Portfolio of compositions and commentary

Abstract

The five works of this portfolio are all part of a continuing personal dialogue with tonality. My aim has been to investigate various ways to approach tonality as a composer today and map out its role within the harmonic, timbral, dramatic and formal fabric of my music.

Detached from functional harmony of the past, tonality is viewed as one harmonic colour: a part of a more varied syntax that also includes modality and cluster harmony. The expressive and sonic qualities of tonality are used to manage dramatic depth and shape, leading to diverse musical forms. Several techniques to do with timbre and texture are used to maintain a contemporary approach to tonality, and to introduce a level of novelty and peculiarity to the familiar sonorities. In addition, connections between my harmonic and formal thinking, and my synaesthesia will be drawn.

In Piano Concerto, my aim was to design the work using gravitational harmonic centres, or ‘tonics’, and to manipulate the harmonic landscape with pitch centres, foreign pitches, and gestural elements. Ripped Tapestry sets the medieval melody of l’Homme armé into a new harmonic context. Tonality is used to support the melody, but is obscured using harmonic stasis, melodic colouring, and by varying textural and harmonic density. Responding to the minimalist photography of Bruce Percy, Songs of Empty Landscapes is a multi-movement work exploring the curves of tension and release that arise from combining noise, modal, cluster, and tonal elements. Pilgrim is a love letter to sound, and the expressive, sensuous qualities of tonality, with timbral and textural invention giving rise to the dramatic shape of the work. Sunfall aims to combine many of the above, to create a vivid orchestral tapestry diverse in colour, exuberant and dramatic in expression, while following an inner logic and exhibiting a high level of control over the harmony and form.

Date of Award	1 Jun 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	King's College London
Supervisor	George Benjamin (Supervisor) & Silvina Milstein (Supervisor)