ABSTRACT

The Third String Quartet and the Second String Trio consolidate Skalkottass's strict approach to twelve-note technique, according to which fixed twelve-note sets within each formal section are predominantly presented linearly, superimposed as melodic lines. The pitch-class order within each set segment is maintained, with only occasional pitch-class reordering at developmental passages. The twelve-note sets, treated as ordered series, are used both in their prime form and, in a few instances, in retrograde and transposed forms. In the slow opening gesture, each of the first three notes of the sets is presented sequentially at one-bar intervals, which ensures aural clarity and comprehensibility, but also sets out the compositional properties of the movement. Overt tonal elements give direction to individual textural lines, which converge at the ends of phrases or sections, while the large-scale harmonic structure oscillates between E major/minor triads and E dominant seventh.