"Classical" Quartet

Instrumentation

string quartet

Duration

13 minutes

Score

View the score

Program Notes

Earlier in 2024, I had written some rather serious, intense and often atonal pieces. For this piece, I wanted to write something decidedly lighter. So I wrote this short quartet in a neoclassical style, taking elements from quartets by composers like Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, while still retaining elements of my own style.

The first movement starts with a series of chords (D - D7 - D11 - D15) that serves to anchor the harmony that is used throughout the movement. The upper two triads of the D15 chord (G♯ major and C♯ minor) are often used polytonally throughout the movement. The form is a pastiche of the sonata form: iii-I (and variants thereof) are often used in place of V-I; the main theme is far too short and simple for a classical melody; and there is a false recapitulation in the “right” key and a real recapitulation in the “wrong” key.

The second movement is a typical slow movement in ternary form. While the harmony is certainly ambiguous in many places, this is the most authentically classical movement of them all. It even includes some mandatory Stürm und Drang.

The third movement is a five-part rondo where each of the five sections is itself a highly compressed five-part rondo. The music changes meter constantly, in the manner of Stravinsky, and in general it gives the impression that the melody and the accompaniment are not quite reading from the same music. But it all works out in the end with the whole quartet playing a rousing finish!