Forest. Composition for Orchestra. Commissioned by the Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik. Supporting grant from PRS Composers’ Fund and Esmée Fairborn Foundation. Premiered at Schießhaus, Weimar, Germany, Apr 2018. Published by Verlag Neue Musik.
- Submitting institution
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Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- Pritchard1
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- April
- Year
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The initial concept underlying Forest, necessitating research into possible methods of realisation, originated in an ongoing concern with configurations of foreground profusion, density and diversity, partially obscuring, partially revealing, unrelated but defined linear features; metaphorically like dense arboreal profusion, enclosing and periodically revealing pathways and traces of abandoned linear structures.
In musical terms this suggested two primary categories of materials: a predominant foreground of dense, amorphous, non-temporally structured SOUNDSCAPES, enclosing partially perceivable, defined, linear EVENTS, in effect, the enigmatic presence of recurrent 'foreign' intrusions with a persistent underlying trajectory, but often partly obscured. With no known precedents for the idea behind the piece, two primary considerations required detailed consideration and research: pre-planning the FORM, and generating appropriate MATERIALS.
Accordingly, a structure was devised, using numerical/permutational processes, for controlling durations and superimpositions of a series of modules within two concurrent sequences, (i.e. the two categories of materials: soundscapes and events). I determined that the SOUNDSCAPES sequence would embody a diversity of characteristics, and include both homogeneous materials, consisting of sustained aggregates and rhythmic unison pulses, as well as heterogeneous materials, which would include complexes of legato lines, staccato fragments and fluid melismata. The EVENTS would include brief melodic fragments, gestural structures and 'quasi-chorale' passages. These range from passing intrusions to prominent foreground structures, emerging from and dissolving into the prevailing soundscapes; a process controlled by the numerical device, and exemplifying the significance of context as a determinant of perceived identity; a concept fundamental to ‘Forest’.
Regarding the materials, a computer-controlled permutational algorithm, evolved over many years, was adapted to generate variable pitch and duration sequences, with a wide range of different defining properties. These allowed considerable freedom of aesthetic response to different musical contexts, whilst also guaranteeing a high degree of objectivity and definition within materials, to interrogate the underlying idea.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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