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Composition Portfolio;
Commentary

My work this year has predominantly been focused on sparse texture, and
delicate harmony, articulated by extended techniques. Rather than placing
emphasis on the relationships between sound events, I have looked at these
events themselves as emphatically significant. Focusing on timbre, technique,
and harmony, I have looked to these moments as microcosms of sound,
surrounded by open landscapes that are often characterised by silence or very
empty textures. This is born out of research I have been doing into Zen Buddhist
philosophy, which employs similar concepts of spatiality throughout.1 As a
result, influences on my work have spanned from Feldman, to Jurg Frey, to Tru
Takemitsu (amongst others).

Whilst my portfolio does not have an overarching design that links each
piece to one another, each piece is akin in its reflective, atmospheric nature, and
in its subtly experimental design. It may be observed however, that this set of
pieces may be split into two halves, with the two duos (namely Onism, Overcome,
and Rain as submitted separately) akin in their focus on technique and timbral
possibility. Onism, Overcome, is, for me an expansion on the experimentations of
Rain, despite their varied sound worlds. Pieces Moonglow and Unheimlich may
thus be conflated. Both written for larger ensembles than the duets (Moonglow

1 Dale S. Wright and John Clayton, Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism, ed.
Steven Collins (United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 51.
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for quartet and Unheimlich for five players), these pieces look to resonances and
sustained harmony to articulate spatial emptiness.

Moonglow

The name Moonglow was inspired by a moon that I observed at the beginning of
the year. Brightness radiated, it seemed almost to pulsate; so I took a picture, and
in that picture lots of small orbs of light showed up in the frame. Inspired, I
thought of the name as aforementioned, and also imagined a specific structural
design for my piece. Namely, these floating orbs influenced my decision to create
a piece that featured a subtle harmonic landscape, decorated by inflections of
contained sound events.

Written for two Pianos, Marimba and Vibraphone, this work explores and
plays with resonance as a crucial structural and timbral device. Alongside this
however, are interjections of material that sit atop the foundations of resonance
and silence. The harmonic design of Moonglow was governed by pitch
collections, and their eventual interplay and overlap. For example, the opening is
centred on the three distinct pitches of G, F#, and C#, which unfold horizontally.
Resonating below, in the silent sostenuto chords is a chromatic collection of
pitches. Thus, the B flat and D that follow provide a striking alternative
perspective in their focused harmonic sonority. This kind of interplay is seen
throughout the work. Mainly, lines exist alongside another, even seen in the
opening as oblivious to one another. Their coexistence provides alternative
perspective and dissonances and unplanned harmonic inflection. Events where
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things do move together or interlock therefore become highly significant. For

example, the B flat and D in Piano one and the vibraphone as aforementioned in
the opening Free section, the Piano two and vibraphone F and B in bar 15, and
the final note of the piece in the Marimba and Vibraphone.

In relation to form, I was particularly inspired by Lutoslawskis Chain 2
from (1985). The intricate spontaneity of the works soundworld and
significance of specific musical events as shaping the structure influenced my
use of the same. Henry Cowells The Tides of Manaunaun (1917) influenced the
extended techniques I have used in the piano writing; namely the use of clusters
(and their notation as seen below).

Figure 2: Opening from The Tides of Manaunaun by Henry Cowell (1917).2

However, my main influences during the composition process were Jurg
Frey, and Tru Takemitsu. Each of these composers, whilst starkly different,
inspired the delicate harmonic soundworld that ensued. Tru Takemitsus Rain
Spell from 1982 prominently influenced the overarching aesthetic design. The
employment of silence, and moments of sporadic melodic fragments struck me,

2 Henry Cowell, Three Irish Legends, (2011),
http://imslp.nl/imglnks/usimg/8/80/IMSLP397806-PMLP191883-Cowell_-
_3_Irish_Legends.pdf.
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and this is thus translated, somewhat transfigured, in Moonglow. I also observed

the subtle use of silence and space in musical gesture in Fragile Balance (2014)
by Jurg Frey.3

Working closely with the resident Piano/Percussion ensemble at the
University during the composition process was something that proved
invaluable to the development of my work. Being able to rehearse and refine my
piece with the performers allowed for an attainment of clear notation, especially
with the extended techniques I had employed. The insight provided by the
ensemble also helped to refine the specific techniques I was using, and how they
were used. For example, during the early stages of working on my piece with the
group, I was informed that for the vibraphone, harmonics are fractious, and in
some of the places that I had used them, they would not break through the
surrounding texture. I therefore reworked this, and removed them where
necessary. The changes I made to the piece during the compositional process,
therefore, were made in light of listening and analysing the work in both
tutorials, and in rehearsal, alongside comments made by performers.

