A Dialogue of Music between East and West: New Interpretations of 20th-Century Art Songs Based on Ancient Chinese Poems
(2024)
author(s): Zijing Meng
published in: Research Catalogue
This research aims to combine my two artistic identities as a Chinese zither (古筝) player and as a classical singer. After researching, interpreting and analyzing two art song cycles from the 20th century, 5 Poems of Ancient China and Japan by Charles Griffes and Songs of Autumn (秋之歌) by Zhongrong Luo (罗忠镕), I integrate Chinese traditional music forms, ornamentation and instrumentation into my vocal performance. The methodology includes literature review, expert interview, internet media review, score analysis, language analysis and experimental music practice. The outcomes highlight my approach of incorporating inspiration from zither music and folk singing styles into the art song cycles, while also addressing the ethical considerations encountered throughout the research process.
Albeniz, from the piano to the wind
(2023)
author(s): Celia Matamoro
published in: KC Research Portal
Albéniz was one of Celia’s favorite composers from her childhood and always felt a special connection to his work. However, in the fifteen long years that she has been studying music, she has never been able to play any of his pieces on the bassoon. Now that she has finished her master's degree -and she had to reflect on where she comes from and, ultimately, who she is-, she decided to investigate the composer in depth with the aim of arranging his Spanish Suite, originally written for piano, so that at the end of so many things, she can interpret it with her reed quintet.
Thanks to its flexibility and wide palette of colors, sound, and articulation, the combination of reed instruments achieves a greater range of register and color, and provides Albéniz's music, inspired by elements of flamenco and Spanish folklore such as cante jondo, a texture and expressiveness that evokes the human voice.
Caire Reed Quintet was formed in 2020, in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic crisis. The five of them are from Spain and they share the same passion for Albéniz. With this work the author wishes to offer other composers and performers the opportunity to discover, learn and experience how much the reed quintet's sonority can contribute to certain styles of music such as Spanish nationalist, reaching a greater range of register and color, and endowing this style of music from a new perspective.
Intabulation as process and practice (Master thesis)
(2021)
author(s): Asako Ueda
published in: KC Research Portal
Research Title:
Intabulation as process and practice
Research questions:
When it comes to the manifold surviving solo lute intabulations from around 1500, where is the line between "unwritten" and "written" intabulation?
Intabulating involves the writing out of several parts into tablature, but does this twofold distinction really apply to all pieces?
What was the process of appropriation of vocal polyphony for a lutenist of the early 16th century?
How can we apply this to our own processes?
Abstract:
Intabulation refers to the arrangement of vocal pieces for what Johannes Tinctoris refers to as a “perfect instrument”, amongst which he counts such instruments as keyboards and the lute – and it implies writing out the parts of a polyphonic composition into tablature. However, after playing many surviving intabulations for several years, I had a strong feeling that there must be an “unwritten” solo lute intabulation practice behind the “written” intabulations from the beginning of the 16th century, in contrast to the more “composed” intabulations from the time after the mid-16th century. While surviving sources provide us with much information on what lutenists played, they also hide the “unwritten” practice which they did not record. We can only imagine what was happening. In this thesis, I investigate the process of intabulation by lute players from this time by analysing and comparing different versions of the same song from different sources. Through this research, I trace the transition of the changing style of intabulation, which is in turn related to the transition of lute technique from plectrum to finger-plucked and the change in style of the vocal models. Moreover, the diffusion of printed music changed the manner of the transmission of music. To conclude, I hypothesise that lute players might have listened to and copied each other’s intabulations unconsciously, and when they wanted to preserve their work, they might have made some adjustments to their intabulations. The study also suggests how to apply these ideas to actual intabulation practice, which will be presented in the Research Symposium online as a video format.
Biography:
The Japanese lutenist Asako Ueda studied the lute at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Mike Fentross and Joachim Held and completed her Bachelor's with the highest achievable mark, which gives her the opportunity to continue to the Master’s program with the Excellence Scholarship of the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. She won first prize at the Biagio Marini Competition and third prize at the International Van Wassenaer Competition.
