Faingold, N. (2015). Portfolio of compositions and technical commentary. Ph.D. thesis, University of London, King's College (United Kingdom), Ann Arbor.
Abstract: The six pieces in this portfolio explore contemporary musical narratives as if approached from a traditional outlook. In these pieces many harmonic and rhythmic processes (modal, serial,‘post-serial’ and minimalist) that emerged in Post-War music, as well as their resulting forms or modes of continuity interact with a traditionally grounded, intuitive approach to 'thematicism'. Another important topic in this music is an engagement with certain formal elements and mannerisms of contemporary popular, rock and dance music, and the ethnic musical traditions of my cultural heritage. Writing for string instruments informed by the composer’s personal experience as a double bass performer is a central concern of the thesis. Knife in the Water (for violin and cello) explores elements of heavy metal rhythms, Middle Eastern incantations, and free and strict meter. Bonaparte Born to Party (for mixed quintet) builds on the jagged heavy metal and dance elements found in Knife in the Water, subjecting some of the harmonic structures of the latter to a fairly strict process of transformation while relying to a much greater extent!on repetition.
A Poem is a Burning City (for ten players) explores the possibility of creating a sort of'modality' by means of timbre as well as the 'transformation of sonority' itself as a means for delineating a binary form. While its harmonic language shares many aspects with the earlier pieces, here they are no longer the main concern of the music, which relies primarily on ‘colour', 'sonority' and extensive 'repetition' for the unfolding of a slowly evolving texture. In the string quintet Everything is Amazing and Nobody is Happy, the Suite for solo violin and the Lullaby for double bass and orchestra, the type of explorations of colour and! sonority incipient in A Poem is a Burning City are extended and combined with the developmental processes and clear thematic and! melodic/harmonic!materials that characterise the earlier pieces.
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Miller, M. B. (2016). Nicodemus! The beds are burning again: The ascension of Gorgomath. Doctoral thesis, University of Missouri - Kansas City, .
Abstract: Nicodemus! The Beds are Burning Again: The Ascension of Gorgomath is a 22-minute concerto for piano and chamber orchestra that explores the use of narrative as a means of unifying disparate musical languages into a cohesive single-movement structure. The narrative, as implied by the fourteen programmatic indicators within the score, features a protagonist, Nicodemus, and an antagonist, Gorgomath. Additional contrasting elements essential to the plot are: the burning beds, outer space, the ultimate weapon, and the three rituals. The programmatic indicators, to be listed in the program, function as a framework from which the listener can fabricate their own version of the story.
The narrative begins with “The beds are burning,” a heavy-metal inspired musical theme characterized by a pervasive rhythmic structure interspersed with virtuosic piano displays. Full orchestral forces add to the intensity of a relentless motor rhythm heard first in the piano. Following “Ritual I,” a transitionary theme of soli strings and piano, Nicodemus’s theme develops, a musical antithesis to “The Burning Beds” theme. It employs a simple melodic loop over a basic four-chord harmonic structure, reminiscent of 8-bit video game themes, and is voiced as piano accompanied by tremolo in the woodwinds and strings.
Nicodemus’s journey into space begins with a rapid deceleration in tempo. The following slow ternary form includes a funerary dirge bookended by the piece’s most lyrical piano writing, expressed by the rise and fall of melodic octaves. The pounding neo-Shostakovian strings of “Ritual II” transition directly into the development section, “Nicodemus seeks the ultimate weapon.” Nicodemus’s theme undergoes significant transformation, assuming the guise of stride piano and North Indian tabla music. These styles are unique to this section, as is their orchestration of high, sustained winds alternating with orchestral hits between low strings and percussion.
The piece’s recapitulation, “Meanwhile…,” begins with a return of the burning beds. Here, “Gorgomath’s Theme,” identifiable by the instability of its 7/16 motor rhythm is briefly foreshadowed. It appears in its entirety in the coda, “Boss Battle.”
The resulting work uses original narrative to blend polystylistic elements into a cohesive single movement structure with a dramatic musical arc.
