Constant Goddard: String quartet No. 3 - Hugo Wolf Quartett

My third string quartet played by the Hugo Wolf Quartett at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Thanks!  It's really beautiful. I love it.

Don't have much I can really add on this one...I like it. It has an interesting sound, it develops well and feels like it's just the right length for what it's trying to accomplish. Well done.

How can one seriously critique a composition when it has actually been performed?! Performance is what raises a piece into life. And it is what all of us, relatively obscure composers, hope to achieve - the greatest feedback that there is! I think it is quite an achievement. Congratulations. I took the time to listen to it all-through, even though I found it rather long-winded at times. There were some string effects the notation of which I hadn't met before, in particular the ones where the note heads are points instead of circles and arcs instead of circles. It would be useful if you mentioned the terms used to describe them. It is great that you have provided a rolling score to enable us to follow the score bar by bar.

This is a wonderful piece of art! I'd love to know the story behind the music, if there is one. You evoke powerful emotions with your music. Each individual voice truly is a voice, crying out for help or longing for companionship or trying to tell its story. You have a magical way with harmony. It is dissonant, but doesn't feel that way. The music is modern but never irritating or high on its own fumes. It is honest and subtle.

I don't know what inspired the music, but here is the image it conjures in my mind: It reminds me of an old man who once fought in a war, who had a hard life. He desperately wants to tell his story to anyone who will listen, but the story is fading from his mind. He is ponderous at times, forgetful; other times angry, pointed. He is deep, cold, and guarded, like a mountain-top lake. Wisdom has built up in his mind from years of hard experience, but nobody comes seeking his guidance. He is alone, except for his thoughts.  He sits in an old library surrounded by his dusty memories and kinick-knacks, a ratty blanket draped across his skinny legs, wrestling alone with his difficult past. One moment a memory as violent as the sun flashes across his mind, only to be replaced the next instant by a glimpse of his newborn daughter, a memory he cherishes for as long as he can hold onto it in his mind. The memory of holding that chubby, pink child in his arms so many years ago overwhelms him. That was a time when hope for the future was a real thing, tangible, like a bit of fresh apple. So many years pile up, laying down layers of sediment that weigh down the mind. The sediment buries a young child enjoying bath time, a wife on her wedding night, the terrifying first day at a new job, those nights spent outdoors waiting for the enemy to stop firing, waiting to die. He stares at his hands distractedly, and lets these faded recollections drift out of his mind. "Buried," he mumbles to nobody in particular. He retreats into himself, wrapping his bony little body in a blanket of memory.

Thank you all for your kind comments!

@Seni-G

Your imagenative, very eloquently presented interpretation made my day. Thank you.

This is the first part of the program note I wrote for the concert. This is not the entire story behind the composition. It only describes the initial inspiration.  

"In the first days of February 2015 the exhibition “Das Archiv der Träume” (The Archive of Dreams) of the Albertina Gallery in Vienna was an important source of inspiration. The first 30 seconds of my third String quartet were composed in the Art Gallary. I was especially moved by the unorthodox, unacademic positions of the nudes by Edgar Degas. They reminded me that in our pluralistic and multifaceted world, I am free to follow my vision of composing."

(I have attached one of the paintings I remember`)

Wow! Not much to say or critique here. 

The 2nd Viennese School influence can be heard, but your writing and the subtle colors you use sound very original. 

I'm also impressed by the playing of the Hugo Wolf Quartet! This is definitely not an easy piece to play, yet their intonation with those double stops is flawless, and how they bring out those complex rhythms is just stunning. Kudos to everyone!

Loving this man. It sounds very unique, eerie, but heroic. A good combination coated with a good sound quality. Post more brother, I would love to hear more of your music.