A PORTFOLIO OF COMPOSITIONS SUMMARY OF SUBMISSION This Portfolio of Compositions contains four large-scale instrumental works for a variety of ensembles and one studio work created using ambient field recordings. Each works attempts a re-evaluation of conventional performance protocols through the spatial realization of compositional elements. Notated scores and recordings are accompanied by analysis and commentary, which explores aspects of their design with specific regard to musical style, formal organization and compositionallanguage. The five pieces included in the portfolio are: 1. Spheros (Sphere) Music for Spatialised Choir and Soundtrack Duration: 10 minutes 3. Authorization Codes Music for Orchestra Duration: 12 minutes 4. Sinsearach Cainteoir (Ancient Voices) Music for Spatialised Voices and Chamber Ensemble Duration: 27 minutes 4. Helicotrema Music in Three Movements for Spatialised Mixed-Octet Duration: 20 minutes 5. Shanahan Natural Ambient Soundtrack Duration: 20 minutes This submission represents four years of critical research into my compositional praxis and a consolidation of my compositional language thus far.

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.

The intent of this dissertation is to contribute to the current body of compositional knowledge, particularly in the area of sound spatialization. This dissertation consists of a portfolio of original compositions, which feature creative approaches to sound spatialization. The spatialization techniques resulted from experimentation and by expanding on existent methods. Some of the issues addressed include 1) spatialization techniques that yield results that do not exist in the natural world, 2) user-controlled spatialization, and 3) the simulation of real- world spatial influences via technology. The accompanying written commentary describes the compositional methodology of each piece, the creative spatialization technique employed in each work, and the resultant effects of each technique. All of the compositions are accessible via the included DVD-ROM.

A new category of music-related software is proposed, implemented and tested through creative practice. "Wakeful" musical instruments are those whose interaction listeners may understand as musical. The term "wakeful" means here "sign -bearing", in relation to the potential of computers and human beings to interact in terms of exchange of signs. Wakeful instruments may empower the users' capacity for the interpretation of digital music in terms of agency, cognition and communication. These users may experience a phenomenon of collective musical embodiment, producing a shared form of intelligence, extended and mediated by the computer, in music. VIVO is a computer-based interactive instrument of this type, whose development is part of the research . It represents salience of action in terms of energy and features video tracking for mapping quantity of motion to specific subranges of audio plug-ins parameters, dynamically. It includes an editor for stochastic scores and a single graphic interface to control any plug-in, while monitoring the users' and software agents' activity. The present case studies cross-confirm the results by an analysis of the users' and listeners' experiences and verbalisations and by an . identification of the musical coherence in the content, which the program generated.

'Rhythms of the Huasteca' is a DMA Performance-Based Portfolio related to the sonorous environment of the Mexican region of the Huasteca. The main objective of my proposal is the stylisation of the ambience, facts and scenarios of the inhabitants of this region with a contemporary musical language, sometimes like an abstract expression.

Aesthetics is to do with relations. Relational aesthetics can be considered to offer conclusions about how one thinks about the ontology of art, the nature of' the relationship of artworks with space and time, appropriate analytical approaches to artworks, and the debate as to whether music can 'do' philosophy. The practice-led component of this research has been an important aspect of the illustration and elucidation of my points. My practice-as-methodology approach allows me to do conceptual analysis through practice which crucially allows me to make conclusions without having arrived at them through language. By explaining the concept of relational aesthetics, and analysing whether it is an epistemological construct arising from existing artworks or an ontological construct from which artworks arise it is possible to show how practice-led research has an important contribution to make to the consideration of aesthetic problems. These aesthetic problems relate to the particular case of music and its prior consideration as a special or different case within the ontology of artworks themselves: considering the case of music from the starting points of practice and theory, relational aesthetics can prove the music is not an exceptional case at all. A combination of poststructuralist analysis of existing (theoretical and musical) work and practice-led conceptual analysis allows further conclusions to be drawn regarding the 'work' itself, its ontology and definition, and other musical features such as quotation and borrowing, and the relationship with time and space. Existing thought, music, and philosophy, have a contribution to make to all of these discussions, but the inclusion of relational aesthetics in these individual investigations makes it possible to conclude that: the work does not exist; there can be supposed to be a work-function which creates the illusion of the work; time and space should be considered topologic ally different from the real line in order to define them correctly with respect to the work; quotation can be used as a material exemplar in all of these cases. Indeed, the historicity of material and its consequences for aesthetic and artistic autonomy are important factors in the re-reading of all of the aspects of the work presented here. The result of this investigation is the conclusion of the ontological basis of relations, with respect to the work of art, and the assertion that an experiential rather than creator-led approach to the art work is most appropriate when assessing works of music, and indeed all works of art. ABSTRACTS FOR PIECES in the back there was a pigeon (e) [open instrumentation] This piece considers various settings of the tantum ergo and their status now and at the time of their composition. It approaches the performative nature of liturgy and musical canon from the stand point of examining whether in their structural repetition the creation of their meaning can be identified. as a name i am a myth [bcl; vln; hpschd; voices on tape; public address loudspeaker] This piece reviews the status of chamber music within the concert hall by examining the possible forms it might take and the messages that these forms might send. It also places chamber music within a larger tradition of writing and thinking about music, and questions whether this tradition is itself legitimate. love speed and thrills {open instrumentation; tape; public address loudspeaker; video projection] . love speed and thrills analyses the effect of a proliferation of signifiers within one piece by making them explicitly distinct from each other. Thus music, image, instruction, and text all become seemingly separate and yet integrated within the course of the piece. the empiricist view {large ensemble] the empiricist view examines the relationship between an ensemble as a unit, its members, the concert hall, and the music which is played. This is exemplified in the kaleidoscopic nature of the musical material and the construction of a 'concert' for solo 'cello within this theatre which itself is built from a solo 'cello piece intended to be a performance within a theatrical performance. the enigma machine the enigma machine I: hendecaptych of hans memling [mezzosoprano; bfl; vco] the enigma machine 2a.properties and essence: [pc; afl] the enigma machine 2b: {no subtitle] [tr, hn] the enigma machine 3: archipelago [music boxes] the enigma machine 4: the historicity of cartography [cl; pno; perc} the enigma machine 5: de nostra re: [organ] As a project the enigma machine: examines different kinds of structural and mediaeval relationships in a variety of chamber works. These pieces explore quotation and relationships with other art works as their starting points and demonstrate the multitude of interrelationships possible from the construction of music from limited material. green angel [a chamber opera] green angel is a collaborative opera written between Adam Strickson (librettist) and myself. It combines aspects of opera, Noh theatre, mediaevalism, quotation, intertextuality, and interrelationships in exploring the emotional journey of a single character. As such it also touches on themes of nature, metamorphosis, and identity

