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abstract: This DMA project (in piano performance) consists of a concerto composed for trumpet and piano duo with orchestra and an analytical document that accompanies it. The text portion of this paper discusses the different compositional aspects of Rapsodia Camaleónica, including instrumentation, form, influences and the performers' perspective. The work is scored for a medium-sized orchestra: 2 flutes (flute 2 double piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, horn, trombone, bass trombone, 4 percussionists (timpani, snare drum, crash cymbals, suspended cymbal, castanets, güiro or carrasca, shekere, whip, xylophone, triangle, pandeiro, tam-tam, wood blocks, 2 congas, glockenspiel, 3 tom-toms, bass drum) and strings. It is written in one multi-sectional movement with a duration of approximately twenty-three minutes. The full score is attached as an appendix. The influences in Rapsodia Camaleónica range from the western classical tradition to world music to urban dance music, all of which fuse together in a work that blends this eclectic mix into a unified whole. This composition is intended as an addition to the piano concerto repertoire from Latin America, which includes compositions by Carlos Chávez, Manuel María Ponce (both Mexican), Alberto Ginastera (Argentinian), Camargo Guarnieri and Heitor Villa-Lobos (both Brazilian). It is the composer's desire to add a Colombian piece of universal appeal to this list. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2012

"Concerto for Piano, Winds, and Percussion" is, as the title implies, a piece which features the solo piano in combination with an ensemble of winds and percussion. The instrumentation of the ensemble is two flutes; oboe; two Bb clarinets; Eb alto clarinet; Bb bass clarinet; bassoon; two Bb trumpets; two F horns; two trombones; baritone; tuba; and a percussion section of three players playing timpani, tambourine, xylophone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, chimes, triangle, suspended cymbal, snare drum, bass drum, two bongos, and small woodblock. The major sections of the piece are distinguished primarily by tempo. The fast-slow-fast arrangement of those sections aligns it with the traditional concerto format. The piece is in one movement and is approximately twelve and one-half minutes in duration.

The purpose of the following study is to make a stylistic analysis, on the basis of form, harmony, melody, and rhythm, of the Concerto For Two Pianos and Orchestra by Harl McDonald, a twentieth-century American composer.

abstract: As with many concertante, Fantasy focuses on the interplay between the soloist and the orchestra. Contrast is a fundamental principle for creating the formal design of the composition. Adjacent sections are related to one another by the contrast of any or all of the following: register, timbre, and texture. Fantasy derives inspiration from the musical languages of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Moravec, and Debussy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2018

Concerto for Viola Section and Orchestra is a two-movement work lasting nineteen minutes. Its first movement in entitled Frenetic, and the second, Song and Finale, is made up of a slow and fast section. The concerto is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, bass clarinet, two bassoons, two horns in F, two trumpets in C, tenor trombone, bass trombone, four percussion, a section of seven violists, violins 1, violins 2, violoncellos, and double basses. Balance can be one of the main problems with writing a work for solo viola and orchestra. While the viola’s timbre makes it an enticing instrument, there is a restriction that keeps it from easily projecting over an orchestra. Composers have devised several methods for solving the problem. For example, Paul Hindemith was careful not to over orchestrate in his concerto entitled Der Schwanendreher. By limiting the number of cellos and basses to four and three respectively, and by omitting violins and other violas altogether, Hindemith thinned out and removed timbres that might obstruct the viola. In my concerto for a section of violas, I also consider orchestration as a solution to the problems of balance and projection. However, I focus on the soloists in contrast to the orchestra. By composing for seven violas, I utilize the thickness of sound achieved through chorusing. Using any combination of the violas, it becomes easier for the listener to perceive the viola timbre. Furthermore, this use of multiple violas allows for more complex counterpoint in solo passages, something a single instrument is not able to manage on its own. This piece is not a concerto grosso in any sense. The soloists do not perform as a smaller chamber ensemble extending from the larger orchestra. Instead, the soloists are treated as a single entity. They act as one unit, using seven performers to do the work of one soloist.

