I ‘finished’ my new string quartet a couple of weeks ago. It’s interesting though how a friend’s input can make you rethink things. Aside from some small issues, like the choice between a pizz section and using a  sul tasto articulation, he feels that my last movement just isn’t long enough and perhaps he is right.

A couple of my favorite composers had a friendship that influenced the way they each wrote; Vaughen Williams and Holst. They would send each other scores and comment back and forth. Sometimes they took advice and sometimes not, but it was obviously valuable to them.

Sometimes it is hard when you’re working in a vacuum, spending so much time with a piece of music that you get to close to it to really analyze it. I often find that if I’ll leave a piece for a while and come back to it after some time has passed that I would like do something new to it. Having the input of other composers on your work can sometimes help you accomplish the same thing without the, sometimes large, time interval.

Also, another friend, when I said that the piece was going to be titled "Small World Fantasies" asked if it was going to be variations on "Its a Small World." Blech! I probably never would have caught that one on my own and I’m seriously thinking of re-titling the work.

Anyway, whatever it is going to be called, the premiere will be on June 14th. That much I know.

Update: I decided against re-titling and against adding to the third movement. On the latter decision, after multiple listenings and analysis, I just felt the piece was finished even if my friend didn’t; also, I’d rather leave the audience wanting more than the alternative, wishing it was shorter.