12 tone row exercise ... becoming tonal.

Fairfield

https://youtu.be/qcLsjlZa5f0

All Spitfire BBCSO + LABS Choir track.

Essentially an exercixe after reading an exposé on 12 tone series 'rules' etc... Gtadually abandoning to become more 'lyrical'.

Luthien

Wow, I love this.

I should add that I don't know a lot about serialism / 12-tone composition and generally find it too cerebral to inspire anything else than an equally cerebral appreciation, eg. "that's very well done".

But this is really interesting, exactly because of the contrast between atonal and tonal you create. In that sense it reminds me of Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, where the composer quotes a Bach chorale in the last movement to create a sense of transcendence. Actually, I think I feel the same quality in some of Messiaen's works, where suddenly structure emerges from apparent chaos. It's fascinating.

Thank you!

Fairfield

Oh wow Luthien... your observations are so precise. Love Messiaen so much. Of course I do not dare compare myself, but I will accept your comment as inspiration here.

It is in fact my first experiment with 12-tone composing, after spending one afternoon on a thesis of the principles of the style. Inspiration came.

Again, many thanks for taking the time to post.

Cheers

Taron

Oooohhh, this is so exciting! You're turning this thread into what I was hoping for it to become, really; exchange of compositional exploration and understanding. Just wonderful!

Love what you're done, @Fairfield . I find that the moment you get lyrical waltz, you slightly abandon the qualities of your exercise a bit much or too sudden. You find your way back again, which is when it gets beautifully mysterious and playful. When it gets back into the waltz then, however, it shows how well this theatrical mystery was building a bridge. I can imagine it would be a good reason to explore skipping the first departure (1:54...) or breaking it apart a bit more to avoid the sudden "harmlessness", haha.

I am getting a kick out of the 2:54 onward adventure into the prairie on drugs, hahaha, that's hilarious and has a wonderful sense of satire to it. At 4min it turns into a prelude to a hangover, making the rest of the track a perfect treat again.

But the whole thing is a treat and a wonderful feature of both BCCSO and actually the LABS choir, used in perfect context! VERY inspiring, really! Fantastic! 😃

Krisp

Genial ! J'adore !