Perhaps a chorale in C-sharp minor (for string quartet)

This is a resuming of the topic in the Piano and Solo Keyboard forum shown below. An arrangement of this formerly for keyboard chorale (or perhaps it's not), for string quartet and transposed to D minor. Hope you enjoy it.

Hey there, thanks for posting! 

First off, thanks for making it in d-minor instead of c#-minor. I can guarantee you that string players much prefer it this way. Personally, I found some of the harmonic shifts (like in measures 11-12) to be a bit off-putting. That is a subjective opinion, though. What I can say with a bit more certainty is that something you can strive for is to make sure that each player's part is interesting for them to play. As a cellist myself, I can tell you that few things are more annoying or bothersome to play than a part that doesn't seem to go anywhere or do anything. Without a real sense of direction and fulfillment, I think you run the risk of having a piece that is unpleasant to play. That's not to say that some pieces can't be hard for the players, but the point I'm making is that you want to make sure you're considering what it will be like for the musicians to play through this piece and whether or not it would be a good experience for them.

I think you're doing a fine job here, and perhaps someone with more knowledge than I have of discussing harmony will be able to leave a review in regards to more specific suggestions or comments. In the meantime, keep up the good work!

Lots of counterpoint and a picardy third to boot!

Anyways, I like the material. I think you could really work with this and expand it. 

For starters, I'd take away the chorale barrier -or look at some of the chorales of Bach to get an idea on how it's done.

In terms of playability, this reminds me a bit of some of the contrapuntally rich chorales from Beethoven's late string quartets. Given your language here, these would be good primers for you. Not only do this display a mastery for writing dense contrapuntal lines for String Quartet -but they will also show you how to work with material richly for strings.

Keep up the good work!

On 12/17/2019 at 5:10 AM, celloman99 said:

Hey there, thanks for posting! 

First off, thanks for making it in d-minor instead of c#-minor. I can guarantee you that string players much prefer it this way. Personally, I found some of the harmonic shifts (like in measures 11-12) to be a bit off-putting. That is a subjective opinion, though. What I can say with a bit more certainty is that something you can strive for is to make sure that each player's part is interesting for them to play. As a cellist myself, I can tell you that few things are more annoying or bothersome to play than a part that doesn't seem to go anywhere or do anything. Without a real sense of direction and fulfillment, I think you run the risk of having a piece that is unpleasant to play. That's not to say that some pieces can't be hard for the players, but the point I'm making is that you want to make sure you're considering what it will be like for the musicians to play through this piece and whether or not it would be a good experience for them.

I think you're doing a fine job here, and perhaps someone with more knowledge than I have of discussing harmony will be able to leave a review in regards to more specific suggestions or comments. In the meantime, keep up the good work!

 

Thank you as well, and my apologies for answering this late. For some reason I was unable to access the server, I just don't know what happened and today I was able to enter again as usual... Anyway, the piece is (needless to say) played by a computer, like most of what I've composed so far, so in real life it might sound like utter trash, I've been always aware of that risk coming true. Regarding the shifts in the middle section, I have never played cello before, neither viola, so I'm ignorant on how awkward a modulation towards A minor, and then E minor, and then the progression could be.

Also, I'm sorry for leaving that abyss of a rest in the cello part troughout the progression in measures 16 to 21. I just didn't know how to continue the bass line along the progression and just left it blank. Please, cellists around, don't kill me yet. I swear I've tried to in many ways since I uploaded the files, but I just couldn't. Sorry. And of course, thanks for your reviewing.

On 12/18/2019 at 2:32 AM, jawoodruff said:

Lots of counterpoint and a picardy third to boot!

Anyways, I like the material. I think you could really work with this and expand it. 

For starters, I'd take away the chorale barrier -or look at some of the chorales of Bach to get an idea on how it's done.

In terms of playability, this reminds me a bit of some of the contrapuntally rich chorales from Beethoven's late string quartets. Given your language here, these would be good primers for you. Not only do this display a mastery for writing dense contrapuntal lines for String Quartet -but they will also show you how to work with material richly for strings.

Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks. Of course I admit the piece could be longer if I wasn't in albis while composing it, but did you also mean orchestrating it for more voices? Perhaps a larger quire (or choir, Idk)? That's far beyond the scope of my composing (I think, I just tend to limit myself by thinking this will lead me nowhere, but anyway...) Regarding Bach's chorales, do they have a common structure or specific chord progressions? What do you mean by "chorale barrier"? It may, for sure, not be a chorale since I have no real idea on how an scholastic choral (if thta even exists) is supposed to be. Or am I misunderstanding? Anyway, thanks a lot for reviewing my work!