disparate space, shared space

Abstract

This dissertation is the result of seven years of creative work, during which ten new musical compositions were conceived, produced, and premiered. Eight of these are represented herein. A portfolio of works brought into being over such a diverse and experimental period of time, both professionally and personally, complicates the natural assumption that such works belong to a singular shared aesthetic project, rather than arising from disparate——often contrasting——stages of thought. Despite the variation in content and general character of the following works, they at once demonstrate a continuum of preoccupations——an interest in attack and brevity evolving into an interest in sustain and length; a predilection for strings, earlier, and later winds; etc.——as well as illustrating several unifying qualities and fundamental lines of thought which were critical to my general artistic project during this phase: a consistent and ever-evolving investigation of time and notation, and the possibilities for the relationship between the two to evoke a separateness of spaces; a general sense of ritualism, in both behavior and in temperament; the use of harmony, in one way or another, as a grounding force; an exploration of ‘unclarity,’ a carefully crafted haze——often through an excess of detail——running through most parameters of the music; and, most crucially, the pursuit of and inaccessibility of stillness.