Rests: which is better?

[David Ward]

Which of these rests in the RH last bar is better? ie Should the RH rests agree with the extra bass note in the LH, or should they ignore it?

[NeeraWM]

Assuming this is 3/4, I prefer the upper picture (two quarter-rests).

[NorFonts]

For clarity, –I think– I’d note it like this:

CleanShot 2025-05-27 at 17.36.05@2x.png (58.98 KiB) Viewed 1520 times

[David Ward]

I think I will probably keep the first example, which was my original notation.

There is a logic to the solution suggested by NorFonts, but it somehow seems wrong psychologically. Does that make any sense? Or am I being fanciful?

This is a little piece I wrote twenty years ago, a short theme with six variations, each in contrasted character. The pianist for whom it was written, and who gave the first few public performances, made a bit of a muddle of my careful dynamics, tempo relationships and voicing balance. Revisiting the piece again, I was wondering if there could have been been anything in my notation to confuse her. I like to think not…

[MichelRE]

why not simply split that last octave into right hand / left hand.
that way they share the same rhythm, and avoid the rests issue completely.
and there's time to do the short leap for the right hand down to the top G of the octave.
Splitting them also gives the pianist a tiny bit more leeway playing the accented note.

[NorFonts]

There is a logic to the solution suggested by NorFonts, but it somehow seems wrong psychologically. Does that make any sense? Or am I being fanciful?

Here are another two suggestions:

CleanShot 2025-05-28 at 09.23.02@2x.png (167.24 KiB) Viewed 1452 times

[RMK]

I also prefer the first option.

Occam's Razor...