'The Holy Grail of Piano Writing': Texture in Contemporary Piano Etudes

Abstract

Texture gets to the very heart of piano writing, illuminating the number, roles and interactions of lines (or ‘voices’) and the ways in which they are distributed between hands and fingers. Yet, as an area of investigation it has suffered from academic neglect up until relatively recently, and no one has yet attempted any wider survey of contemporary approaches to keyboard texture. This thesis explores this relatively untapped topic through the combination of analysis and composition. Piano Etudes by György Ligeti, Magnus Lindberg, George Benjamin and Unsuk Chin serve as analytic case studies; and paired with these are four original response compositions (discussed through commentaries), which confront the same topics examined in the analyses. The case studies provide a window into the myriad roles of texture in contemporary piano music. Several diverse techniques are investigated – some wholly original, some which build on long-established principles – from which comparisons and conclusions are drawn. The response compositions bring the topics into sharper focus whilst offering insights that would not have been available through analysis alone, both into the case studies and my own compositional process. Considering the many difficulties inherent to texture (for instance, its seeming lack of separability from its musical environment), the broader perspective gained by this mixed methodology is shown to be particularly valuable and suggests wider applicability.

Metadata

Supervisors:	Suckling, Martin and Howell, Tim
Related URLs:	Performance of compositions
Keywords:	Music, piano, analysis, composition, texture, etude, cross-disciplinary, Frederick, Viner, Ligeti, Lindberg, Benjamin, Chin
Awarding institution:	University of York
Academic Units:	The University of York > School of Arts and Creative Technologies (York)
Academic unit:	Arts and Creative Technologies
Depositing User:	Frederick Viner
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2023 13:51
Last Modified:	22 Mar 2024 12:39
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:etheses.whiterose.ac.uk:33742

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Supplementary Material

Filename: Viner_109032994_Etude IV FullScore.pdf

Description: Response composition: Etude IV - Toccata

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Supplementary Material

Filename: Viner_109032994_Etude III FullScore.pdf

Description: Response composition: Etude III - Meditation

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Supplementary Material

Filename: Viner_109032994_Etude II FullScore.pdf

Description: Response composition: Etude II - Flyby

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Supplementary Material

Filename: Viner_109032994 _Etude I Full Score.pdf

Description: Response composition: Etude I - Mirie it is

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Filename: Etude 1 - Mirie It Is.wav

Description: Response composition 1 audio

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Filename: Etude 2 - Flyby.wav

Description: Response composition 2 audio

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Filename: Etude 3 - Meditation.wav

Description: Response composition 3 audio

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Supplementary Material

Filename: Etude 4 - Toccata.wav

Description: Response composition 4 audio

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Examined Thesis (PDF)

Filename: Viner_109032994_CorrectedThesis.pdf

Description: 'The Holy Grail of Piano Writing': Texture in Contemporary Piano Etudes

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'The Holy Grail of Piano Writing': Texture in Contemporary Piano Etudes

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