A portfolio of compositions including commentary

• Main Author: Morse, D.
• Published: Queen's University Belfast 2013
• Subjects: 781.3
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.580101

The enclosed thesis consists of two elements: a portfolio of six original musical compositions, printed scores, and an audio CD; a prose commentary on these compositions. The musical compositions are: Pillars, for piano; Nachtlied, for SATB (divisi) choir and pre-recorded electronics; Klangmasse I, for four-channel electronic playback; lapetus, for orchestra; Piano Trio, for violin, violoncello, and piano; Only I Will Remain, for SSAATB choir, string trio, percussion, and sho (a traditional Japanese mouth-organ). There is no printed score for Klangmasse I; there is no recording of Only I Will Remain. The commentary consists of a detailed analysis of these compositions, particularly how they are expressions of the composer's individual style. A particular focus of the commentary is the dialectical nature of the relationship between logic and expression in the composer's creative practice. The commentary also contextualizes these compositions against the canon of Western Art Music, particularly those works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The commentary is divided into several chapters: an introductory chapter which outlines the philosophical background of the composer's creative practice and the motivation behind the writing of the commentary; a chapter on Pillars which outlines the programmatic inspiration for the work and initiates a discussion of the composer's harmonic and rhythmic languages; a chapter on Nachtlied which deals with issues of text setting and deepens the discussion of harmonic language; a chapter on Klangmasse I which details the composer's creation of the technique of "textural vectors"; a chapter on lapetus which describes the composer's approach to adapting the the "textural vectors" technique to an instrumental context; a chapter on Piano Trio which focuses on the processes of both creating and revising the work; a chapter on Only I Will Remain which deals with ethnomusicological considerations of cross-cultural compositional practice.