The way in which I wished listeners to receive Moonglow was with
particular attention paid to the individual events that occur throughout the
texture, and rise out of the resonances. I wanted the effect of this to be one of an
attentive listening experience, in which sensitivity to subtle shifts is the focus.

3 Anothertimbre, Jrg Frey - Fragile Balance, YouTube, May 6, 2015, accessed
January 11, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJPUjqQuYH8.
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Unheimlich

Unheimlich in some ways, moves on the explorations I had conducted in
Moonglow, providing an alternative perspective upon the possibility that
resonance may present compositionally. Here, I strove for a far more
homogenous soundworld, challenging myself to step away from fractious
impulsiveness. Whilst stasis was my main aim for this work, I also wished to
provide a focused glimpse into a soundworld that could arguably continue
outside of the boundaries of the piece. Thus, highly concentrated pitch and
timbral materials ensue.

In this work I explore continuity alongside a fragile atmosphere, which I
felt necessary in order to reflect the concept that inspired the name of the piece.
Written for Alto Flute, with an ensemble featuring Harp, Vibraphone, Viola and
Cello, the work was inspired by the literary concept of the Unheimlich, in which
something familiar becomes terrifying because of overexposure and/or
distortion. For me, a feeling is evoked by this that is always on the edge of
something, never quite releasing tension, situated in an almost veiled interspace
that lies between poles of light and dark. It is this lack of relief that inspired the
piece, and which I hope to communicate in the almost suspended homogeneity I
have hinted at. The simple, but expansive time signatures also helped to denote
the stasis I wished to communicate.

With this work, I stepped outside of my usual aesthetic, through a
deliberate use of continuity as opposed to Moonglow, which was governed by
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sporadic sound events. As a result, the harmonic language of Unheimlich, is very

carefully placed, and often vertical, not linear. This is juxtaposed by most of the
Alto Flute line which features highly linear solo material, and therefore moments
where the Alto Flute succumbs to this carefully placed, rather square aesthetic
(such as bar 10 and bb.61-62) are highly significant. The harmonic sonority I
have employed here is focused around scalic constructions. Like Moonglow, the
piece sits upon harmonies and pitch collections that intertwine and overlap. All
of the pitches were intuitively discovered through experimentation.

Extended techniques were, again, a focal point in the rendering of the
concepts that inspired the piece, and of the atmosphere I had envisioned. Hollow
tone alto flute techniques and alternative fingerings allowed for a focus on
timbre, that like the air sounds in the strings, aided in the communication of a
very specific soundworld.

With regards to the techniques used in this work, I was highly influenced
by Giuliano Braccis 2014 work Volti.4 The striking air sounds made on the Violin
and Cello here inspired my interpretive use of them in Unheimlich. Seen
throughout, this technique is central to the delicate, yet fractious soundworld I
wished to create. The homogenous stasis as central to my work was influenced
by pieces such as Feldmans Samuel Beckett, Words and Music, for two flutes,
vibraphone, piano, violin, viola, and cello from 1987 and Laurence Cranes Old

4 looptailmusic, Looptail / GIULIANO BRACCI - Volti (2014), YouTube, April
15, 2014, posted May 13, 2016,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLwHNKNhMo.
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life was Rubbish from 1998. This focus in my piece evolves and shifts, from held
chords, to solo Alto Flute lines; always returning to stillness, and to space.

