Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemComposition Folio( 2022)The thesis consists of a folio of works (Volume 1) and accompanying dissertation (Volume 2) together with audio recordings of each of the folio works. The dissertation is between 20,000 and 25,000 words while the recordings of the folio works has a total duration of 92 minutes. Audio recordings of each of the works is provided, comprising both live and studio recordings. The folio of works consists of chamber and orchestral works of acoustic forces, including (in size of instrumentation); a Second Piano Sonata, a Sonata for flute and piano, a Piano Trio, a quintet for flute/piccolo, Bb clarinet, violin, cello, piano and Chinese finger cymbals (Towards Patmos – after Holderlin) and a work for large orchestra (Visions from the interior – after Fred Williams). The dissertation examines an ongoing creative tension between tradition and modernity in the work of the candidate’s compositional practice, posing the overall question; can a contemporary composer combine historical techniques (including techniques of the 20th century) to create music that communicates to a 21st century audience? Within this overall enquiry, the three research questions are: 1. Can I develop a personal voice while using historically established techniques such as; serial pitch and rhythmic organisation, motivic development, contrapuntal devices and mirror techniques? 2. How does the use of techniques listed above interact with my individual harmonic language? 3. How do extra-musical ideas and influences impact on my musical technique and form? Reflecting on the evolution of the candidate’s practice during candidature, the dissertation (Volume 2) examines this creative tension, and related research questions, in relation to each of the folio works and draws the following conclusions. In response to questions 1 and 2, the candidate has concluded that his exploration of certain specific combinations of ‘historical techniques’ (Question 1), together with a conscious interaction of these techniques with his harmonic language (Question 2) form the key to his personal voice as a composer (Question 1). Within this conclusion, two clear insights emerge. The first is that in using a tone row and serial pitch processes, he increasingly explores new ways of generating and using such material in functionally tonal rather than atonal ways. The second insight is almost the reverse of the first: that when he combines contrapuntal processes with 20th century techniques, he has a strong tendency to create music of a harmonically and rhythmically challenging nature, with unstable textures. In response to question 3 (regarding the influence of extra-musical ideas and influences on the candidate’s musical technique and form) the candidate has concluded that his use of a ‘mirror/inversion’ technique to build overall form now appears to be only one of many available musical responses to the concept of dialectic. In particular, he has developed a broader approach which includes the concept of ‘overcoming struggle’ towards a more organic musical and human flow, as a flexible formal device.
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ItemFolio of compositions( 2012)The works in this folio were written between August 2010 and July 2012. They represent and traverse a significant period of development in the life of the composer. In particular, the works reflect the composer’s attempt to find a way of writing that enables him to synthesize two hitherto separate styles of writing; a more accessible ‘tonal’ style, and a more challenging ‘atonal’ style. Although the works in this folio show elements of both styles, in general the composer feels that during the period of study he has developed a way to combine aspects of both styles in a single work, with the following characteristics: • an advanced harmonic language, capable of moving flexibly between the more or less immediately accessible; • a strongly motivic way of writing melodic material; • using aspects of 20th century compositional pitch-generating techniques; and • more advanced 20th century rhythmic devices. The folio comprises the following compositions: • ‘Three Pieces for Piano’ (2010); • ‘Keith’s Dream’, for Bb clarinet and piano (2011); • ‘Mystic – Homage to Franz Liszt’, for organ, four hands and pedal (2011); • ‘Night Dances’, being Movement 2 from ‘Ancestors’ for Orchestra (2011); and • ‘Time is another river – seven fantasies on Spanish poems’, for Bb and A clarinet, cello and piano. The Folio is accompanied by a live CD recording of all the works, with the exception of ‘Mystic – Homage to Franz Liszt’. The duration is approximately 55 minutes. Scores and parts are available from the composer at info@tomhenry.com.au