This study explores Judith Weir's abstract descriptive technique in her instrumental music, Distance and Enchantment (1988) for piano quartet and Musicians Wrestle Everywhere for ten instruments (1994). Folksongs and a location used and described in the music, respectively, are interpreted and "produced" through musical characters and mood. In most cases musical characters and gestures have a tendency to associate musical motion to arouse images. The decisions, ideas and styles in these compositions may be applied to works in other genres and her later works, as well.Keywords: Judith Weir's music; 20th-century music; music as description.Resumo: Este artigo discute técnicas descritivas abstratas da compositora inglesa Judith Weir em duas composições instrumentais: Distance and Enchantment [Distância e encantamento] para quartet com piano, de 1988, e Musicians Wrestle Everywhere [Músicos lutam em todo lugar], para dez instrumentos, de 1994. Canções folclóricas e locais mencionados e descritos na música, respectivamente, são interpretados e "emulados" por meio de caráter e atmosferas. Na maioria dos casos, o caráter musical e os gestos apresentam uma tendência de associar movimentos com a sugestão de imagens. As decisões, ideias e estilos adotados nestas composições podem server de modelo na interpretação de obras em outros gêneros, inclusive de sua produção tardia.Palavras-chave: música de Judith Weir; música do século XX; música descritiva. Data de recebimento: 03/12/2015.
This study explores Adams's interpretation of Baroque genres and his creative methods that draw on a relationship between past and present in the Violin Concerto. In this composition, Adams not only revives Baroque musical language through new performance practices, but also draws together diverse musical idioms, creating a way to communicate with our society. Repetition plays a large part in the Violin Concerto, but more in the sense of variation and sequences than of literal repetition. On the other hand, techniques such as the Lombard Snap and 'unequal-note' (notes inégales) are not treated in a traditional way. Structurally, although there is no trace of motivic connexion throughout the work, the music does not lack stylistic unity. The 'harmonic' language is generally consonant, which reflects Adams's honor of conventional musical sound. The Concerto certainly demonstrates the composer's creative imagination.
This study examines Sofia Gubaidulina's exploration of traditional musical idioms in her String Quartet No.4. Together with influences of Baroque and Renaissance musical styles, the composer experiments with the accommodation of minimalist repetitive musical texture and the European tradition of ground bass, providing a different kind of musical synthesis. Gubaidulina also explores new possibilities in several musical and technical aspects. Unexpected timbres are created in the music, providing a unique sonic experience.
Jörg Widmann is widely acclaimed as both a composer with striking originality in composing and a great clarinetist. His musical handling constantly engages with new musical ideas and approaches. In his dramatic and brilliant writing, combined with imaginative ideas, Widmann has created a remarkable Viola Concerto (2015). The concerto is linked with disparate ideas, designed in an unconventional manner, in which Widmann has turned a traditional concerto performance into something full of inventive effects and interesting sonorities, conveying not only his imaginative message, but also giving listeners an unusual, fresh and unique concert experience. This study addresses Widmann's operatic approach found in this composition.Throughout his creative career Widmann has often challenged himself in his own writing, exploring musical mixtures for sources and ideas that may not necessarily belong together. He explains that "com-posing -things which at first sight do not seem to belong together, but I put them together, maybe I force them together and maybe they still don't seem to belong, but it's com-posing." 1 He also thinks that "composition is the written improvisation." 2 The Viola Concerto was a commissioned work from the Orchestre de Paris, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. It was written for Antoine Tamestit. Widmann's highly individual sound-world is clearly heard in the Concerto. The necessary sounds are represented in the score with new symbols and additional instructions to suit the purpose of Widmann. The music ranges across an emotional continuum, from rage to sorrow. Musical contrasts are heard in the composition for intended purposes. The music runs from clashing dissonances, soaring viola lines, to melancholic lyrical beauty. It is as if the music is straddled between two separate worlds; at times the idiom is surprisingly experimental and complex, at other times it is
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934Davies ( -2016, an English composer, often wrote challenging pieces that projected his surroundings, culture and musical training. Throughout his creative career, Davies never short of musical ideas, and never strove to write compositions in prevailing or emerging musical trends. As he once claimed, "I have so many ideas for pieces of music that I want to write before I'm too senile to be able to do it," 1 and "I get very suspicious of people who say that in the twenty-fi rst century, music must be this, that, and the other." 2 Indeed, his music covers a wide range of styles and is full of ideas, as well as musical styles of particular periods interpreted in various ways. Although many of his early ideas and concepts are present in his mature style, during the past few decades, Davies' musical writing gradually developed into more subtle and accessible ways.This study therefore explores Davies' allusions to past practices in a contemporary context in his Naxos Quartet No. 8 (2005). The work demonstrates not only his musical vocabulary and handling that are familiar to pre-Romantic music practices but also musical ideas that give rise to his originality. He experiments with renaissance polyphonic writing and medieval practice, modifying them to make them modern in his composition. Davies' revisiting of Baroque English can also be seen in his musical elements that are derived from John Dowland's Queen Elizabeth's Galliard, joined with musical styles and ideas from Henry Purcell (1659-1695). Indeed, in the quartet Davies successfully recreated and transformed musical idioms of the past, with his own sounds and methods.
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