Subjective
The piece in general lacked the drive and energy to induce a lighter mood. While it conveys finely arranged dynamics and mood change, the piece obviously manifests a clear division of movements. There was no constantly sustained mood in the entire piece as the melodies transition from one movement to another, the mood shifts from its original motif into a fugal passage in which the music grows and expands up to the third movement. Finally, the music shifts back to a sober mood in the last part. The initial reaction in listening to the piece is like listening to a musical score of a horror movie. The sound and dynamics perceived in the piece is almost identical to the ones used to induce a scare feel in horror movies (listen to the musical background at the scary scenes of the movie “Insidious”, there’s a striking resemblance).
Objective
Overall the piece satisfied my subjective expectations. In terms of rhythm, it comes steady, but since the piece encompasses a fragmented characteristic, the beat becomes unclear particularly during transitions from one movement to another. It is not a piece to danced along with because of the tempo. The first part of the composition has a pair of themes following a development that comprises quick movements from bittersweet into harsh quiet pizzicato and ghostly gestures. However, the highlight of the piece comes at the fourth and fifth movement. This is because the fourth movement encompasses the lyrical aspect of the piece and the spectral fifth features the despairing cello line that plays between the low and high extreme registers, which almost sounds like quiet and aphoristic at the same time. In terms of timber aspects the cello and the bass were used in a very unusual way that is both prominent, but brief in the composition. In addition, the composition speaks of a kind of atonality that describes serialism, which is all about control.
