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I was recently digging through some old files on Dropbox and came across a partially completed string quartet I'd written some years ago, and which I had completely forgotten about! This is from a crucial point of my development as a composer, and was more or less my first foray into contrapuntal vs. thematic development — so it's particularly interesting (to me, at least) to hear what I sounded like early in my musical journey! The first three movements were penned together over a decade ago, while the finale was left as barely a fragment. I took it upon myself to flesh out the fourth movement more recently, so it's going to sound decidedly more... advanced I guess lol. Still, I tried to keep it similar in style to the other movements. So here I'm presenting, for the first time ever, my first complete string quartet! (Insert wild applause.) I've included the score for these, as well, and would appreciate feedback if you notice anything I might have missed concerning notation or playability. Feel free to provide comment/criticism on the overall feeling of the quartet, of course! (Or just pick one or two of the movements to listen to, and maybe let me know which was your favorite.) As always, I hope you enjoy!

Thanks to all of you for listening! This is the rather rough-sounding audio mock-up of the earlier version (I can't find the original score at the moment, but the changes were mostly a lot of small alterations to the orchestration, dynamics, articulations, etc.): http://hep.bu.edu/~slinden/Music/Symphony_in_C.mp3 That's right - personally, I don't see the point of adhering to artificial restrictions like using natural horns, even when writing in this style. The important thing, for me, is writing parts with the [i]character[/i] of natural horn parts, even if those parts aren't technically playable on a natural horn. I do also take your point about the first movement being a bit too bombastic, but it is meant to be a C major "trumpet and drums" style symphony. I thought that trumpets in C were still standard in the orchestra, while B flat trumpets predominate in wind ensembles, jazz bands, etc.? And yeah, I'm in the habit of writing timpani rolls as trills from reading scores of classical works, though I know that's not the standard anymore, and I should probably re-train myself. Again, thanks to everyone for your feedback! Edit: Do these boards not use BBCode anymore? They're not parsing my [QUOTE="Name"] syntax. Oh well, I guess I can fix it.

Lucky you remembered because...interesting and most pleasant to listen to. Could be a repertoire piece. As you say the last movement is rather different and bears your more recent hallmark. As far as craftsmanship goes, the whole work bears your hallmark, the harmony, melodic flow and phrasing, articulation, development - no critique is possible. At first it felt like salon or summer-lawn-at-a-soiree music until the interesting harmonic twists between bars 31 and 38 (first movement) – the kind of progression one might have expected of Beethoven were he to have written an Opus 135++ quartet. At first I thought that Vn2 should drop to the F# (the 3rd of the chord) at bar 118 but then I spotted that you were preparing a suspension, so fine! Second movement, lyrical. Nice cello line in bar 51. Third movement. At the meno bar 22 and on: I liked the professional touch to the score – only mentioning the triplets once with a 3 then assuming a good quartet player would know what to do with the rest! Also liked the passing of the thematic material first announced in bar 18 between the different voices as the movement progressed. But the fourth movement shows up the time lapse. In the opening Largo bars I had the impression that you’d managed to replicate the earlier style, imitative of the first movement opening. But from about bar 35 things start to change and progress gets more adventurous by bar 71. The flute-like timbre of 136 works very well. (I might have tried non-vib with those bars but thinking again it would produce a somewhat alien effect.) Bar 207 to the end – most interesting and a reaffirmation of modernity. Actually, the playing style seems more advanced and adventurous in this movement. Altogether, super string writing, intermediate difficulty to play and, yes, enjoyable. Professional attention to detail. Thank you for giving a chance to listen. If during these few hot English days I decide to take tea on the lawn, I’ll invite the quartet along! All the best.

Hello! Nice quartet. It's quaint, charming and sounds quite neo-classical in it's approach. I really like the Allegretto scherzando movement. It's got more attitude than the other movements imo. I expected more intensity and drive in the last movement and for it to be more Vivacious (see what I did there?). Also, there is scarcely any darkness in your harmonies or melodies. I don't know if that's something that applies to all your music or if it's just this old piece from a younger you. But there does seem to be more maturity to the gestures in the last movement. Nice job though, overall. I'm glad you managed to finish this old quartet - I've also been alternating between finishing old pieces and composing new music. Maybe some string quartet out there can record it sometime. Thanks for sharing!