String Quartet in d minor. 3 Allegretto - Recitativo; 4. Allegro Agitato

Hello! only 6 month later, I have finished my Quartet. Well, at least a draft of it 🙂 I'm hoping to get some as usual excellent feedback even though I've been bad and away from listening and commenting and interacting with this great community.

Anyways, great to be back, feels good to have finished the quartet, and hello everyone! -Giacomo

Hi @Giacomo925,

Congrats on finishing the Quartet!

I quite like the swinging quality of the third movement. For the structure I think maybe it gets too early to B minor without first establishing the tonic D major first, and you have sustained the key from b.9 to 32. Maybe you are trying the sonata from there? I think I may extend the first section to 16 bars first to establish the tonic key first.

For the transition to the next movement is good, but beware of the trill in b.65, since I think you have forgotten to add a natural sign to the note F!

I like the passion in the fourth movement, and the general flow is good. I think it has quite a number of parallel octaves and fifths that may reduce the richness of the chord. Sometimes there is no rest before the pizz. and maybe you can have at least some rest before it! I may just use Doppio Movimento in b.214, since using a tempo based on a minim in a 3/4 time would be strange. Or maybe change that to dotted minim =72 would be better. Beware of the redundant accidentals and arch signs too!

Thx for sharing!

Henry

2 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hi @Giacomo925,

Congrats on finishing the Quartet!

Thank you so much, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu

2 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I quite like the swinging quality of the third movement. For the structure I think maybe it gets too early to B minor without first establishing the tonic D major first, and you have sustained the key from b.9 to 32. Maybe you are trying the sonata from there? I think I may extend the first section to 16 bars first to establish the tonic key first.

No, I was not trying that. You are totally right that is not very balanced. I'm going to try and expand the D major first section a little.

2 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

For the transition to the next movement is good, but beware of the trill in b.65, since I think you have forgotten to add a natural sign to the note F!

Yes, you are totally right! Previously I had the change of accidentals earlier on, and then I forgot to add the natural sign.

2 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I like the passion in the fourth movement, and the general flow is good. I think it has quite a number of parallel octaves and fifths that may reduce the richness of the chord.

Ah! I tried to be careful, but clearly not enough. Can you point to a specific passage?

2 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Sometimes there is no rest before the pizz. and maybe you can have at least some rest before it! I may just use Doppio Movimento in b.214, since using a tempo based on a minim in a 3/4 time would be strange. Or maybe change that to dotted minim =72 would be better. Beware of the redundant accidentals and arch signs too!

These are all very seonsible suggestions, thank you very much!

2 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Thx for sharing!

Henry

 

Thank you!!

Giacomo

On 11/11/2023 at 11:37 PM, Giacomo925 said:

Ah! I tried to be careful, but clearly not enough. Can you point to a specific passage?

For example: b.69 and similar passages the 2nd violin and viola has one semiquaver of parallel octaves (A-G) but that's minor.

b.78 parallel 8ves from E to F btw. 1st violin and cello, 79 and 80 parallel octaves from E to D btw. 1st and 2nd violins, but both are within semiquavers' time.

B.86-87, 87-88 D-G parallel octaves btw. 1st violin and cello, b.88 G-F parallel octaves btw. 2nd violin and cello.

B.121 beat two there are parallel octaves btw. 1st violin and cello.

I usually find it more permissible to have parallel octaves between the inner parts or one inner plus outer parts, but not two outer parts when the other parts are not in unison. And it will be perfectly fine if it's for octave reinforcement, like what you do in b.231, but not having parallel octaves in only some notes while other notes are not.

Thx for your reply!

Henry

Wow, thank YOU and yikes me 🙂

On 11/13/2023 at 4:53 PM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

For example: b.69 and similar passages the 2nd violin and viola has one semiquaver of parallel octaves (A-G) but that's minor.

b.78 parallel 8ves from E to F btw. 1st violin and cello, 79 and 80 parallel octaves from E to D btw. 1st and 2nd violins, but both are within semiquavers' time.

B.86-87, 87-88 D-G parallel octaves btw. 1st violin and cello, b.88 G-F parallel octaves btw. 2nd violin and cello.

B.121 beat two there are parallel octaves btw. 1st violin and cello.

I usually find it more permissible to have parallel octaves between the inner parts or one inner plus outer parts, but not two outer parts when the other parts are not in unison. And it will be perfectly fine if it's for octave reinforcement, like what you do in b.231, but not having parallel octaves in only some notes while other notes are not.

Thx for your reply!

Henry

 

 

I love the violin parts.

Soooo...

I have added one more bit in D major at the beginning to better establish the tonality before modulating in B minor, corrected the F sharp thrill in the transition from 3rd to 4th movement, and tried to get rid of the parallel horrors in the fourth movement. All feedback warmly warmly welcome no matter how harsh!

Thank you so much @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, your generosity with help and comments is always amazing to me!

Hi,

I enjoyed your quartet.  Although, I cannot provide the wonderful technical advice you have received from the moderators; I did experience the work as comprehensive with some light thematic material that does engage you.

Congrats ...

Mark

thank you very much @MJFOBOE, that means a lot!

Just in case someone has time to kill and wants to listen to the whole thing...

quartetto 1 - Full Score.pdfquartetto2 - Full Score.pdfquartetto3 e 4 - Full Score.pdf