Machaut on the edge

Experimental quartet I wrote a while ago based on a work written by Gion De Machaut.

It has strange rhythmic variations and is supposed to convey the conflicting emotions of being on the edge.

machaut_1_43_32.mid

With works such as these, where at least hints of incoherance carry an integral part of their meaning, it can be difficult to judge how successful the composer has been in conveying what he/she intended to.

I have to say one thing I didn't like is the way you often had two or more parts in playing in entirely different keys. As in, totally unrelated lines of music side by side. Of course, this puts the listener "on edge", but it doesn't absorb them.

There are various ways to convey a sense of fear or tension through music, and you do touch on these in your piece. I'll point out some ideas I liked. Firstly, bars 4-8 or thereabouts. You start off with the high repeated note on the viola, kind of like a jumpy pedal. Then the violin plays a melody. They interchange in a call and response manner, the ideas slowly developing. And I think you crescendo the music during that period too, which adds to the effect (or maybe I imagined it). This continues until the more homophonic section beginning at bar 20.

Then at bar 35, the inevitable climax occurs. But a passage follows that isn't so much dissonant as meaningless, in my eyes (ears) at least. I mean, try listening to just the violins from bar 39. It's better than listening to the whole thing, because it works better. Why? Because your violins are playing unrelated parts. The cello is playing an unrelated dissonant chord. Together, I find this combination ineffective.

I realise some of what I have said may be deemed somewhat subjective, but I feel it has validity nonetheless. I believe this work has potential. Consolodating the ideas within and giving it some real foundations would benefit it enormously.

It's Guillaume - Guillaume de Machaut. I studied his work this past semester at Oberlin. I'm not hearing any of his influence in this piece - can you explain it?

Nice use of rhythmic variation.