The swelling chords that are a focal point in my work stemmed from
Braccis clashing sustained sonorities that move in and out of the piece, but also
from a work by Yannis Kriakrides that I stumbled across whilst performing
wider listening for my portfolio. The piece, entitled Atopia features
hyperamplified drones, with gradually evolving harmonies strung throughout.5 I
was struck by the immediate stasis achieved in the work, and strove to recreate
this in my own. Similarly, the background drone seen in Kaija Saariahos Tenju-
an Garden of Nanzen-ji Temple (1994) from her Six Japanese Gardens suite is
another example of the potential for stasis to enrapture and captivate the mind.
Written for Percussion and Electronics, the work also displays a texture, like my
own, in which background harmonic shimmers are decorated by melodic
material. Changes made to the piece during the composition process thus
enabled this basic premise of background vs. foreground to be articulated
more effectively. In order to do this, I effectively changed the role of the alto
flute, so that it acted, not simply as another member of the ensemble, but as a
solo line.

The listening experience I wished to create for this piece was inspired by
the uncanny nature of unheimlich. Essentially, I wanted to evoke a sense of
unease through familiarity, and a lack of evolution through the work. I have

5 Yannis Kyriakides: Atopia (hyperamplified), 1918, accessed April 12, 2016,
http://www.kyriakides.com/atopia_hyperamplified.html.
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aimed for the communication of somewhat disembodied sound, through

generalised familiarity, the use of stasis, and through the fact that the lines often
do not interact but merely coexist. These aspects of the work also serve to reflect
the literary concept of The Uncanny.

Onism, Overcome

Onism, Overcome for Flute and Piano was inspired by research I had conducted
into Buddhist and Shamanic practices. The name of this work was inspired by
the adjective Onism from the online Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.6 This may
be defined as the frustration experienced at the realisation that we are only able
to inhabit one body (and a body that is stuck in one place, at that). Namely, it
transmits a feeling of being trapped. This is linked to shamanic philosophy,
which expresses a want for a transcendent breaking down of the self, and to
Buddhist thought, which expresses a desire for non-attachment.7

The structure of my work thus works to reflect this splintering,
referencing spiritual impulse through the splitting and eventual freeing of parts
and lines. BB. 1- 26 see the flute and piano working together. Despite their
different timbral focuses, rhythmically they act as one, and the atmospheric

6 The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, accessed March 17, 2016,
http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com.
7 Dale S. Wright and John Clayton, Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism, ed.
Steven Collins (1998), 75.
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soundworld created through the whistle technique and the muted plucking
inside the piano serves to enhance the tension of this close texture. Bar 27 thus
sparks the beginning of deviances, with additional moments added in the piano,
whilst maintaining a very interlocked feel. This feeling of cohesive separateness
thus continues until bar 43, where the inclusion of the sighing flute singing
technique creates a different focus in the piece: a technique that I felt effectively
added another layer to the flute writing, and to the overall texture. This freeing
of the parts from one another thus continues to heighten, to the end of the piece,
seen at bar 45 with the inclusion of a piano line that is aesthetically unattached
from the right hand. The final section of the work may be seen from bar 65
onwards, in that the parts are completely oblivious to one another, and feature
many different lines and colours; the last stage in this splintering of the self, of
overcoming entrapment.

Throughout the research I conducted for my undergraduate dissertation,
I was in contact with shakuhachi player Kiku Day. During my communication
with Kiku, she directed me to the work of composers that utilised this ancient
instrument. One of these composers, Frank Denyer, struck me particularly with
regard to extended playing techniques. His use of the sighing voice in Woman
With Jinashi Shakuhachi8 written for Shakuhachi and Voice stayed with me, and
inspired the descending covered singing technique seen in my flute writing.

8 Ken LaCosse, Frank Denyer- Woman with Jinashi Shakuhachi, YouTube,
February 13, 2013, posted May 13, 2016,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwL6HqUWqFs.
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In contrast to the sparse soundworlds I had explored in Feldman,

Takemitsu, and Denyer, I was also greatly influenced by Sciarrinos Canzona Di
Ringraziamento for solo flute.

Figure 2: Opening of Canzona Di Ringraziamento by Salvatore Sciarrino (1985).

