This thesis is in two parts. Volume 1 is a discourse on notation and the musical event;
Volume 2 contains a body of original works (scores, recordings and performance
documentations).
The relationship between the two is symbiotic; the works might be seen as
exemplification of the ideas propounded in the written discourse, or the written
discourse may be seen as providing an analytical context for the works as a consistent
body of creative research activity.
All the works in volume two were either created, or realised to performance, during
the research period in which the discourse was written (November 1999 - September
2006). However, not everything created or performed during that time has been
included; the choice of works to be included has been a judicious one of those which
seem most pertinent to the topic of the thesis overall.
The research process which this thesis summarizes might be described as a series of
excursions, both theoretical and practical, into the space opened up by the
incommensurability between the score as prescribing artefact and the musical event as
historical and sensual fact. The intention has been to gain, or present, an overview of
this space as a whole in order to make it available to myself as a site of independent
creative activity.
The primary field of research for the written discourse has been the body of works
created within the concert tradition of the late twentieth century known collectively as
`graphic scores'. Seen as a collective body, they provide variety of `takes' on the
discursive space which arises between score and musical event.
I have taken my critical methodology from a number of sources within twentieth
century phenomenological thought and critical enquiry: most notably Heidegger's
observations about temporality, Derrida's grammatology, Gadamer's hermeneutics
and some of Peirce's observations about the nature of a sign.
Surprisingly, the thesis has a conclusion: that the works of the Viennese composer
Anestis Logothetis can be seent o representa radical re-assessment of the practice of
realising musical events from written scores, one which retains the faithful reading
whilst encouraging both an expanded sonic vocabulary and a greater stress upon the
autonomy and independent musical practice of the interpreting performer.
Date of Award | 2007 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | |
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PERFORMANCE AND THE PAGE: An artist's investigation of the dialogue between the musical event and the written score
McInerney, M. J. (Author). 2007
Student thesis: PhD