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Temkin, D. (2016). Intricate Machines for String Quartet. Doctoral thesis, University of Southern California, Ann Arbor.
Abstract: Program Notes: Intricate Machines was composed for the 2016 Saarbrücken Somermusik festival in Germany. The festival theme was “travel to foreign lands” and this piece, in some sense, represents a larger journey from the chaos of the outside world into a more peaceful sphere of inner reflection. Each of the five movements is connected together and played without pause. Beginning with dense and rhythmic outbursts, the first movement (“Heavy-Metal Viola”) imagines a musical offspring of Bartok and Metallica somehow fused together by string quartet. The second movement (“Bump in the Night”) focuses on juxtaposition: a lone, delicate, solo violin hums quietly, only to face jarring interruptions from the ensemble underneath. Ending with an introspective chorale, the second movement gives way to movement three (“Churning Gears”) in which fast and repetitive ostinatos create a dense interlocking musical machine. The fourth movement (“Constellations”) begins with an eruption of heavy, sustaining, chords that are played freely, out of time. These vibrating orbs of sound gradually recede into distant and ethereal harmonics. Suggesting a celestial atmosphere, the solo cello gently sings a muted melody, leaving us in a place of transformation relative to the earlier movements. Movement five, a playful folk-dance, completes the total journey as an overt contrast to the tense opening movements. Amidst its quirky and bizarre groove, elements of rock, funk, folk-fiddling, and pedal-tone drone music, are assimilated into what composer Steven Mackey describes as “a vernacular music from a culture that doesn’t really exist”—or as I phrase it here, a “Martian Jukebox Hoe-down.”
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Jameson, B. T. (2017). Negotiating the cross-cultural implications of the electric guitar in contemporary concert music. Ph.D. thesis, University of Southampton (United Kingdom), Ann Arbor.
Abstract: Despite its ubiquity in rock and popular music, use of the electric guitar has only become commonplace within ‘classical’ concert music in recent decades. This increased prominence is partly due to the expanded sonic possibilities that the instrument offers, but also reflects composers’ greater willingness to engage with popular music practices. Use of the electric guitar in concert music often involves some form of encounter between contemporary compositional approaches and popular forms of cultural expression, presenting creative possibilities and challenges to composers, performers, listeners and scholars alike. This research project investigates the cross-cultural implications of employing the electric guitar in concert music through theory, analysis and composition. Case studies of electric guitar works by Tristan Murail and Laurence Crane provide an opportunity to consider how popular music scholarship relating to the electric guitar might figure in analysis of concert music featuring the instrument. These analyses informed the composition of four new works within the included portfolio (provided as scores with accompanying audio/video documentation) that feature the electric guitar or draw upon its related musical idioms, with a specific focus on rock and heavy metal styles.
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Simms, B. (2019). Foreverdark: For Amplified Cello Soloist and Chamber Orchestra. Doctoral thesis, University of Toronto (Canada), Ann Arbor.
Abstract: Foreverdark is a single movement, ten-minute concertino (short concerto) for amplified cello soloist with live electronic processing and chamber orchestra. The exact instrumentation consists of violoncello solo, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, trumpet in Bb, horn in F, tenor trombone, percussion, piano, harp, violin 1, violin 2, viola, violoncello, and double bass; each part is played by a single player. The compositional style is a continuation and deeper exploration of the composer’s current compositional interests, namely the integration of quotation and popular music style signals within more broadly art music formats. By amplifying and separating the cello soloist from the ensemble, the player’s position alludes to that of a “lead guitarist;” subsequently, much of their melodic material (and that of the orchestra around them) is sourced from a variety of heavy metal riffs, most of them from bands the composer listened to as a teenager. The piece’s title, “Foreverdark,” both references the song with a similar name (Foreverdark Woods) by Viking metal artist Bathory as well as the composer’s long and somewhat nostalgic relationship to the metal genre itself. In addition to heavy metal-sourced melodic and rhythmic motifs, “Foreverdark” also contains some material bordering on a folk music aesthetic. Surprisingly, metal-turned-folk is a common stylistic shift in for some of the bands quoted within the work.
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