Harmonic Centricity in Philip Glass’ 'The Grid”and 'Cowboy Rock’n’Roll USA,” an original composition

[摘要] Harmonic Centricity in Philip Glass’ 'The Grid”and 'Cowboy Rock’n’Roll USA,” an original compositionMatthew Aelmore, PhDUniversity of Pittsburgh, 2015This dissertation analyzes the harmonic syntax of Philip Glass’ music for the scene 'The Grid,”from the 1982 Godfrey Reggio film Koyaanisqatsi. Chapter 1 focuses on the five harmoniccycles, which are presented in twenty-one harmonic sections. Due to the effects of repetition,Glass’ harmonic cycles are satiated from the relationships of consonance and dissonance thatcharacterize tonal harmony. The five harmonic cycles, which appear in twenty-one sections, areanalyzed in terms of the type of harmonic centricity they assert: tonally harmonic centricity,contextually asserted harmonic centricity, and no harmonic centricity. The intervallic motion oftriads in these harmonic cycles is described by their organization in a symmetrically organizedpitch space.Chapter 2 shows how 'The Grid” is organized under a three-part structure due to theconstant fluctuation of rhythmic, metric, and orchestrational textures. The fluctuating context ofthese textures supply the dramatic charge and discharge of textural intensification, which allowsfor a sense of directional volition in the music that builds and releases between the work’s threeparts. Special attention is paid to the modulations between harmonic sections, which featuremomentary effects of cyclic conjunction and instances of atonal prolongation. The analysis endsby introducing a possible reading of a quotidian narrative of the everyday activities of the late1970’s working class American, based on the interaction of the musical structures described inthe analysis and the themes of the imagery used in the film.The second part of this dissertation is an original composition, Cowboy Rock’n’Roll USA,an experimental music theatre production composed through an extensive collaborative processbetween composer and performers. This piece is scored for soprano, flute, clarinet, countrysinger, and audio/visual technician and was premiered in Stuttgart, Germany in June 2014.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh