Meditation (Thais) By Massenet

This is a great piece to look at with focus on tension and release, because the piece uses a lot of it and it is always very clearly shown, usually with dynamics and also with rhythm and pitch. The first "climax" is in bar 15, where the melody reaches the highest note so far and has a huge crescendo leading up to it, so that it is played f. It is also a rhythmic cadence, because there is a dramatic change in note lengths just before it (semiquavers to crotchets and then finally a minim). This seems to slow down the melody, causing even greater tension. The semiquaver notes are disjunct also, meaning that the melodic tension is heightened. Finally, the note is on the first beat of the bar- the strongest, which adds to the climax.

There are also many places in the piece where smaller climaxes are reached, for example in bar 23, where the dynamic is piu f, however although this is "more than forte" (therefore bigger than the big climax before), the context means that it does not seem so big. This illustrates an important point, that context is very important in defining climaxes/ tension.

There are also small climaxes each time the main melody returns, the B, C# and D is a climactic phrase (with the D being debatably the most tense of the three). Just before it there are triplet notes that create greater tension because they are disjunct.

The piece is written for solo violin and orchestra, which means that on the more tense notes the other strings come in and create extra depth to the sound and thickness to the texture, which is much more tense and grand.

Waltz no.19 in A minor- Chopin

The first page of the piece

• The piece's contour: 
• First section: Undulating
• Second section: Undulating, then an Ascension
• Range: very broad, from E to the E 3 octaves above it in the melody, and the accompaniment goes down to a low A.
• Tessitura: It is neither easier nor more difficult to play really high or low on a piano (other than the physical effort of having to move that far), therefore the performer is not "exploited" much. 
• The scalic pattern in the second section is the loudest part of the piece (forte). This is because it is the main buildup of tension, the "summit" of the piece.
• Slurs in the piece usually mark out phrases, for example, the crotchet-quavers-crotchet rhythm from bar 1 that keeps returning is slurred, to indicate that it is a small phrase. The bigger phrase goes up to bar 8.
• The piece is very typical for a waltz, because of the repeated 3-crotchet rhythm, comprised of a single note and then two chords in the accompanying part.