Nicolai Medtner (1880-1951) is regarded as an accomplished composer and one of the most brilliant pianists of his time. He composed numerous compositions for piano that fall into three main categories: piano solo, piano with voice, and piano chamber music. He composed four large-ensemble pieces, including three concerti and the piano quartet in C major. This essay will concentrate on the lesser-known Piano Concerto No. 3, subtitled "Ballade." This three- movement work is extremely challenging because of its large and complex structure. Gaining a clear understanding of the structure and its formal innovation is paramount for performance success. It is my hope that this essay will contribute to bringing this piece into the standard repertoire. There are four chapters in this essay. In Chapter I, a general discussion of the composer's life and his music will be presented. The background of the concerto will be introduced and the purpose of this essay will be discussed in Chapter II. In Chapter III, a detailed analytical discussion of the structure of the concerto will be presented, in order to clarify the structure and the use of thematic materials. Lastly, practice and interpretative suggestions for this concerto will be discussed in Chapter IV.

According to musicologists and critics, the “English Musical Renaissance” or the second Renaissance of English music, as it also called, to distinguish it from the generation of English musicians of the Renaissance, produced many composers in Great Britain during the years 1880 to 1966. This resurgence of nationalistic musical activity was a time of prolific musical output by composers such as Edward Elgar, Arnold Bax, Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Another composer who flourished during the English Renaissance was Edwin York Bowen (1884-1961). His Viola Concerto in C minor, Op. 25 (1907), is the subject of this essay. Bowen’s Viola Concerto was written with Lionel Tertis (1876-1975) in mind. Tertis, the leading violist of the day, made it his life’s mission to popularize the viola as a solo instrument. This essay explores the Concerto from a theoretical point of view. In addition, the piece will be approached from a performance/pedagogical point of view, with the inclusion of a methodology of study based on sixteen specific technical excerpts drawn from the piece.

This document examines the evolution of viola playing as heard through recordings of William Walton's Viola Concerto, written in 1929. The sixteen commercially issued recordings of the concerto, unevenly spaced, offer a variety of interpretative approaches. Its first performers were indebted to a style of performance practice with roots in the Romantic era, which emphasized the individuality of the performer above other considerations. Hallmarks of this style are tonal beauty, overt emotionalism and a freely subjective approach that included alterations to the music. The performers used portamento liberally, not yet demonized as a sign of poor taste, and thus had a uniquely vocal style of phrasing. Early violists' interpretations are striking for their flawed uniqueness, but, as we move toward the 1960s, a more modem approach takes over. It is characterized by fidelity to the score and consistent technical perfection, as well as less use of portamento in favor of continuous vibrato. The personal input of the performer is less pronounced; he is now more a conduit for the composer's intentions. Modern violists thus take fewer liberties and sound more alike, while exhibiting an unprecedented level of technical assurance. The reasons for this increase in homogeneity will be discussed. In addition, violinists' recordings of the Walton will be examined for signs of a violinistic mode of interpretation of the Walton.

The present thesis comprises a musical score and a set of specifications for a programmer to employ in the creation of a computer patch required to run the electronics. Scored for symphony orchestra and solo cello, the work also incorporates a computer operator and sound engineer who function as performers, following detailed instructions to store, activate, shape, spatialize, and regulate electronic material. The computer patch manifests two main components: the recording and playback of live sound (with the solo cello acting as the input source) and a virtual instrument feedback module. Electronic superimpositions of solo cello samples, ranging in density between a single layer and many simultaneous layers, intertwine with the live instrumentalist, forming timbrally distinct polyrhythmic contrapuntal lines. The feedback component allows for an interaction between the soloist and electronics, in which the computer operator manipulates faders connected to a series of feedback sub-patches, each employing a range of diverse delay parameters. The musical language of the work, which evolves from a series of expanding and contracting pitch clusters, continually transmutes, shifting back and forth from atonality, tonality, and polytonality. Formally, the work both opposes and espouses traditional paradigms; and it is this dichotomy, the tension created between old and new, which ultimately unifies the structure. Finally, the expansion of the role of the soloist, which entails not only the integration of multiple superimposed electronic layers but of the immersive diffusion of sound in multidimensional space, broadens the concerto form.