A Drifting Key
Fourteen extraordinary measures from Ben Johnston's String Quartet No. 9.
The third movement of Ben Johnston’s String Quartet No. 9 starts with a simple four-part chorale. Although the harmonic progression is familiar, there’s something very subtly odd about it. The harmonies sound a bit clearer than I’m used to.
After just four chords, a familiar resolution. A key has been established. I wonder — am I imagining things?
As the chorale sets off again I gradually realize something unusual is happening. Each chord is glowingly consonant, with common tones freezing the chords together harmoniously, and yet the progression as a whole feels like it’s… melting.
Even stranger, twice I hear some sort of “blue” note. Is this “dissonance?” Are they “out of tune?”
Over just fourteen measures, I get the sense of drifting into the distance and then back home. but how far have I really traveled?
What’s happening here?
I ordered the score of this intriguing piece and set out to analyze these fourteen measures to see if I could
a) figure out what’s happening
b) reproduce it with the sound of a piano, and
c) make a video visualizing it.1
The underlying structure and intention is even more wonderful than I expected. The discussion of what I discovered, as well as a study of my own using this same pitch space, is here. Enjoy!
Excerpt from Ben Johnston’s String Quartet No. 9 (1987)
Movement III: “Slow, expressive.”
Performed by the Kepler Quartet (2006)
Analysis, piano overdub, and video by Chris P. Thompson
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I’m using Johnston’s own notational system, mapped to a 3d lattice a la David B. Doty’s Just Intonation Primer.
Fascinating. Wonderful passage. I await part 2 of this!
Wonderful! I adore Johnston’s quartets and the peculiar sensation of simultaneous ultra consonance and whoozy dissonance. It’s like stepping into a world with a whole new spectrum of colours. Looking forward to your analysis.