Kleines harmonisches Labyrinth, Introitus –
Johann David
Heinichen (formelly BWV 591)
Moro, lasso, al mio duolo, Part 1 (from Madrigals for 5 Voices, Book 6)
–
Carlo Gesualdo
Something We Can Dance To –
Marc Hannaford
Fuga a 4 Sogetti, Part 1 –
J.S. Bach (BWV
1080/19)
Chicken Man –
Marc Hannaford
Fuga a 4 Sogetti, Part 2
Anda One –
Marc Hannaford
Retrouvailles –
Elliott Carter
Kleines harmonisches Labyrinth, Centrum
La Loriot, Part 1 –
Oliver Messiaen
We Talk in Jests –
Marc Hannaford
Fuga a 4 Sogetti, Part 3
Moro, lasso, al mio duolo, Part 2
La Loriot, Part 2
Fuga a 4 Sogetti, Part 4
Thelonious –
Thelonious Monk
Fuga a 4 Sogetti, Part 5
(Exitus?)
* * *
Marc
Hannaford (piano) James Mclean (drums) Sam Pankhurst (double bass)
My recital
arranges various musical works into a kind of musical labyrinth, the outer-most
“wall” of which is Bach’s final fugue from The
Art of Fugue. Heinichen’s Kleines
harmonisches Labyrinth symbolises the listener’s journey through the maze, while
original pieces and improvisations, as well as works by Gesualdo, Carter,
Messiaen, Monk, act as ornamentations.
The inspiration
for my arrangement, which, in its dualism between background structure and
foreground ornamentation, also recalls Elliott Carter’s compositions that
include structural rhythmic frameworks, stems from two sources. The first is
literary and the second, musical (but with a literary background).
In his book Bach and the Patterns of Invention, Laurence
Dreyfus analyses works by J.S. Bach through “the inverse of synthesis or composition.”[1]
By uncovering embedded generative qualities in musical subjects he shows how they
and their transformations play
structural (rather than purely developmental) roles: “Within the composition of
a thematic idea . . . Bach is especially adept at encoding mechanisms that
ensure its elaboration.”[2]
The generative nature of Bach’s subjects and their development allow me to
regard particular pitches, registers, harmonies and rhythmic figures in BWV
1080/19 as “portals” to other pieces by a variety of composers. The result is
an hour-long program that encompasses a variety of pieces into (as I will
explain) an incomplete whole. The pieces overlap (reminiscent of Mozart’s Don Giovanni or Charles Ives’s Symphonies), are embedded one in another
(similar to sample culture in hip-hop) or are juxtaposed.
Kleines Harmonisches Labyrinth, once
thought to be by J.S. Bach, illustrates a journey into, through and out of a labyrinth,
with J.S. Bach as the Minotaur. Harmonically, entry to the labyrinth is symbolised
by a progression from C major through a series of false cadences to ever
distant key centres. The labyrinth’s centre contains a short but highly
chromatic fugue containing Bach’s name (also a feature of the final section of BWV
1080/19). Heinichen’s piece points to something outside itself; it is
incomplete in that encourages the listener to form associations between the
purely musical and the extra musical. Incompleteness creates a mystery (particularly
in a space such as a recital where completeness is the norm) that invites
active listening. Music that is deliberately incomplete “invite[s] completion
from the outside.”[3] That is, the
listener is invited to be absorbed by
the music, rather than simply absorb it.
Incompleteness
pervades my entire program: no piece is given a complete rendition according to
the published score except for Bach’s fugue, which was left unfinished by the
composer. Labyrinths and incompleteness are entwined; labyrinths must be
incomplete to invite our participation. Already “completed” puzzles are closed
entities the require nothing more from the outside; they are autonomous.
My time in the
Masters of Music (by Research) course at in the Faculty of the VCA and Music
has spawned many developments for my playing and thinking. It has, however,
included far more germs of ideas that
are waiting to be developed. Hence it seems fitting that incompleteness is the central theme for this recital; my degree will
show its true value in the coming years, when I have a chance to research, apply
and develop the many concepts that are yet to mature.
Bibliography
Dreyfus, Laurence. Bach and the
Patterns of Invention: Harvard University Press, 2004.
Leppert, Richard and Susan McClary, ed. Music and Society: The Politics of Composition, Performance and
Reception: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
* * *
Thankyou:
Donna
Coleman
John
McCaughey
Simon
Barker
Elliott
Gyger
Kate
Morris
James Mclean
Sam
Pankhurst
Emily
Thomson
Here's almost all of the video of the performance: the camera cut out a little way toward the end . . .just click on the "watch" tab.
[3] Shepherd, John. 1987.
Musical and Male Hegemony. In Music and Society: The Politics of
Composition, Performance and Reception (Cambridge University Press,1990), ed. Richard and Susan McClary Leppert,
164.
