String Quartet No. 1 "New York" - allegro moderato

The second movement to my WIP string quartet. You hear the first movement here (though I've made some adjustments since then). I feel pretty satisfied with how this one turned out, I'm getting used to using more variation in tempo (my other stuff in general stays the same tempo for the entirety of each movement), as well as working more on development, transitions, and use of double-stops. My only concern is the transition into the allegro con brio, I've rewritten it several times (and this is by far the best so far) but I still haven't gotten the change in character feeling completely natural.

I like the changes in tempo it gives it a natural feeling. Sounds amazing man.

The way the beginning is really misleading... I heard it in 3, and when I found out it was written in 4, I just felt confused, not proven wrong. That's I think my major gripe in all of this. 
I like the transition to the Allegro con brio! I can imagine a real quartet playing it and it sounds nice. The way you wrote the sign is a bit confusing though. Also the stacatto on a tied cello note.
The B section is pretty okay but sometimes falls into the same pit falls as the first point. I think it mostly holds together well, though. This movement's okay, just be a bit more cautious in how it's written...

12 hours ago, LostSamurai said:

I like the changes in tempo it gives it a natural feeling. Sounds amazing man.

 

Thank you!!

12 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

The way the beginning is really misleading... I heard it in 3, and when I found out it was written in 4, I just felt confused, not proven wrong. That's I think my major gripe in all of this.

Good point.

12 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

I like the transition to the Allegro con brio! I can imagine a real quartet playing it and it sounds nice. The way you wrote the sign is a bit confusing though. Also the stacatto on a tied cello note.

That means a lot, thank you. I wrote it that way because what I really wanted was for the accel. to end and the new tempo to be right when the 2nd violin begins the new pattern on the 4th beat of m.57 and wasn't sure how to mark it as such in a clear way. Though if I go back and change the earlier section to 3/4 time I think it may actually come out on the first beat which would fix that issue. 

12 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

The B section is pretty okay but sometimes falls into the same pit falls as the first point. I think it mostly holds together well, though. This movement's okay, just be a bit more cautious in how it's written...

I'll keep that in mind. I have a bad habit of not really thinking much about the time signature in general. Thanks for your thoughts, your criticism is always on point.

16 hours ago, Monarcheon said:

The way the beginning is really misleading... I heard it in 3, and when I found out it was written in 4, I just felt confused, not proven wrong. That's I think my major gripe in all of this.

I agree with Blaire on this, but I'm not sure if I'd change the metre to be in 3, since the metre does sort itself out along the way. Changing it from being in 3 to being in 4 midway seems somewhat pedantic to me, if not a case of missing the point. Would you like the performers to accentuate the written metre against the implied metre of the figuration (the latter of which I note is punctuated by the first violin's notes)?

Sorry I haven't had more to say, for I've only heard the beginning - but even then it has already piqued my interest; I'll return to it sometime.

52 minutes ago, johnbucket said:

I agree with Blaire on this, but I'm not sure if I'd change the metre to be in 3, since the metre does sort itself out along the way. Changing it from being in 3 to being in 4 midway seems somewhat pedantic to me, if not a case of missing the point. Would you like the performers to accentuate the written metre against the implied metre of the figuration (the latter of which I note is punctuated by the first violin's notes)?

 

That's a good point. I'm not sure to be honest. When I initially started the piece if I remember correctly I did intend it as such (to have it feel like it should be in three, but it isn't, which makes the each time that the first beat lines up with the beginning of the pattern more satisfying and interesting), but now I'm not sure which way I prefer it. I'll have to do some thinking.