Adagio in D Minor

As with the previous piece posted here, this was also originally a piano piece that I thought might benefit from being transcribed for strings. It shares other similarities as well, but had no preset restrictions of material and is in three parts rather than four, so was adapted for a string trio. However, the mood of the piece suggested a pair of violas and cello rather than the usual combination of violin, viola and cello -- it turns out that the top part goes a half step below the bottom of the violin's range, but my decision was made before even considering that, and now it's hard for me to even think of this as a piano piece. Rhythmically, this piece features slow syncopation and variations of three against two configurations. As far as the name goes, I wanted to give it a more descriptive title, but everything I could think of was either too long or not enough; it is what it is.

Nocturne for String Quartet

This is another short, simple piece. Originally for piano, I thought that with a little tinkering it might be better suited for strings. It was done as an exercise in which the melody was to be strictly limited to a given set of notes: C, D, E, G, and A. I immediately rearranged these as C-G-D-A-E, which suggested to me a quartal harmonic structure. The changes to adapt it for strings were minimal, and true to the rules of the exercise, the first violin part consists of only the five given notes, with the other three instruments being more free, subject only to the harmonic scheme.