This dissertation explores the complex and intuitive elements of the author’s musical compositions. It investigates the concept of a composer’s ‘compositional voice’ by looking at the aesthetic and compositional techniques that are used to express it. In particular, it looks at the author’s expression of astronomy through his music, along with its realisation through both advanced and elementary performers. The aesthetic is examined by looking at astronomy and its relation to music. It observes the intricate ways that concepts to do with astronomy can be expressed through music, as well as the instinctive act of self-expression that arises from emotionally engaging with these astronomical concepts. The techniques used by the author to express these aesthetical ideas are generally found to be either complex or intuitive, and in turn can result in music that is difficult or simple. The complex techniques are found to be mostly process-based, using canons and subtractive and additive repetition in a similar manner to Olivier Messiaen, Steve Reich and György Ligeti. The intuitive techniques are made of instinctive creative decisions and use elements of performer improvisation and aleatory. The performer is the physical manifestation of the compositional voice; this relationship is developed through the application of both advanced and elementary performer techniques are used to reflect the author’s engagement with complexity and intuition. Due to their advanced technique, the advanced performer is found to be especially fit to realise the multilayered processes. These processes are used by composer Brian Ferneyhough, who appears to use the notion of ‘difficulty’, especially in terms of notation, as being an aesthetic technique itself. Other composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Béla Bartók and Benjamin Britten have written music for elementary performers. Furthermore, Britten and Peter Maxwell Davies have also written pieces for ensembles that include both advanced and elementary performers. All of these pieces that involve elementary performers have generally been found to be written either with the intention of being a didactic tool or with the intention of contributing to the composer’s immediate community. The aim in my aesthetic, however, is to combine the complex and intuitive aesthetic with both advanced and elementary performers towards a compositional voice that can embrace the elementary within complex processes. In short, the music aims towards being not only a service to the community but also an elementary-complex compositional voice capable of being relevant to the composer’s astronomy-related aesthetic. An analysis of the author’s compositions reveals evidence of the collaboration between complexity and intuition in the astronomy-related aesthetic, which is complexly realised in Messier 7 and intuitively realised in Stellar Meditations and Celestial Dances. It can also be found in the complex techniques in Celestial Shadows and the intuitive techniques used in the first two movements of Pale Blue Dot, and the interaction between the elementary and advanced performers that occurs in the IONS suite. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/234676 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Clark, Stephen J., University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, School of Communication Arts |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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