Composing for a friend

My best friend's birthday was not long ago, and since he doesn't need more crap, I decided to do that artistic thing and make him something. Since I'm only good at making two things, music and sketches of buildings (this statement is very much debatable ) I settled on writing him a little piece of music.

Now thats all personal and crap, but when I actually settled down to writing the piece, I was faced with a problem. I like Louis Andriessen. Bang on a Can, Steve Reich and co. this comes across in a lot of my stuff... and i know, easy going peter will not enjoy tense, dissonant music. So ... I'm pushing myself to make something of a compromise. It has to be smooth enough and consonant enough that it doesn't provoke any intense feelings (and pianistic pyrotechnics are strictly forbidden!) , yet its gotta be interesting enough and progressive enough to be called contemporary. This aint easy, so its my work in progress.

Midi is a cruel mistress. My music sounds calm and smooth on my keyboard and harsh, ugly and uninteresting on the computer. It hurts a little, inside.