Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemLearning Britten's Violin Concerto: a reflexive & collaborative approach to interpretation( 2019)Performance manuals are seemingly divided into two approaches: those that provide the reader technical instruction on the execution of a work or works and those that adopt a more self-reflective investigation into personal performance practice. Using a critical, reflexive approach, this thesis examines the development of a highly-personal interpretive methodology that aims to create personal authenticity in my interpretation of Britten’s Violin Concerto through the cultivation of a combined composer-performer perspective that stimulates my technical decisions, thus developing a framework I can freely apply to a variety of contexts within my broader performance-practice. Through a detailed investigation, Part One analyses significant events and experiences that shaped Britten’s early life, developing a lens to inform my interpretation of the score. Part Two demonstrates how my interpretation of Britten’s compositional craft and the specific technical decisions I arrived at in my practice supports the narrative uncovered in Part One. This study aims to provide an example to performers looking to apply a methodology to their own practice to assist in creating highly personal interpretations that attempt to honour the intentions of both composer and performer.
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ItemStudies in the iconography of Franz Liszt( 2001)This iconographical study examines how Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was represented in visual art and proposes an explanatory framework for analysing these representations. The method of iconographical analysis focuses upon the art historian Michael Baxandall's concept of pictorial style. An essential aspect of this approach is an examination of the use of visual cues to read the iconography of Liszt. Nineteenth-century beliefs of pathognomy (bodily gesture and expression) and physiognomy (physical appearance) were found to have pervaded the iconography. These concepts are then applied to the different genres and media of Lisztian iconography, including the "high art" of oil portraiture, and popular prints such as lithography, photography and caricature. Depictions of Liszt at the piano are analysed separately in an attempt to relate the iconographical study to performance practice. The study found that Liszt was represented differently according to the particular media and genre of the representations, and that there was no unified manifestation of his image. No one model of visual representation has been found, explaining why a single canonical image of Liszt has not endured. There are, however, recurring visual motifs in much of his iconography. Two prominent but contradictory themes within Lisztian portraiture are the representation of Liszt as a Romantic genius, separate from society, and the depictions alluding to the artist as hero, esteemed within society. These differing visual themes reflect Liszt's own uncertainty regarding his emerging role and growing status as a musician. Liszt's association with many leading artists of his time facilitated the cultivation of images that suited his ambitions as a leading Romantic figure. A specifically visual theme present in many portraits is that of allusiveness; namely an element of evasiveness in Liszt's gaze as seen by the viewer, relating to the concept of the Romantic artist as an isolated genius. A suitably interpreted iconography of Liszt at the keyboard supports a reassessment of his role in the development of nineteenth-century pianism. A large number of depictions were considered unreliable as indicators of Liszt's piano playing, but each medium has its own strengths and weaknesses in terms of historical veracity as a performance practice document; photography, specifically, offers topographical exactness while not being a reliable indicator of posture and gesture. This contrasts with caricatures of Liszt, which were found to indicate reliably his gestures at the piano. These findings are validated through various written records of Liszt throughout his lifetime. It is argued throughout the study that the most appropriate method of analysis of Lisztian iconography is through a recognition and classification of nineteenth-century visual practice.
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ItemCreativity and improvisation in classical music: an exploration of interpretation and ownership( 2010)Creativity is an intangible yet very much real element of the human condition, an abstract concept or process proven by its representation in the material and metaphysical products of innovative human pursuits. In terms of music, creativity is demonstrated in the efforts of composers of musical works, whose preparatory undertakings result in a specific product of amalgamated intentions, and conversely in the spontaneous inventions of improvising performers, who both create and perform their works in real time. What of the many so-called classical musicians out there, who while rigorously and comprehensively trained in the creation of the ideal sound on their respective instruments via employment of the ideal technique, complete such training with a view towards the performance of the musical realisations of another’s creative urge? It is as a classical musician myself challenging the artistic merit of what I do that I embark upon this line of questioning, with a view towards clarifying the potential representation of creativity within the constraints of performing already-composed works, and identifying the role improvisation could play in interpretation as the bridging of the gap between articulating another musician’s notes and conveying those notes’ perceived meaning with a sense of personal voice. In doing so I call upon the perspectives of musicians from the genres of repertoire performance, improvisation, and composition through a survey process which presents a practical exploration of these musicians’ motivations, experiences of creativity, notions of sound, voice, interpretation and ownership and opinions of the personal impact on all of these that musical improvisation has had or may have. The original research is grounded in examinations of the historical and contemporary contexts of improvisation’s role in classical music performance. Responses indicated that experimentation with one’s own musicality in the form of spontaneous composition – ideally a pure, direct and honest self-expression – is an immensely useful exercise. Indeed as an exercise, and because of its immediate nature, improvisation can aid in the expansion and deepening of a musician’s knowledge of, and facility on, their instrument – the performer moves from the cycle of purely repetitious execution into a more direct and informed exploration of the notes, and thus an awareness of and contact with the more meaningful communicative potential of said notes.