User:Aurora Illumina/Compositions
This page contains information about the pieces I have written, in addition to links to the YouTube pages of them. (They don't really have any video tracks; they're just there for the music itself.) Unlinked pieces have not been released yet.
Non-categorized Compositions
[edit]This piece is one of the few times I explore the concept of dissonance in music. It is one of the least "conventional" of my pieces.
This piece was clearly written for listening to only. It was not intended to be humanly possible to play on piano. It is an almost non-stop flurry of sixteenth notes that goes on for the first 75% of the piece, only to speed up into sixteenth note triplets for the last section. The piece clocks in at just under a minute long.
Another piece that was written for listening only, this piece does take the form of a waltz in a way. The piece clocks in at 30 seconds long, due to the blazing tempo of 240 BPM.
This piece is a fast toccata-like piece in D minor, inspired by some of Bach's preludes. Note that this piece has little relation to the poem I wrote of the same name.
A two-part piece. The piece is a waltz in G minor. It modulates into B♭ major in the middle, and it ends in B♭ major.
A fast piece almost entirely consisting of sixteenth notes at 160 BPM, inspired by some of Chopin's etudes. This piece features a lot of key changes.
A slow and calm piece. Explores dissonant chords a bit, particularly major sevenths.
Named after the Coriolis Effect, this piece has a calm-before-the-storm nature; it opens slowly, with a few intermittent bursts that represent the wind blowing or a thunderclap. The piece changes into a fast "storm" that doesn't stop until the very end, where it clears up again.
A piece that's a medley of many styles, ranging from Baroque, to the Romantic era, and even to the future. OK, maybe not quite, but there are some sections inspired by some of RadicalOne's pieces. Many key changes are used in this piece as well, mostly to bridge different sections together.
A slow piece that uses lots of diminished seventh chords. There are many key changes, but all the keys have enharmonically equivalent diminished sevenths.
A piece slightly more inspired by 20th century music, as this one includes a section that experiments with irregular chords, such as augmented chords. The piece was also written with the notes forming a negative cosine wave.
A calm moto perpetuo consisting of eighth notes in 12/8 time signature, 6 notes per second. The left hand does a lot of crossovers. There is a dramatic middle section in the parallel minor.
A piece that starts out relatively calm, with a flowing melody consisting mostly of eighth notes, alternating between a varying lower note and a steady higher note. The piece starts to emerge like a ray of sunlight near the end, when the melody doubles in speed.
"Mini-Compositions"
[edit]These pieces were each made in the span of approximately ten minutes.
A piece in the key of D♭ major, this piece features a constant stream of sixteenth notes in the left hand.
A small minuet and trio in A major. The piece explores sustained notes; in every measure, there is a note or chord that is sustained through the whole measure while the melody plays.
This piece is in an F♯ major pentatonic scale; it only uses the black keys of the piano. The piece lasts less than 40 seconds, as it is only 16 measures long.
60-Second Etudes
[edit]A (possibly growing) set of etudes with a duration of one minute each. Sheet music for these etudes are available in the video descriptions of the linked video.
- Scherzo no. 1 (D minor)
The piece mostly consists of offbeat chords in the right hand. The trio in the piece is in C major.
- Scherzo no. 2 (C major)
The piece doesn't take the ternary form like the other scherzi here. In addition, the time signature is 6/8 rather than 3/4. The piece features a lot of chromatic octaves.
- Scherzo no. 3 ("Reality Shift")
A failed attempt to break all convention. The piece changes key virtually every measure. The piece is in ternary form, though it does feature a coda.
- Scherzo no. 4 (D major)
This piece features the resolution of tritones, and the piece also explores the concept of immediately repeating a phrase in a different key. The humorous part of the piece stems from a long tritone chord "resolving" into a staccato major chord.
A piece that takes both the form of a scherzo and a waltz. This piece is one of the first times where a key change to a somewhat distant key is used; it modulates from E♭ major to C major and back.
A theme and variations on a theme consisting of 16 measures in 2/4 time signature. The piece features a coda added by RadicalOne, another composer.
A theme and variations on a theme consisting of eight measures in common time, in A♭ major. The piece also contains an intermission in the relative minor, F minor.
Variants on Existing Pieces
[edit]This is a variant on Pachelbel's Canon, written like a Theme and Variations.
Another variant on the Canon. However, this one also contains content from RadicalOne, who wrote the "Canon V3" that bridges the V2 and the V4.
The Four Seasons
[edit]The Four Seasons is a series of four sonatas, each with four movements.
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Spring (C minor)
[edit]Parts of this sonata were inspired by Archaeopteris, another work by RadicalOne. I consider this sonata to be a turning point in my compositions; I had a bit of trouble writing pieces in minor keys before then.
- I. Showers (4:27)
The movement is in an unusual ABCDC form. The sonata opens on a fast intro reminiscent of some Bach preludes. After 16 measures, it suddenly changes into a series of slow chords on the right hand while the left hand starts playing arpeggios similar to a Chopin etude. It's not until after that where the exposition is heard, in the key of F minor. After some modulation in the development section, the recapitulation comes in, back in C minor, with some added embellishments. The movement concludes with a four-measure phrase reminiscent of the intro.
