Elegy for Strings

This is a work written a few years ago as a submission to a call for scores.

I did some reworking on it since then and would appreciate any comments, criticisms, or suggestions you may have.

Thanks in advance.

This is the first piece I heard from you. You have a sense of music beauty and nice floating melodic lines. What I would like to hear is a piece which ventures outside pure diatonicism and establishes wider harmonic progression and more rhythmic development. Otherwise well balanced in form and duration is acceptable for what the music offers.

Thank you for taking the time to listen and comment.  It truly means a lot to me.

I agree that I need to expand my harmonic/melodic language.  I've been struggling with that very thing for some time now, but I'm not sure how to get there.  If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!

It's a lovely piece, a little on the short side I think. I agree with Sojar about you experimenting with more adventurous harmonies...just experiment with it, I don't think there is a fool-proof method.

Practical performance question: are the soloists suppose to be section leaders, or seated separately? I think the soloists should play the tutti parts when not playing the solo stuff (it seems more practical that way, especially for the viola and cello). 

Thanks Danish.  I appreciate the feedback.  My problem is, every experiment always seems to lead back to V-I.  It's a process that I keep working at.

The piece was written for a string group that wanted to perform with a guest trio, so my thought at the time was to be able to feature them as such.  There's no reason they couldn't come from the ensemble as soloists within as you suggested.  I just need to redo the score and parts to allow this option.

Thanks again for the input.

This has a nice  minor key feel to it, and you're right. A part of it is that strong V-1 pull. But maybe you should reduce the number of these cadences a bit, so that when they do happen they will have a greater impact. The listener will appreciate them more. A few tricks I do when experimenting - and that's what Danish and Sojar have suggested - is transpose. Take it out of the key. Do it in chunks or phrases. Like if you have vi-ii-V progression, you could transpose on the vi, the ii or the V. Now the listener is off. He doesn't know what you're doing. But if your melody is good, he's interested, he's invested. The feeling is still elegiac, and he's confident that you're confident that the tonic will arrive after a spell. And if you do that much, and can repeat it, Man, there isn't anything you can't do. I think perhaps you didn't trust yourself enough to go out of the key?

It is absolutely gorgeous. Just after one listen I don't have much else to say than that. Gorgeous melody and harmony. Very full sound. My only simple, initial criticism is your ending seemed very abrupt. It did not seem appropriate. Some very lovely builds and swells, but that final line and the staccato just didn't jive in the melodic sense of things to my ear.

Ken, Thank you for taking the time to comment, and even more so for the advice.  I will definitely try the transposition idea.  I'm going to revisit this piece and see if I can put these ideas into practice.  Thanks again.

Ravel,  thank you for the kind words.  My thinking on the ending was to give the trio a final "curtain call" so to speak.  On my next rework of it, I will see if I can give it a more natural feeling of completion.  Thanks.

Hi, nothing to add, of course. Only that I like very much. True that with this good material you can do great developments including transposition or modulation.

Just as Ravel said, that ending isn't working for me. Besides the lush and pretty mood you evoke, things get lost in multiple swells and sudden soli. This trick has been played out for me, so isn't rewarding for a fulfilling finish.

As for tips to spice up harmony, try one of the following

• polytonality (the V-I pitfall isn't a problem anymore, because the I isn't the I another layer)
• modal music (Messiaen, if you dare you could pick a mode that does not contain perfect 5ths. Truth to be told, I like to cheat here, and pick ones that I can emulate traditional harmony, or something that psychologically works the same for me)
• twelvetone music