Plethora "Symphony No. 3" (composed 1998) represents a multitude of ideas in my compositional style. Most specifically, three areas of inspiration: the European Classical tradition, Asian music, and Jazz. While this may appear as a...
morePlethora "Symphony No. 3" (composed 1998) represents a multitude of ideas in my compositional style. Most specifically, three areas of inspiration: the European Classical tradition, Asian music, and Jazz. While this may appear as a musical collage, the goal of my technique is to combine these elements fluently. Since this is a work for an orchestra of equal-tempered Western instruments, it is clearly rooted in the European Classical tradition. While most of its compositional devices-motivic development, polyphony, chromaticism-are historically tied to the European Classical tradition, the work is inflected with gestural concepts from both Asian music and Jazz. These inflections are evoked through pitch, rhythm, and texture. Although all the pitch collections come from European chromaticism, (especially clusters and quartal/quintal harmonies), these form an accentuation of both Jazz and Asian music. The harmonies are often fit into a format retaining the elements of Jazz extended tertian harmonies. The chromaticism is also brought to represent the pitch collections of Asia. Although this music is equal-tempered, thus lacking the ability to truly use Asian pitch collections, I employ "non-diatonic" sounding collections that retain distinctive qualities of the Arab maqam, the Persian dastgah, the Indian raga, and, most significantly, the Indonesian Pelog collection. The distinctive "non-diatonic" Asian referencing qualities are multiple consecutive minor seconds and augmented seconds. The Jazz and Asian referencing qualities of pitch are felt in full force when implemented in specific textures and rhythms. The most important Asian textural device employed here is heterophony. Basically, two forms of Heterophony are expressed in this composition. One form of heterophony utilized is multiple versions of the same melody played simultaneously; this is related to textures found in East Asian and Islamic-Hindu music. Another form of heterophony utilized is a single melody that is rhythmically and texturally stratified and partitionally interleaved; this is related to the textures found in Southeast Asia. Other than the rhythmically referencing qualities of heterophony, Asian rhythm is alluded to through what is called "breath rhythm". "Breath rhythm" is especially indicative of Korean and Japanese court music. In "breath rhythm", longer durations are placed against shorter values in a seemingly non-pulsed feel. The contrasting pulsed Jazz rhythms, while employed throughout the entire composition, are most directly shown in the final movement. The most distinctive of Jazz rhythms used in the final movement are those of Afro-Latin origin, although the music occasionally slides into funk, electronica, and big band emphasis. The three movements of Plethora combine these concepts of pitch, texture, and rhythm through differing structures. The first movement, "Panoply", is a through-composed structure, where each of the three stylistic influences (European, Asian, and Jazz) is transformed through linearly. The second movement, "Vicissitudes", follows disparate paths, where each of the three stylistic influences are visited and combined in multiple ways. The third movement, "Techno Meso-morph", presents all the stylistic influences combined and unified. The Afro-Latin rhythmic base is specifically emphasized in this movement since Afro-Latin music is historically tied to European and Islamic musical traditions. This music represents the composer's multitude of interests and background in culture and music. However, on a larger level, it is also meant to represent the growing cultural diversity of North America and the worldwide "instant access" of the electronically infiltrated dawn of the twenty-first century.
