Rain Has Fallen (Quartal/Quintal)

This is a short piece I did for a composition class in which we were tasked with setting a James Joyce poem to a melody, creating variations on that melody, and then creating a harmonic setting for one of the melodies using either quartal/quintal, extended tertian, or secondal chords. This is an A phrygian variation of the original melody (which was in A natural minor) in a quartal/quintal harmonic setting. Let me know what you think! Specifically, does the overall harmonic tone of the piece sound distinctively quartal/quintal to you, or do you think it's too ambiguous? 

Also sorry for the bad audio quality!

The trick with quartal and quintal harmony is convincing the listener that it is not a triad. Your ostinato is effective compositionally for me, but it strongly implies "triad with a missing third" since it's outlining one 4th or 5th at a time. For example, the interval C-G on its own will not sound quintal because it could easily be C-E-G. You need a third note in there that is obviously not triadic. F-C-G or C-G-D will really solidify the quintal sound.

Also, when writing quartal or quintal harmony, it's fairly important to manage your vertical intervals if you're getting into more complex chords. Take the 5-note quintal chord F-C-G-D-A. If I condense it down to its most compact form, F-G-A-C-D, I get a distinctly triadic form.

If you want to wrap your ear around some quartal harmony try searching for "Sacred Harp" on youtube.  Most of the songs were originally written as quartal harmony.  Alto parts were added in the 20th century editions, but many chords were still left as 4ths or 5ths, with the new alto part only occasionally completing a triad.  It's fun stuff.  Be warned, the singing conventions are not classical.  It obeys it's own set of rules distinct from the classical ones.