Reconceiving Structure in Contemporary Music: New Tools in Music Theory and Analysis

194 Pages·2015·3.044 MB·English

by  Judith Lochhead

Reconceiving Structure in
Contemporary Music
This book studies recent music in the western classical tradition, offering a
critique of current analytical/theoretical approaches and p roposing alterna-
tives. The critique addresses the present fringe status of recent, music some-
times described as crossover, postmodern, post-classical, post- minimalist,
etc., and demonstrates that existing descriptive languages and analytical
approaches do not provide adequate tools to address this music in posi-
tive and productive terms. Existing tools and concepts were developed
primarily in the mid-twentieth century in tandem with the high modern-
ist compositional aesthetic, and they have changed little since then. The
aesthetics of music composition, on the other hand, have been in constant
transformation. Lochhead proposes new ways to conceive musical works,
their structurings of musical experience and time, and the procedures and
goals of analytic close reading. These tools define investigative procedures
that engage the multiple perspectives of composers, performers, and listen-
ers, and that generate conceptual modes unique to each work. In action,
they rebuild a conceptual, methodological, and experiential place for recent
music. These new approaches are demonstrated in analyses of four pieces:
Kaija Saariaho’s Lonh (1996), Sofia Gubaidulina’s Second String Quartet
(1987), Stacy Garrop’s String Quartet no. 2, Demons and Angels (2004–05),
and Anna Clyne’s “Choke” (2004). This book defies the prediction of clas-
sical music’s death, and will be of interest to scholars and musicians of
classical music, and those interested in music theory, musicology, and aural
culture.
Judy Lochhead is a theorist and musicologist whose work focuses on the
most recent musical practices in North America and Europe, with particular
emphasis on music of the western classical tradition. Her work builds upon
concepts and methodologies of various post-philosophies with a particular
emphasis on post-phenomenology. She teaches in the Music Department at
Stony Brook University.
Routledge Studies in Music Theory
1 Music and Twentieth-Century
Tonality
Harmonic Progression Based on
Modality and the Interval Cycles
Paolo Susanni and Elliott
Antokoletz
2 Reconceiving Structure
in Contemporary
Music
New Tools in Music
Theory and Analysis
Judy Lochhead
Reconceiving Structure in
Contemporary Music
New Tools in Music Theory and Analysis
Judy Lochhead
First published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Taylor & Francis
The right of Judy Lochhead to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lochhead, Judith Irene.
Reconceiving structure in contemporary music : new tools in music theory and
analysis / by Judy Lochhead.
pages cm. — (Routledge studies in music theory ; 2)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Musical analysis. 2. Music—21st century—Analysis, appreciation. 3. Music—20th
century—Analysis, appreciation. 4. Saariaho, Kaija. Lonh. 5. Gubaidulina, Sofia,
1931- Quartets, no. 2. violins (2), viola, cello, 6. Garrop, Stacy, 1969- Quartets,
no. 2. violins (2), viola, cello, 7. Clyne, Anna. Choke. I. Title.
MT140.L55 2015
781—dc23 2015004471
ISBN: 978-1-138-82433-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74074-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
To George, Christopher, and Danny—my musical muses
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Contents
List of Examples, Figures, and Tables ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
PaRT I
1 “Modern” Music Analysis 17
2 What Is Musical Structure Anyway? 46
3 Music Analysis—Producing Knowledge 68
4 Reconceiving Structure: Investigating, Mapping, Speculating 85
PaRT II
5 Technê of Radiance: Kaija Saariaho’s Lonh (1996) 105
6 Difference and Identity: Sofia Gubaidulina’s Second
String Quartet (1987) 123
7 Incessance of Memory: Stacy Garrop’s String Quartet
no. 2, Demons and Angels (2004–05) 147
8 Spiral Morphing: Emergence, Saturation, and Uncoiling
in Anna Clyne’s Choke (2004) 163
Index 177
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List of Examples, Figures, and Tables
ExaMPLES
3.1 Hans Thomalla, Albumblatt, excerpt. 72
a) Instruction page
b) First system, mm. 1–5
3.2 Eleanor Hovda, Lemniscates, First and Third systems. 73
3.3 Anna Clyne’s Steelworks, mm. 39–43. 75
5.1 Lonh, mm. 36–47, end of Prologue to beginning of Section I. 109
5.2 Comparison of Melodic Contours: Saariaho and Jaufré. 115
5.3 Melodic Structuring of Soprano Part by Section:
Range, First and Last notes, Modal Collections. 115
5.4 “de loing” Motive: Statement and Transformations. 117
5.5 “Dieu Plat/Parra Jois” motive and transformations. 118
a) Section III, “Dieu Platz” (“Pleases God”)
b) Section IV, “Parra Jois” (“Joy will surely appear to me”)
6.1 Second String Quartet, Reh 1–2, mm. 1–6 123
6.2 Second String Quartet, “Reaching Out”
gestures in Violin I and Cello, Reh 5–9, mm. 15–21. 129
6.3 Second String Quartet, Part 2, Reh 21, mm. 44–50,
Reaching Up and Renewing, Three Event-types of the
Mosaic Design. 136
6.4 Second String Quartet, Part 2, mm. 65–67 and 86–87,
“Renewing” gestures. 139
6.5 Second String Quartet, Part 3, Reh. 36, mm. 123–26,
Affirmation, Alternating Sonorities. 141
7.1 Tarantella and Waltz Dance-like figures and the
“Poor Wayfaring Stranger” tune. 148
a) Tarantella
b) Waltz
c) “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” tune
7.2 Contour and Range Characteristics of the Waltz and
Passing motives. 153
a) Waltz motives
b) Passing motives
8.1 Choke, Opening—Time 0:00-:38 (mm. 1–12). 164