String Quartet 3, Alexandra Variations

3 July 2021
Brian Bromberg’s Living Room, Singapore

Violin, Ho Yin Shan
Violin, Siauw Wei Han
Viola, Benedict Ng
Cello, Brian Bromberg
Conductor, Brian Lim

24 June 2023

Violin, Juan Andres
Violin, Oliver Page
Viola, Claire Wong
Cello, Brian Patrick Bromberg

Shortly after the completion of my second quartet, I immediately began sketching what would become Alexandra Variations, a string quartet in one movement. I was inspired in large part by the performers with whom I got to work while rehearsing the second quartet and from the people living around the Alexandra and Bukit Merah intersection. While living here, I became close with many of my neighbours and had many interesting interactions every day with people from all walks of life.

The overall feeling of this piece is an uplifting one. Although there are darker moments, light and positivity prevail. The piece opens with a kind of hocket similar to an imbal pattern played by bonang in the Javanese Gamelan. These patterns shift and move over different pitch sequences and are traded between instruments until a more linear melody emerges. 

The second material to appear is a sort of jazzy romp with a clearer melody and accompaniment texture. Chords that appeared in the first section appear again in different registers and are developed while different pentatonic melodies skate over them. When we get to the third portion of the quartet, we return to a more homogenous sound of the ensemble as a whole. There is a lot of unison rhythm playing resulting in hearing the group as a singular unit rather than four separate instruments. While the texture is different from the opening, there should be some obvious similarities heard in the way the instruments blend with one another.

︎Alexandra-Var.pdf

2 Violins
Viola
Cello

14:30

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