String Quartet

I finished the first draft of my string quartet tonight.  It excites me because I haven't been in school for a while and I didn't know if I'd get back in the swing of composing under deadlines and time pressure.  I'm happy to say that this is almost the earliest time in a semester I've finished the first draft for a piece, so it looks like I'm on track.

Now about the piece.  I got this idea of expansion/contraction when I was binge and purging ideas at the beginning of my process.  I really like the idea of an idea growing and then collapsing.  So I drew a diamond (or a rhombus as my roommate said [I had forgotten what a rhombus was!]) and divided it up into vertical columns of 5x5 creating 25 smaller sections.  Each column of the diamond is separated out into larger sections by column.  So, 1 is the first section, 2 and 3 for the second sections, 4 5 6 for third, and so on.  This forms a macro form of 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1, or an arch or palindrome  (see fig.1).  At first I didn't like the idea of an exact palindrome (that is write the first half and reverse the second note-for-note and rhythm-for-rhythm).

fig. 1

This form poses problems from a compositional standpoint.  The most apparent and difficult one for me was that the way we listen to music is relational.  We hear aural relationships over time, but throughout western culture we're used to certain events happening in certain orders.  We like for a piece to build to a climax and then come down (I like it too).  Things have to be paced though.  We usually like the climax to be at or near the end.  According to this form the climax would have to be in block-13, the direct middle because anything before or after is to be repeated even if it's an abstract repetition (at this point I didn't know if the second half would be a literal palindrome or just essence).  Either way, 13 is the middle and thus the only unique micro-block not to be repeated.

So my initial thought was to have the beginning (blocks 1-3) be quiet and only contain one or two notes.  A single note to start, fig.2, (D because it was the central note when when stacking the open strings of all the quartet, C G D A (vla, cel) and G D A E (vln) so C G D A E, with D in the middle) that will eventually glissando into two, D and E, fig.3.  Eventually C# above enters and we have a nice little three note chord that contains the intervals that I love, M2, M7.

fig.2

fig.3

This is all nice and well and ended up taking much more time than I thought, this is a good thing though.  It lets the beginning breathe and have space.  This is what it needed and it is what I gave it.  So after four phrases of slow building intensity we get to column 4 (blocks 7-10).  This is where I had no clue what to do.  This is an intermediate section before the big crazy column 5 but more active than the opening 4 phrases (first three minutes).  It needed to be active but not to intense.  I for some reason wanted a "doppler" type effect.  So I thought it might be time to have them align in a tempo (so far it's been free of that) and play with some dynamics.  In fig.4, the details of the transition are still to be worked out (going from ametrical to "metered" where is eighth note=120) but the dynamics shifting will shape the sound to be moving yet static. 

fig.4

The measure that says 1:40 above it is where I start a number process between all the players.  They are repeating a measure 4 times and then moving on, but each measure has a different amount of notes.  It is based on a number sequence permutated.  In the cello look at the numbers below the staff, 8 7 6 5, and in the violin I, 5 6 7 8.  The inner parts are scrambled (vln II 6 5 8 7 and vla 7 8 5 6).  The number sequence is then reversed back to the start, ex. vln I, 5 6 7 8 8 7 6 5.  I think this process worked out very nicely.

The next section is column 5 where there is the most action and intensity.  If you know anything about my compositional style, you'll know this is a perpetual problem with me.  I have a hard time composing "virtuostic" or bombastic sounds.  In this draft I kept everthing spatial and abolished bar lines.  I'll probably notate this section accurately and I think there will be a lot of specific rhytmic interplay between parts.  Fig.5 is the beginning of this section that I think can stay proportional, but the rhythms get increasingly more accurate later on.

fig.5

The main bulk of the fragments in this next section are built off this 8-note sequence (seen in vln I, D# D, A, G#, A#, C#, G, F) or the opening tri-chord (D, E, C#).  This section breaks up into smaller 2-3-4-5 note chunks of notes intermixed with plucks and strums of muted strings.  It should sound chunky and strident.  This intensity gives way though to block-13 which is the mid-point and the only non-repeated block.  I wanted the climax to be calm, understated, and a contrast the the material being worked out in sections 4 and 5.

fig.6

In fig. 7, notice that the fragments now will have holds of notes after them, to make a seam or constant notes or chords.  The notes sustained form C# D# G G#, which is the tetrachord that most of the pitch material is based on.

fig.7

It's getting late here, so I'll have to post the rest of the piece-in-progress tomorrow or at a later time.  I know this is a cliff-hanger for all of you!  I like doing this, it helps me to flesh out what I'm doing in words and it's a public forum so I can get some feedback maybe.