For these pieces I used a similar approach to that used above for the “Ostinato: Violin & Piano” pieces. However this time I limited myself to 4 parts at any one time, 2 violins and 2 violas, and instead of sticking rigidly to the same parts in different combinations, I experimented with making slight variations in the parts for each iteration. This meant more recording (!) but allowed me to experiment with a sense of progression in each piece.
(Please forgive the slightly dodgy playing! Synchronising the rhythms for some of these was particularly tricky but hopefully it’s close enough to give some idea of the intended effect.)
1.
In this piece each part mutates by a few notes each time it is repeated. I was intrigued by the idea of subtly “evolving” the piece as it progresses.
2.
This piece plays with the idea of off-setting the parts relative to each other to create different harmonic effects in each repeat.
3.
The idea of off-setting parts against each other is developed here, but this time with more rhythmic variation.
4.
For the “finale” I wanted to use the off-set rhythms and cross-rhythms to create a sense of momentum.
Julia Sherriff 