A Moment of Judgement

[Nightscape]

Alright.... I've really nervous about doing this.  I've just finished a composition and it would mean a lot to me if you all would take a listen and tell me what you think.

I have to turn it in for an assignment for my composition teacher later this week, so any advice would be great.  Also, please excuse the horrid MIDI sound quality but no live performance exists (yet) but it gets the general idea across.

https://personal.utulsa.edu/~jeremy-ricketson/String Quartet (2005).mp3

Oh, and it's in three movements (they start around 0:00, 5:20, and 12:00 respectably).

[greyrune]

I like it.  It's a shame about the midi, it's really not the same.  Put up a live recording if you guys tape your performances, it'd be really nice to hear that properly.  I really liked the third moevement.  I would say you should maybe have done a bit more of this type of thing.  I really like it, but if you're anything like me what you want is critisism so i have to say that some of it while it all works well together is a bit generic.  I can appreciate how hard it is to write a good four part counterpoint and you did but at times, especially in the first movement, it lacked the extra something to make it really great.  Also i would have said it could maybe benefit from a theme of some kind.  I knwo that may well not be what you're looking for but something that really grips the listener and they can recognise when it returns in the peice is always handy.  Anyway i really liked it.  Good luck on your performance.  By the way where are you studying?

[Nightscape]

Thanks.  Yes, it is a shame about the midi, but hopefully I'll have a live performance soon.

As far as the composition goes, I wrote them in chronological order, so I'm not surprised that you liked the third movement best because I think it is the strongest of the three.  But I'm certain there are themes in the piece - for example, the melody that the violin has at the beginning of the first movement (a few measures into it) permeates the whole movement.  And the second movement is especially thematic right from the start.  In fact, near the end of the third movement, the theme from the second movement returns to provide a connection from the listener.

But you're right that there is no one unifying theme that is in all three movements, but there aren't many quartets I can think of that do that.  Usually, each movement has it's own themes and occasionally a theme from a previous movement may return.  This is true for most other "traditional" forms (for example, Rachmaninoff's third concerto.  Each movement has different themes, but the ideas from the first movement for example reappear in the other movements.)

As far as the piece being generic, I'm not exactly sure what you mean.  It is a tonal piece for the most part, but I like to think it is a more personal tonal work (in other words, it would be hard to roman numeral analyze most of it).  But keep in mind it is my first larger work so of course I'm sure I drew inspiration from other styles and other tonal languages.

I'm studying at the University of Tulsa, by the way.  But thank you very much for your criticisms... it is nice and educational to hear constructive criticism.

[greyrune]

Anytime, yeah you're right about there being themes and i didn't mean one unifying theme, though i suppose that could actually work.  I meant something a bit simpler - more catchy - though granted in your second movement there was a relatively simple theme.  In the first movement though everything was quite complex and a kind of haydnesque two bar melody might have helped.  Course this is only a matter of taste.  Don't think i don't think your peice was awsome, it was, and loads of chamer music doesn't have a simple little melody, i just like them, lol.  But anyway it was cool put up a live recording soon as you can i'd love to hear it.