Ng Ze Wei | 5C33

String Quartet No. 1

Dominated by a tone of steely coarseness
and brittle radiance
Open fifths
Amalgam of lively Czech dance
Motoric, muscular rhythms prevalent in then
music
Predominantly unison textures

Movement 2
Allegretto con moto e con maliconia grotesca.
Grotesque melancholy?
Somewhat whimsical if not ironic, a kind of
mock sentimentality features the lower voices
viola and cello along with some wonderfully
colourful sonorities through special effects
including pizzicato, glissando and ponticello.
A catchy melody with simple accompaniment,
which often flows along in stereotyped figures

Movement 2 Section A
Motif 1 (b2-6)
Motif 2 (b7-9)
Motif 2 takes form in b11-4, Tail end developed when
repeated from b15-18 solo phrase extension
Bar 24-44 sord. sul ponticello (mutes on, play on
bridge)
Similar to the initial introduction, except that the melody is
played by the Cellos, and V1-2 are playing triplets varied!
Cellos melody is in a high register, with intervallic
expansions, and instead of going down, it goes up (bar 28).
[4ths] Pentatonic like?
Nice fading out remove parts slowly unstable

Movement 2 Section B
Middle section (bar 45 54) similar ending
to first section (bar 23).
Weird section (bar 55-62) Starts off with a
solo varied form of the initial viola melody
rhythmically wise.
Good use of shared melodic line between
instruments.
Fragmented idea sounds unstable due to the
offbeat chromatic nature.

Movement 2 Section A
Recap (bar 63-end)
Begins in the same way as the start notes in the
V2 and Vla are modified
Original V1 melody played.
Effective fading out effect with stretto form and
the decreased instrumentation from a 4 part to a
1 part line.

Movement 3
Specifically marked alla Slovacca, this
giocoso allegro merges the rhythmic drive of
the first movement with a full battery of sonic
effects for a truly exotic musical experience
with folk dance at its vivacious core.
Arouses rhythmic interest with a playful
Slovak theme and presents the appearance of
folk music

Movement 3 Section A
Main motif bar 3-4 (V1 part when inverted
gives V2 part). Ostinato rhythm?
COOL FEATURE bar 7-9 VC sounds like drums
Motif B bar 11-2 downward sequence.
Bar 19 nice rhythmic metrical displacement
Section A ends on bar 24

Movement 3 Section B
Interesting harmony (bitonality) bars 25-34
The initial appearance was at Motif 2 (bar 11-14), but the
VC pizz is raised by a semitone out of tune sounding

Pizzicato transition bars 35-43 (effectiveness /

purpose?)
Allusion of a resolution from antecedent (dominant)
consequent (tonic) [V I]

Col legno between 2 instruments ability to vary tone

colour of even rhythms!
Varied rhythm in the VC in bars 45 62 prevents
monotony
Good fading out and transition through solo line into
Section A

Movement 3 Section A
Bars 73 end
Note that even accompaniment can contain
features of the main motif i.e. bar 79 82
(contrary motion)

Learn from the masters

I have a tremendous passion for the
fashionable dances and there are times when I
go dancing night after night with dance
hostesses [] purely out of rhythmic
enthusiasm and subconscious sensuality; this
gives my creative work a phenomenal impulse,
because in my consciousness I am incredibly
earthly, even bestial