers!

Dave

Hi Dave,

it's a great piece, thanks for sharing it! 😊

May I ask which piano library is it?

All the best

Francesco

Thanks for listening, Francesco!  PM'd you the info.

Hi Dave,

A marvelous piece, Dave. You know, that most of the time I can't say so much about music, except one thing: I'm fascinated by it or not, I feel (or think I feel ;) ) the intention of the composer or not, and with this piece I hear definitly something that appeals to me in one way or the other. There is something very coherent in it, it tells me something musically, the last part with some humor in it (okay, that's what I hear...). From what I remember of your music, I shouldn't be supprised if this is one of your best pieces. And writing something for Becky is always special for you, I think. Congratulations!

Thank you MMKA.  Your comments are most appreciated.  Believe it or not, I struggle to comment on the music of others as well.  Music is so personal, and of course, there are myriad technical aspects which as a listener, one may or may not feel equipped to discuss.  This often leads to general silence on the forums, for fear of saying things that the "know it all" types will correct and/or dismiss.  There is also the desire to not offend the composer, if what we want to comment on might be received incorrectly.  We all love music, which is why we're here in the first place.  It's my hope that in the future, more people will feel safe to share, and also encourage the composers that already share.

Cheers!

Dave

I love it!  I'm hard pressed to give thoughtful, erudite feedback.  However, I can say that on an emotional level it appealed to me as a finely tuned mixture between spritely playfulness and sweet sentimentality.  It may be my penchant for klezmer-ish music, but I found myself enjoying the final movement the most.  It had an attitude that, to my ears, embodied the freedom from constrains and expectation you so eloquently write about in the video's description.  I also can't help but *love* the title.  Opus Something...just perfect.  I give it 9 out of 8 slices of pizza!

@William said:

However I could hear the somewhat longer release times again on some runs with a tiny amount of blurring between notes (global rather than mono legato?) that if played live would be totally separate. 

For my own learning purposes, I'd like to ask: what setting are you referring to when you mention "global rather than mono legato" and why is that creating the aforementioned blur?

Hi Sam,

So glad you enjoyed it.  I really appreciate your enthusiasm and would love to replace star ratings with pizza ratings :)  

Re. the global/mono legato settings, as far as I understand, the global legato affects the length/overlap of the notes, such that it can help smooth out a legato between two notes, but with too much overlap, will essentially allow both notes to play simultaneously, which obviously isn't possible with single voice instruments.  In my own experiences, there's always a trade off between "authenticity" and achieving a desired sound.  If you put the clarinet on mono, sure, the pitches won't overlap, but you may not achieve as smooth a legato sound as you might want for a particular passage.  It really is a matter of experimentation to find the sweet spot, which at times, I'm guilty of not finding :)

Cheers!

Dave

The "global" is the default setting for a legato articulation in "advanced settings" of VI.  It will create more than one note playing at once depending on how the note is overlapped.  It's not like the simple "mono" legato which always plays only a legato transition between notes and is always one note.  I've suggested that "mono" should be the default setting, since it is more characteristic legato for a single instrument.   

I never use the "global" setting because  you have to play it just right (something I often have trouble with) to get accurate legato, whereas the "mono" is  perfect legato with any overlap of notes.  

Hey!  We were writing at the same moment!  Anyway Dave knows, we are just using paranormal legato right now. 

LOL!  Paranormal legato?  There's inspiration for your next work, William!  Add some overtone singing for that polyphonic voice performance, and you can have solo instruments and voice performing as "ensembles." 

Dave

David and William,

Thank you for the detailed and helpful explanation!  Your answers could not have come at a better time: I'm in the middle of going through my presets and updating various parameters.  I always wondered why the SYN libraries had legato on MONO by default (looks like they listened to your feedback, William), and now I know.  I also wondered why legato lines I played in with over-emphasized slurring sometimes had a strange "smearing" sound.  Now I know!

Awesome!  Thanks so much.

- Sam