Quartet No. 1 (please critique!)

Hey,

This s my first posted piece on the site. It's a string quartet that I wrote a couple of months ago. It's picked up a couple of awards and I'd like to see what you guys think. It is a contemporary piece, meaning it is "atonal". Please check it out. I have a pdf of the music and then an mp3 of the recording.

Finale 2008 - [quartet 1.pdf

oops... forgot to put the mp3 with it, but young composers won't accept

mp3's so I'll put the you tube url up

Looking forward to hearing it...

Ben -

Congrats on winning awards for this piece. I do see a good ability to use motivic and thematic material with care looking at the score. You are developing a nice harmonic language of your own though I still think you have a much longer journey of exploration in that area.

What surprised me is how conservative you were with utilizing the resources of the strings. Granted I think it can get downright gimmicky (the obligatory sul point on harmonics, while cello glisses, endless con sordino and senze sordino) So I appreciate the simplicity BUT I'd think some harmonics would have been nice - esp where you recall the whole notes. Also, tempo changes should only be marked above the top staff of the system -- not every staff. You have very little articulation or phrasing marked - to the point I'd think it is to your detriment - everything would be played non-legato. So I wonder if you wanted such a sound throughout?

Also, the score is crowded - parts ocassionally clash into each other and the viola part could be written in treble clef.

Just curious, what award(s) did this win?

There is no need for me to repeat the numerous good points that Chris has made so I will add a few more. I am not as well spoken as Chris but hopefully I can make some things clear.

A lot of your writing is rigid rhythmically and there are many instances where you follow the barlines absolutely, but I think you could achieve far more interesting textures here by trying to write in a way that is more free and feels less restrained by rhythmic systems.

There are several moments where you have notes that are sustained for long periods of time. Some string players might be able to squeeze the tone out of their instrument for the full value but I bet many would have to use more than one full bow stroke, So i would suggest coming up with a creative solution out of this possible technical problem by writing in points where the player can very subtly change bow stroke, this could be done in a rhythmically interesting way that engages the listener further.

On pages 6 and 7 you could group those page width bars into a system and in general the score needs some clean up work.

Get that mp3 up as I would like to hear it!

Overall the thing I would like you to focus on more is to not let the bar lines get in the way too much of your creativity.

.... and the viola part could be written in treble clef.

I disagree. The alto clef is the normal clef for viola - the part sits quite happily everywhere in the usual range of that clef for a violist.

I think i can speak for most of us hear when i say that we do accept an mp3 as long as it's accompagnied with a score. But a youtube url is great to. I would like to hear it, since i'm specially interested in quartets at the moment.

Thanks so much for all your input! In regards to phrasing, this is the unedited version of my score; I edited it in Finale 2009 on a different machine so therefore I can only show you the non edited version. And the collisions are also a part of the non edited version. I surely wouldn't have won any awards if I wouldn't have included interesting phrase markings. However you will be able to hear the phrasing and dynmics once you check out the youtube video of the mp3!

And in regards to extended techniques I tried to stay away from them for two reasons. 1. I don't play any string instrument and we don't have an orchestra at my school.

2. I wanted to use this piece to segue into more modern music... you'll see with more posts my more "contemporary" music.

Thanks and here's the url:

(it's being processed)

This piece is contemporary, but not atonal. lol. Atonality is the absence of key, and this piece definitely has a key most of the way through (it even cadences in B flat.) :x

ANYWAY.

It's very meditative, almost minimalistic in the way it's written. I like the build-up and release of tnesion throughout the piece, and I also thought the held notes seemed to unite the music and give it a sense of coherency.

The faster, less obviously tonal sections were my favorite parts, and I wish you could have expanded on them more. Rather than giving a sense of contrast, they only interrupt the flow of the piece when left alone like that, imo. Very nice overall, though.

Thanks for that. the reason for the tonal and atonal sections are as you mentioned for contrast. If you've ever listened to George Rochberg he does this, yet on a much more extreme level!

ooo... and it took 2nd at the Illinois State Composition Competition

Nigel - thanks for the clarification and pardon my error. I meant that there were just a few measures ( say mm 21 - 31) in the score where I thought the treble clef would be more suitable. But it is a minor quibble which upon further reflection and investigation is more a matter of notational preference. Sorry to be overly nitpicky.

Ben - well, now I understand the conservative approach but this even goes in exploring the strings ranges too. I understand your point much better after hearing the performance BUT I think this seems to be a movement of a multimovement work.

Have you written more quartets or movements along with this?

Well, welcome to YC and look forward to hearing more.

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Very spacious, in a good way (only hearing the youtube). I'm going bed.

I really enjoyed this.

Great work. Wasn't really my taste, and everyone else has kind of touched on the stuff I was thinking.