She started playing the violin at the age of five. After finishing her Bachelor’s degree with the violin in Tokyo, she continued to study the Baroque violin and composition.
https://asakoueda.com
Britten Folksongs and Their Traditional Counterparts
(2020)
author(s): Phoebe Kirrage
published in: KC Research Portal
Phoebe Kirrage
Classical Singing
Research Supervisor: Anna Scott
Britten's Folksong Arrangements and Their Traditional Counterparts
Question: How do the Britten Folksong arrangements relate to their traditional counterparts, with an emphasis on text?
This research explores the relationship between traditional British folk songs and their Benjamin Britten counterparts.
The function of this research is to create a new relationship between the original songs and their values and the impressions brought about by Britten through his edits. Primarily through harmonic arrangements, changes in melody and textual edits made by Britten.
Both folk and classical music have been crucial components in my life and have shaped me as a performer. There have been a great number of folk songs and tunes arranged for classical music yet there is very little dialogue between the two styles.
I have used a combination of my own fieldwork, interviews, rehearsals, recordings and historical research to create an in depth research into the differences made to the traditional songs by Britten in his arrangements. The final results have come to fruition in the creation of an in depth analysis of the differences between the arrangements and the songs, and a full recording of the sixth book of folk songs with guitar. The outcome is a combination of the two musical styles to create a new sound. A concert will follow in which the new arrangements will be performed in a space and atmosphere inspired by both classical and folk performance spaces. A noticeable difference in my classical performing has also come about through the research into storytelling and freeness in folk performance in combination with classical performance.
Phoebe Kirrage is a British soprano, having previously studied Musicology at Royal Holloway University of London, she is now pursuing her masters degree in classical singing under the teaching of Noa Frenkel. Having sung from a very early age, Phoebe has had the privilege of performing in some of the UKs most prestigious performance venues, including The Royal Albert Hall and The Barbican. In the Netherlands Phoebe has had the opportunity to perform in spaces such has the Grote Zaal in TivoliVredenburg. Upcoming performances include Britten's Turn of the Screw and Psalm 42 by Mendelssohn.
Accompaniment on bandoneon
(last edited: 2019)
author(s): Kaspar Uljas
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The art of accompaniment is a very specific form of musical expression. It is something completely different from instrumental ensemble playing or solo performance. I used to play jazz accordion for many years prior to my exploration of tango and now, since studying the bandoneon I find myself with the same set of problems – how to play well with others? This pointed me towards my research question: “How can I develop a personal way of accompanying singers and instrumental soloists on solo bandoneon by studying the styles of Dino Saluzzi, Rubén Juárez, Leopoldo Federico, Juan José Mosalini?”
Throughout this research, the way of working consisted of transcribing, playing, analyzing the results, writing down my favourite patterns or characteristics/key elements of accompaniments and composing new arrangements. A big part of the data collection consisted of making transcriptions of four well-known bandoneon players from Argentina, who all have a different and comprehensive way of accompanying singers.
This study will give a first look into important elements of tango music and how to use these elements in my own artistic work. Nowadays, it is no longer expected for bandoneon players to necessarily have accompaniment skills. I find it absolutely necessary in order to become a more versatile, fully-developed musician.
This research aims to combine my two artistic identities as a Chinese zither (古筝) player and as a classical singer. After researching, interpreting and analyzing two art song cycles from the 20th century, 5 Poems of Ancient China and Japan by Charles Griffes and Songs of Autumn (秋之歌) by Zhongrong Luo (罗忠镕), I integrate Chinese traditional music forms, ornamentation and instrumentation into my vocal performance. The methodology includes literature review, expert interview, internet media review, score analysis, language analysis and experimental music practice. The outcomes highlight my approach of incorporating inspiration from zither music and folk singing styles into the art song cycles, while also addressing the ethical considerations encountered throughout the research process.open exposition comments (0)