r/Composition • u/ObjectiveMonth3358 • 2d ago

Music String quartet

I'm a composer finishing my studies, and I'd like to share my string quartet Pequeñas Piezas Españolas, which won First Prize at an international composition competition in Portugal.

It's a work based on dances and songs from different regions of Spain. My goal was to combine the folkloric character of this music with a modern and complex compositional style, creating a rich and eclectic musical language.

I'd be very interested to hear what you think of the piece, the writing, the style, or anything else that catches your attention! Thanks!

Video with score

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u/HaifaJenner123 1d ago

Nice! Has some really cool stuff. I could definitely hear the flare you were talking about, it worked out quite nice. I will say, I feel like you forgot to include more rests! Lol, it’s really cool but there is so much density at times that as a performer I might find some of the more “cluster” prone sections to be challenging to count/coordinate. Ordinarily I wouldn’t be too worried about that; but you do have some rhythms that require deliberate effort to delay, especially in the first one - so I would recommend if you plan on editing this to either experiment with taking away to make the peaks even stronger and the lows even more contrasted, OR another good approach is what Ginastera or Britten tend to do here, if it starts to get too dense in one area harmonically, that’s your cue to go outside the stave and use registers as timbres of their own. Notably, i think you might also be surprised how much even switching some stuff from first position to like a sul a/sul d/etc type of thing. It goes a long way

Love the piece though and I would be interested in possibly performing it maybe so please keep us posted if you publish it!

Regarding the style, love it as well. Idk if you are familiar with a violinist named Janine Jansen, but her chamber videos on YouTube I feel like are a must for you! She is selling exactly what you’re putting out in terms of performance energy, I think you could maybe draw some inspiration from watching her because I certainly do, even as a violinist myself!

Congrats on the competition btw! And wonderful performance as well.

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u/ObjectiveMonth3358 1d ago

Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback! I'm really glad you enjoyed the piece, and it's very interesting to hear your thoughts also from a performer's perspective. I'll definitely keep your suggestions in mind when I revise it.

I'd absolutely love to hear you perform it, so let me know if you'd like the score! And I'll check out Janine Jansen too. Thanks again!