Listening (Gymnopédies Avant-derniéres pensées)

In Gymnopédies I thought that the slow tempo and the simple shift in the left hand from a low register note to a chord is very affective. It almost seems like he leaves a little pause at the end of each chord in the left hand, which gives the feeling of a mysterious behavior. Addition of the right right hand gives the piece a very surreal feeling, almost as if you were lost in the clouds. I liked how the simple movement created such a tension free feeling in the music. In Avant-derniéres pensées is somewhat different from Gymnopédies because of the progression. In the piece the melody seems to travel along various chromatic scales and jumps from one to another. The use of the chromatic scale in this piece is very evident, which causes for the feeling of a change in feeling from low to high. I personally didn't like how his use of the chromatic scale in this piece. I felt that the there was no flow to the song, and that it was difficult to grasp the idea that he going for other than trips up and down the chromatic scale. Moreover, this goes with his theme of simple songs; the chromatic scale is one of the simplest forms of music.