Here, the complex writing for flute is juxtaposed by the subtle, but striking
techniques employed. Out of my fascination with Sciarrinos many-layered
timbral extension of the flute, evolved my own combined use of whistle sounds,
with key clicks as seen in the opening to my piece.

Initially the framework I had envisioned for this work was far more
rhythmically driven in order to make reference to the driving rhythmic
repetition of Shamanic drumming. However, with the overarching design
focusing on the splintering of lines, this did not become wholly appropriate. The
first section, however, remains firm in its rhythmic focus, which arguably serves
to make the breaking down that follows more pertinent.

Extended techniques are employed throughout the piece, in both Flute
and Piano parts. The muted piano techniques were inspired by Henry Cowells
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use of the same in his Sinister Resonance from 1930. The striking sonority
produced by this action was reflective of the entrapment as referenced by the
concept of Onism, and also juxtaposed the starkly different whistle flute
technique performed alongside it, in the opening. Another piano technique I have
included is that of plucking inside the piano, also a very unique sound. I used this
for two reasons: the first being that the ability to pluck and play at essentially the
same time added another dimension, and another line to articulate the
splintering as a focus in the form of the work. On another level, however, the
metallic, fragile sound produced added to the myriad of timbral colours. This
kaleidoscopic quality to the piece is emphasised by the multitude of Flute
techniques employed. Tongue rams, air sounds, key clicks, jet whistles: all added
alternative perspectives and layers of sound to the atmosphere I had envisioned.
In particular, the singing flute effect added to this subtle soundworld.

The workshop conducted with Manuel Zurria and Mark Knoop on the 9th
of May 2016, in which our pieces were performed and rehearsed was
wonderfully informative. Being able to see the techniques I had included come to
life was invaluable for me in creating an understanding of how successfully they
articulated my aims. Specifically the singing into the flute, and the muted piano
doubling with plucking sounded even more effective in the context than I had
imagined. There were, however changes that I made to the piece as a result of
the workshop. Guided by Manuel, I changed the opening from whistle tones to a
technique that used whistling across the flute to achieve the airy sound alongside
key clicks. This provided a far more stable pitch, which could also be successfully
manipulated in the way that I had symbolically requested in the opening. This
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was a technique that I was not familiar with until this rehearsal. The performers
also advised me to give more time, where necessary, for these techniques (and in
some cases resonances) to sound. In particular, Mark Knoop suggested that for
the sustained open fifth of bar 68, more time would become appropriate to
emphasise its significance. I therefore altered this accordingly.

As aforementioned, I feel that Onism may be seen to lead on from Rain for
Bass Clarinet and Soprano. The techniques I have used here are far more refined,
and I deliberately aimed more for controlled separateness juxtaposed by
rhythmic drive as opposed to that which came across as random spontaneity. I
wished to transmit a work governed by space and a conceptual breaking down
of material. I wanted for the listener to notably perceive this splintering through
the spatial focus of the piece, and through the freeing of lines; two aesthetics that
come together at the end (from bar 65) to communicate absolute openness. The
combination of different timbres that swirl in and out of the texture, throughout
the piece, also served this constant weaving and diverging.

The pieces I have written this year have allowed me to settle into my own
stylistic impulse as a composer, and to display the beginnings of my own
personal compositional style. Despite this, there are aspects of my compositional
style that I now know I would like to look more closely at in future. For example,
I would now explore the spatial sensitivity I have begun to express, focusing
more on the evolution of resonance and silence, and their resultant interplay. I
also wish to continue to delve into timbre, and look at the single sound as a
centricity in my style. This timbral focus, alongside heightened employment of
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silence and space will result in a kind of opening up of my aesthetic, which thus
far has been somewhat condensed. Spirituality has a great influence over my
work, and this is something that I will more explicitly pursue.

Overall, this portfolio may be seen as a snapshot of possibility in terms of
where my aesthetic may continue. I have investigated silence, sparse textures,
resonance, and sustained sonority, alongside the employment of complex
extended techniques in order to communicate specific soundworlds as
representative of my own thought and perception of different concepts. The
different collection of pieces here presents alternative perspectives on a similar
aesthetic thread.

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