Structural and Prestructural Compositional Aspects of Sonoristic Music
Doctoral student: Andrius Maslekovas
Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Raminta Šerkšnytė, Prof. Dr. Rimantas Janeliauskas
Research consultant: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Martinš Vilums
Department: Composition
Duration: 2012–2016
Abstract
Andrius Maslekovas
Until the second half of the 20th century manipulation of pitch existed as an indisputable paradigm of musical organisation. However, increased significance of timbre and loudness has infirmed the established hierarchical system of musical parameters, turning the dimension of sound quality into a central element in the construction of a musical piece. Works by such composers as György Ligeti, Krzystof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski or Helmut Lachenmann may be regarded as an outburst of said transformations, and along the new aesthetic and constructive ideas that their music contained, it may even be regarded as a paradigmatic turn. The said paradigmatic transformations of compositional construction also prevail in the works by such present-day composers as Mathias Pintscher, Johannes-Maria Staud, Ondřej Adámek, Kaija Saariaho, Harrison Birthwistle, Toshio Hosokawa and others. However, even after nearly six decades since the sound quality has become an aesthetic category and this paradigm has blossomed in a variety of forms and shapes, the methodologies of contemporary music analysis are unable to disclose the essential compositional aspects of this music or the causal dependence behind them. This thesis aims to explain compositional principles of this music and the origins of their emergence. Fields of psychoacoustics and cognitive psychology are employed here. In the light of this knowledge the key aspects of impact of sound parameters on formation of sonoricity is explained, as well as impact of principles of Gestalt perceptual grouping on the communication system that prevails in sonoristic music. This work contains detailed analyses of various communicational levels, that are illustrated in the examples from pieces by Ondřej Adamék, Sofia Gubaidulina, Andrius Maslekovas, Ramūnas Motiekaitis, Mathias Pintscher, Doina Rotaru, Johannes-Maria Staud and many other composers. The last chapter of this thesis is dedicated to the analysis of the oeuvre of Andrius Maslekovas. All structural and prestructural aspects that are discussed throughout this work are being unveiled in detailed analyses of “Calligraphies of the Last Rays” for clarinet, viola and piano (2014) and “Incantation of the Freezing Haze” for flute solo (2013).
