This is a quartet in three movements: allegro ben marcato (free form); adagio appasionato (passacaglia); and presto (scherzo). These three movements comprise an arch-form, the first and third being similar stylistically and thematically, the second forming the "pillar".

This quartet shows the composer's development from a highly chromatic, freely melodic, un-serialized style in movement I, through a still free, but disjunct, somewhat more ordered style in movement II, to a style in movement III which makes much use of serial techniques. This last usage, however, no longer employs the twelve-tone method in a stiff and fettered manner.

Repository copy includes the score of 16 pages, including 1 page of performance instruction, in a pdf format from the original, edited in Sibelius 8.2.0. / Barzakh means separation in Arabic. Moreover, in the Islamic eschatology, it is a barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds. In this piece, I am using this idea as an inspiration to my creation so that a disrupting sound and its developments are separating the sound worlds and opening new dimensions for new musical spaces. The piece is composed for string quartet and its duration is approximately 9 minutes.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University

Capriccio -- Rhapsody -- The Miliky way. / Li Cheong. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Capriccio (for four percussion players) --- p.1 / Rhapsody (for string quartet) --- p.16 / The Milky Way (for orchestra) --- p.31

This portfolio of eleven scores and an accompanying commentary is an in depth investigation into the use and development of compositional techniques over a wide range of instrumental and vocal combinations.  The scores submitted trace my development as a composer by considering research questions related to structural organisation, harmonic and rhythmic development and how external sources, particularly visual and literary, can be used as a starting point for the compositional process. Included in the portfolio are eleven works, categorised into three sections: instrumental music, solo works, and vocal music. The portfolio researches and examines elements of composition such as harmony, texture and timbral relationships, as well as the use of visual and literary art as a stimulus for composition across all of the instrumental and vocal combinations included.  My interest in the combination of pre-existing compositional methods such as serialism, with particular regards to pitch, and atonality is also examined in many of the scores and documented in the accompanying commentary.

The six-movement work is scored for two violins, a viola, and a violoncello. A new approach toward the decision making of the compositional process is revealed which structures the parameters of the composition along an arbitrary frame of reference. This reference is selected prior to composition and influences every aspect of the work. The reference chosen is an existing musical work used in quotation and for stylistic modeling, paraphrase, and variation. Consonance, dissonance, and thematic development are defined in terms of this source.

Bela Bartok's six string quartets are generally regarded as the next most significant works in the medium after the quartets of Beethoven. Unlike some of his contemporaries in the field, e.g, Hindemith, Milhaud, and Schoenberg, Bartok's quartets are representative of his musical growth and, as such, are worthy of equal status with those of such recognized masters as Haydn and Mozart, as well as Beethoven...

by Ho Siu Wa, Albert. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / First Movement --- p.1 -10 / Second Movement --- p.11 -20 / Third Movement --- p.21 -32

Ip Kim Ho. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997.