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Solitude

Composition for String quartet

by Suganthan BC
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Program Note
The composition is crafted with variety of flavours and ideas which is
my arguably my most ambitious work till date.

Instrumentation: 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello

The main parts are lead by violins while viola and cello making them as
an integral part of the whole, reinforcing each other. The whole piece is
written like a dynamic rollercoaster which travels through various moods such
as energetic, rhythmic and melodic.

It is important to play the long phrases as expressive as possible. The

accents should be sharp as possible.

While composing this, I had to imagine string instruments celebrating

their abilities, playability, power, etc. The intention was to keep it as simple as
possible.

Accept yourself, love yourself and celebrate yourself

- Osho
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Composition note
The main composition is driven by the Tango rhythm,

Tango rhythm base

with the string instruments sharply accented by staccatissimo, pizzicato

articulations. The piece starts with viola pizzicato and has the common time
signature 4/4 throughout with a tempo of 114 BPM majorly.

The piece consists of various sections:

Note: The following names are for explanatory purposes only and not self
proclaiming the musical parts.

Section 1: Fabulous
Starting with viola pizz in C# minor key signature, this section
introduces the instruments to the listeners. Phrase which introduces violin 1
is,

Phrase kickstarter

The melody of this part played by violin 1 is,

Fabulous melody

It slowly drifts into the next section with the viola staccatissimo rhythm
sustained.

Section 2: Dancing to the wind - starting from Bar 17

This section consists of the main melody - played by violin -
counterpointed by other instruments. It is represented as follows,
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Main melody - Melody dancing to the wind

As the slow and mellow melody evolves, the piece modulates into C minor
directly leaving the listener feeling mysterious.

Section 3: Mysterious and sad - starting from Bar 33

The mysterious part gives rise to sad turmoil consisting of a soaring
violin melody countered with viola staccatissimo which is a variation of the
Phrase kickstarter and represented below,

Variation and development on Phrase kickstarter

Section 4: Strong presence - starting from Bar 45

The section strongly influenced by the section 1 - variated theme played
by violin 1 -

Variation on Fabulous melody

Section 5: Evolving - starting from Bar 53

This section consists polyrhythms ornaments, evolving textures of
triplets and doublets modulating to G# minor.

Polyrhythm - triplets over duplets

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Section 6: Dancing to the tune - starting from bar 73
Evolving from the previous section, this section continues to have the
polyrhythmic ornaments over a variation of the main melody,

Variation and development on Melody dancing to the wind

The ending cadence of the piece is,

Ending cadence