#46: Composition and grammar
Section 6: Antonin Dvořák – String Quartet Op.96, ii: Lento
We were often struck by the viola player’s ability to govern the shape of the whole via his accompanying material, and to lead a listener through the music in the process. Sometimes he projects a 1+1+2 structure: first, and most obviously, by the separating or joining of notes*;but also, more interestingly, through local variations in tempo. To explain: the repeated half-bar patterns from b.1-10 are often ‘defined’ by a timing convention we saw in #30: the opening of the group (of six semiquavers) is often slightly rushed, the latter part held back.
The more sophisticated evolution of this idea is that in order to show a larger grouping — of a whole bar rather than a half bar — the same pattern of tempo is spread over a larger span. Here, for instance, the two bars are different: in b.8, he accelerates at the start of the first unit, as before, but keeps going through the middle of the bar, only relaxing at the end of the second. The effect is subtle but audible, at least with careful attention.
*With its capacity for delicate lift and close connection, a bow can achieve this gradation much more subtly than a keyboard instrument.
