Fugue in a minor for strings

Revision of one of my old contrapuntal exercises for a small ensemble. The subject was given. The slurs in the score are only meant to indicate phrases.

Still needs some tweaking.

That's a really great four part fugue. The counterpoint here is accurate. I don't find any parallel octaves or fifths here. The sound is amazing and the flow is really fluent here. Really great job!

I love how you utilize the materials. The head and tail of the subject are all used in the episodes. So fluent to stop to analyze or something.

I love how the subject condense in b.60, making it more exciting. I absolutely love the stretto in b.73 between Vioin II and Viola. I really hope that can be use earlier instead of at the end, since it will make the piece even more varied!

The only thing I want to mention is there is too few entries comparing the long episodes, but the episodes themselves are quite amazing so that's not quite a problem! But this sometimes make it lose the interest of the subject, haha!

Just wonder if some inversion can be added, but that's obviously not necessary to do so here.

Overall a great fugue! You must be a real great contrapuntist! Good job! (Is it unqualified for me to compliment you, haha?!)

Henry

I love fugues, and this is very well done. The only criticism I have (and this is more of a personal preference) is that there is little reprieve once we get into the body of the piece. For example, there's one flat tempo, and once all the instruments chime in, they all keep on playing for the majority of the piece (save around the 3:25 minute mark).

2 hours ago, Henry Ng said:

The only thing I want to mention is there is too few entries comparing the long episodes, but the episodes themselves are quite amazing so that's not quite a problem! But this sometimes make it lose the interest of the subject, haha!

Just wonder if some inversion can be added, but that's obviously not necessary to do so here.

Thank you for the reply! It's quite amusing (in a positive sense) that you found the entries of the subject few in number as I deliberately tried to avoid re-introducing them at every modulation - I guess it's due to my training which didn't rely heavily on Bachian procedures . As for adding the inversion it might be quite a good idea - I've just tried it how it sounds and it does seem to work rather well, both strict and free!

2 hours ago, chopin said:

[...] there is little reprieve once we get into the body of the piece. For example, there's one flat tempo, and once all the instruments chime in, they all keep on playing for the majority of the piece (save around the 3:25 minute mark).

 

As this was originally an exercise sketched out in SATB open score with no particular instruments in mind I didn't consider these issues big at that time but I think you're right - I'll bear your comments in mind when trying to make real music.

Great job!  I think you chose your ensemble well for this fugue and I think the choice of string orchestra is always better than the organ fugues or harpsichord/piano fugues as the ensemble has seen more modern usage in more recent fugues (such as the Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste).  I do wonder whether you intended this for a small string orchestra or a string quintet with one instrument per part.  Your patches and score seem to imply individual instruments, but I think it would sound even better if you chose whole string sections per each part.  Also, I really miss a much needed (in my opinion) ritardando before the last chord which would make this piece sound even more finished.  I love how you change to the major mode a few bars before the end, anticipating the final picardy third.  Well done!

10 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I do wonder whether you intended this for a small string orchestra or a string quintet with one instrument per part [...]

I really miss a much needed (in my opinion) ritardando before the last chord which would make this piece sound even more finished.

Done! Thanks for the suggestions!