Rhythmic accuracy in the new complexity repertoire : its assessment and role in performance practice with specific applications to the guitar

• Main Author: Klippel, Grahame J.
• Other Authors: Goss, S.
• Published: University of Surrey 2015
• Subjects: 700
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.635563

This thesis re-evaluates the arguments about rhythmic accuracy in new complexity. New complexity emerged during the 1980s, prompting composers, performers and analysts to reconsider their own ideas about the ontological status of the score, notational potentials as a compositional tool, compositional intention and the role of the performer as the mediator between the composer, the score and auditor - all under the general notion of the representation of complex phenomena. Richard Toop's paper, Four Facets of 'The New Complexity' (1988) was the beginning of a dialectic that has continued to provoke diverse opinions about the status of new complexity as a distinct genre. The scores by the composers associated with new complexity presented challenges to the performers who had to find new methods of learning the works. I critique these for the benefit of performers new to the area. One view is that a performance is only valid if it is compliant with every aspect of the score. By means of analysis of recordings of works from different instrumental families, I demonstrate that the interpretation of objective analysis to determine such compliance is problematic. Roger Marsh's work on the identification of score with performance, Heroic Motives. Roger Marsh Considers the Relation between Sign and Sound in 'Complex' Music (1994) has been criticised. I show that, while there are flaws, Marsh's questions are still pertinent. My work builds on Marsh's in an attempt to reconcile the notions of accuracy to the score with fidelity to the composer's intentions. Part of this project evaluates all these ideas through my own preparation of three pieces for the guitar by composers inextricably linked with new complexity. The result of this is a CD recording of these works. The case studies can be considered to be a resource for performers.