Abstract
The Thesis is a portfolio of scores and recordings of six musical compositions, accompanied by a technical commentary. The compositions are for various forces, from solo piano, unaccompanied choir and chamber ensembles to full orchestra.The pieces are the results of research into ways of reconciling the familiar tonal and metrical systems of the past with more recent technical approaches to composition. I felt the need to explore new systems of organisational possibilities different from the rather loose extended tonality of my works written prior to starting the portfolio: a way of ‘playing with notes’ to give my work a harmonic and rhythmical logic. I wanted to find a context in which my previously rather arbitrary choices could have meaning, at the same time as retaining a personal sense of artistic creativity.
In some works, my research focused on quoting and developing ‘found’ tonal material (keyboard pieces by Byrd in Forms in Movement, and a Scottish bagpipe melody in Symphony No.1) as a method of seeking this reconciliation. In others, I use sets of tetrachords (in Bagatelle III and Arcturus) or hexachords (in the Three Latin Motets) based around diatonic triads and scales, or traditional dance forms like the passacaglia (Symphony No.1). Some of the systems are more dominant in the compositions than others (my Three Latin Motets and Symphony No.1 both draw their pitches almost entirely from modes), whereas others are used only in part of the pieces (such as isorhythm in Arcturus and Symphony No.1, and fixed melodic intervals in the Quintet).
By the last piece in the portfolio, I feel the research led me to a greater sense of intellectual satisfaction in my music, and that I have, paradoxically, more freedom to be artistically inventive and expressive within the new systems I have found.
| Date of Award | 2015 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Robert Keeley (Supervisor) |