This project offers a comprehensive performance guide to Bartók's Dance Suite for solo piano based on a renewed interpretation of the piece. The Dance Suite (Táncszvit/Tanz Suite) is a unique work in Bartók's oeuvre, presented by the composer in two versions: one for orchestra (1923) and one for solo piano (1925). There has been little research done on this piece to enhance its popularity even though it may be a piece that illuminates one of Bartók's compositional philosophies: the unity of all cultures and folk song. Pianists must interpret this piece not only through the eyes of a soloist, but also as a musician who makes careful decisions—as if one were undertaking the making of a piano reduction of an orchestral score oneself. The methods presented intend to help pianists acquire and maintain a curious and flexible mind where freedom of interpretation is concerned, and hone inquisitive minds to overcome challenges when holding the reins of an orchestra across the eighty-eight keys of the piano towards limitless expansion and development of pianism and musicianship.

Even though Western music appeared only about one hundred years ago in Korea, it was rapidly popularized in the country. Since the Korean War (1950-1953), South Korea embarked on a path of remarkable economic growth and political stability. The appreciation of Western music, too, grew quickly. Since the 1960s, many talented Korean composers have been recognized around the world. However, scholarly studies discussing their artistry and music are scarce in Western countries. Young Jo Lee, one of the leading composers in Korea today, has a growing reputation. Lee has been invited to many festivals, concerts, and conferences where his works have been staged internationally. A primary compositional feature of his music is the combination of Korean traditional musical gestures with Western compositional elements. The Korean Dance Suite, one of Young Jo Lee’s most important piano works, reveals Lee’s uniqueness as a national Korean composer. The study examines the Korean Dance Suite (“Heaven Dance,” “Children’s Dance,” “Lovers Dance,” “Buddhist Dance,” and “Peasant Dance”) for the features of Young Jo Lee’s innovative and dramatic sound elements. The purpose of this study is to analyze the pieces and to trace Lee’s borrowings from Korean traditional music as well as the ways in which he adapts them to Western musical ideas. This study helps performers create an accurate interpretation when presenting these pieces. In addition, these little-known works will benefit teachers and students in creating an expanded repertoire. / School of Music

Thesis (MMus (Music))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Priaulx Rainier (1903-1986) was a South-African born composer whose highly original compositional style attracted great attention during her lifetime. She spent most of her life in England, but was inspired by the images and recollections of her youth in Africa. Despite the critical acclaim she received, little research has been done about her, both in South Africa and abroad. Additionally, the nature of existing sources is mostly not analytical, but rather provides an overview of her life or general aspects of her style. Although some conclusions have been drawn about her compositional style, they are not thoroughly substantiated by concrete analytical evidence. Also, the focus is mostly on her prominent rhythmic use (often linked by authors to the “African” element of her idiom), with an evident disregard of the other aspects of style, most notably with regard to pitch coherence. This research attempts to correct this unbalanced discourse by analysing one of her few solo piano works, the Barbaric Dance Suite (composed in 1949), and pointing out significant pitch relations, similarities and contrasts. The rationale for selecting this specific work originated from Rainier’s own pronouncement that “The Suite is a key to all my later music, for in the three DANCES, their structural embryo is, on a small scale, the basis for most of the later works.” Although the scope of the research did not allow for a comparative analysis, it is strongly believed that the conclusions reached in this study could also be applicable to many of Rainier’s other works, especially of the early period. The study consists of an introduction in which the Barbaric Dance Suite is contextualised, followed by the main body of the thesis that consists of a detailed analysis of each of the three movements. The foremost method of analysis used is set theory analysis, which could be briefly described as a method whereby (particularly atonal) music is segmented and categorised in pitch class sets. As set theory focuses exclusively on the dimension of pitch, traditional methods of analysis are employed to examine the other musical parameters. In the conclusion, the analytical results are contextualised with regard to existing pronouncements on Rainier’s oeuvre. The study also comments on the applicability of set theory as analytical system in Rainier’s music. The many complex pitch relations that were discovered by the intensive analysis of pitch content has given enough evidence to conclude that Rainier’s use of sonorities has been unjustly neglected in the discourse of this work and perhaps also in her musical style as a whole. It is hoped that further detailed analysis of her use of sonorities in other works could lead authorities to revise the insistent pronouncements on her rhythmic use in favour of a more balanced assessment of all aspects of her compositional style.

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