City Research Online

Abstract

This practice-based research project explores compositional approaches to musical structure based on the notion of scale, that is the duration of a unit of music relative to its content and its surroundings. With a starting point in the dichotomy between fragmentary utterances (represented by Kurtág) and longer continuous statements (represented by Mahler and Wagner), the research asks how such differences in scale can be made the focus of a musical discourse within a piece and what new insights and working methods this leads to. Answers to these questions are embodied in the six compositions which form the core of this submission and further elucidated in the accompanying commentary, which is split into chapters that focus on different pieces and different aspects of the topic. Overall, this project seeks to find fresh approaches to compositional structure, reconcile seemingly conflicting influences, and generate new structural insights and approaches for composers and for musicians more generally.

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Text (Folio Contents) - Accepted Version
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Other (Musical score - 'Frammenti Ricercati' for string quartet) - Accepted Version
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Audio ('Frammenti Ricercati' for string quartet) - Accepted Version
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Other (Musical score - Sextet) - Accepted Version
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Audio (Sextet) - Accepted Version
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Other (Musical score - 'Trio-Symphony' for clarinet, viola and piano) - Accepted Version
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Audio ('Trio-Symphony' for clarinet, viola and piano) - Accepted Version
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Other (Musical score - 'Proto-Symphony' for orchestra) - Accepted Version
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Audio ('Proto-Symphony' for orchestra) - Accepted Version
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Other (Musical score - 'Song-Messages' for soprano and piano) - Accepted Version
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Audio ('Song-Messages' for soprano and piano) - Accepted Version
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Other (Musical score - 'Cello Messages' for cello and piano) - Accepted Version
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Audio ('Cello Messages' for cello and piano) - Accepted Version
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Text (Commentary: Rethinking structure: A matter of scale) - Accepted Version
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