The nation, as a symbolic and bounded entity is maintained and reproduced as an expression of power. Music, as a medium of cultural power, is productive of sociality; the organisation (or disorganisation) of the sonic capable of producing (or resisting) the intangible bonds of collectivity. This study seeks to explore the power of music to symbolise, perform and potently communicate the imagined communion attributed to the experience of nation-ness. It asks specific questions about the practice of composition and its role in the construction and negotiation of national identity, furthermore, examining music's potential as a means of resistance. The nation, as a hegemonic construct, produces a system of organisation which reproduces the dominant frameworks of power and marks the symbolic boundaries of belonging. To critically examine the processes of meaning-making found in the cultural construction of the nation in music, composition is positioned as both the subject and principal methodology of the work. A symbiotic approach to practice and theory was taken in an attempt to develop an interrelated and intertextual study, constructing a multimodal practice of research which has wider implications in the production of knowledge and the mapping of meaning, providing a practical explication of these processes in action. The study considers the ways in which the individual is produced in creative imaginings of community, examining the practices involved in negotiating the multidimensional hierarchies of gendered, racialised, geographical framings of collectivity.

The works presented in this portfolio make use of combined elements taken from post-dramatic and composed theatre to create theatrical sound pieces. The intention behind the works is to explore the creative collaborations that lie between the disciplines of music composition and theatrical performance. The combined disciplines give the portfolio a multi·disciplinary line of enquiry, the pieces follow a non-linear pathway. with areas of investigation that are cross-referenced between different works. References throughout the commentary pursue a thematic, rather than chronological structure, to highlight common areas of investigation between the compositions.

The contents of my portfolio reflect my overall interest in the works of Berg, Berio, Lutoslowski, Ives and Carter. The subsequent analysis of works by these composers has developed my overall techniques in counterpoint. canon and in the spatial use of instruments within the orchestra. The last two pieces in my portfolio reflect an interest in temporality and the structures found in nature. In this dissertation, the terms: Rotation and Spiral are used frequently. We can listen to a piece of music and hear it as a forward moving succession of events heard within a certain period, which could be described as the "linear" Newtonian Model ( 1. pp.23). An alternative model however, is to experience a piece of music as entering a three dimensional sound world; subsequent reoccurring motives and/or themes within this world could now be seen as rotations or spirals. A Rotation would begin and end a section with the same theme or motive- a Spiral would end the section using the theme Imotive at a higher or lower level and perhaps moving on to different material altogether. These rotational and spiral constructs can also be seen in nature; for instance in the cyclic reoccurrence of the four seasons and in the structure of shells. These models of thematic and melodic reference and their subsequent orbits could also now be translated as walking and returning to the same point of departure - as seen in the illusionary movements in the staircases of Escher. The listener can move within this aural construct as if walking on a spiral staircase - upwards or downwards - and by doing so, hear the music as a three dimensional concept, rather than the alternative "linear" (two dimensional) one.

This portfolio deals with issues involved in creating audiovisual work in which the audio and video components are considered as being of equal importance. Discussion will focus on the identification and analysis of three different approaches to working with both audio and video simultaneously which are present in my work. These approaches will be categorised as creating direct, indirect/behavioural and inverse relationships between audio and video. The potential of combining more than one approach will also be discussed, along with other pertinent issues such as the nature of the frame in audiovisual composition and perceptions of causality. The ultimate goal will be to consider whether or not it is possible to achieve perceptual cohesion in abstract audiovisual composition and how the type of audiovisual relationships used in the conception and creation of a piece affect the perception of unity and cohesion in the finished work.