- II. Signs of Life (4:00)
A slow movement in A♭ major. The movement opens with the left hand playing the background melody, which keeps going throughout the piece, although it rarely repeats a measure. The right hand comes in four measures later. This movement has no extra accidentals written in, other than the key signature.
- III. Resurgence (2:48)
This movement is a simplistic minuet and trio. The main theme is relatively slow-moving and evocative. The trio is in the relative major of E♭ major.
- IV. Everlast (5:17)
This movement is probably my most structurally-complex piece. It is in ABCAB form. The exposition first appears in the tonic major of C major, and modulates up a semitone to D♭ major, and stays in that key through the C section. It returns to the A section, then goes to the relative major of E♭ major for the recapitulation. After the recapitulation, it returns to the home key of the sonata, C minor.
Summer (G major)
[edit]- I. Sunny Days (4:04)
A piece in ABCAB form that opens with some fast notes, representing the Sun's brightness. It eventually leads into the B section, which is a simplistic section similar to the looping pieces, before leading into the C transitioning section back to A. The B section is further embellished in the recapitulation.
- II. Free at Last (4:16)
A piece in C major. Unlike the second movement of the other sonatas, this movement is a fairly fast, leaving Summer with the slow movement at the end rather than in the middle. The piece is in the rather unusual ABCDBE form, with the C and E sections being very irregular with some "2 against 3" rhythms. This is one of my few pieces that doesn't contain any black keys.
- III. Wave Riding (2:13)
An energetic fast waltz with a more lyrical trio section in the middle. The trio is in the same key as the waltz.
- IV. Memories to Keep (2:15)
A four-voice fugue. At a really slow tempo of 48 BPM, the piece has a kind of sad feel, even though it's in a major key.
Autumn (F♯ minor)
[edit]- I. Cold Fronts (5:10)
A dramatic piece that sets the mood for the sonata. The piece is in ABCABC form, though it's a bit different from the typical sonata form; the B section is rather brief compared to the other sections. Also, rather than modulate to a different key for the B section, it modulates to the subdominant of B minor in the middle of the A section.
- II. Repigmentation (4:16)
A theme and variations in the enharmonic dominant major of D♭, 6/8 time signature. The variations are rather short, being only 8 measures each. Like Scenic Routes, there is an intermission. However, this intermission is the length of four variations rather than two.
- III. Whirling Gusts (1:00)
[cue female robotic voice]
This third movement takes the form of an etude on chromatic scales in ABA form, though the B section only contrasts by going to the relative major, while it is similar in texture to the A section. The piece is only forty measures long including repeats. Failure to play this piece in sixty seconds may result in elimination.
[end female robotic voice]
- IV. The Dark Approaching (4:36)
A fast piece, ABABAB form, that was written in the style of a rock piece. The piece was written to get harder as it goes along.
Winter (B♭ major)
[edit]- I: Snowfall (5:17)
A movement written in sonata form. The piece features a gentle melody evocative of a light snowfall. The exposition is written in the subdominant of E♭ major rather than the dominant of F major as usual.
- II: Cold Winter Night (5:29)
The slow movement of the sonata is in the key of D minor. The piece opens on a gentle lullaby-like theme in F major, but it soon vanishes as the wind starts to pick up. The piece eventually builds up into a blizzard. The piece alternates between moments of calm and blizzards. At the end, the lullaby-like introduction returns in the relative minor to conclude the piece.
- III: Icicles (2:13)
This piece is a typical Scherzo and Trio, with the trio being in the same key as the scherzo. The piece doesn't end on a full ending, but it continues straight into the fourth movement.
- IV: Ice on the Window (5:00; video contained with the third movement)
This movement is in the unusual time signature of 9/8. The piece is in an unconventional form of ABCA, with a few key changes within the piece.
Collaborations with others
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These pieces are loosely inspired by the Lemmings soundtrack MIDIs. They are somewhat simplistic in nature. I wrote most of the melody; RadicalOne did the arrangement and made small changes to the melody and chords where necessary.
- Looping Piece No. 1 (B major -> C major)
- Looping Piece No. 2 (D major)
- Looping Piece No. 3 (E major)
- Looping Piece No. 4 (F major -> G♭ major)
- Looping Piece No. 5 (A♭ major) [Originally named 4, but order swapped]
- Looping Piece No. 6 (B♭ major)
- Looping Piece No. 7 (C major -> D♭ major)
- Looping Piece No. 8 (E♭ major)
- Looping Piece No. 9 (F major) (midi file included to show what one of these sounds like before being rearranged)
- Looping Piece No. 10 (G major)
- Looping Piece No. 11 (A major)
- Looping Piece No. 12 (B major)
This is series 1-12; I say 100% complete, because 12 is an appropriate number for a series. For parts 1-6 and 7-12, note that if you take the key that the piece ends on, it increases by a whole tone each time, and this allows the series to end on the same key it started on. However, nothing is stopping me from doing 13-24... (or 25-36 for that matter, when I get there.)