Det oumbärliga slutet is a composition for piano and tape in three movements, played attacca
(no breaks between the movements), with a duration of approximately 13:30 minutes. It is
written for and dedicated to the composer and pianist Anders Englund. In this composition the
piano plays the main role, and the tape provides different textures, with the role of adding
atmosphere and amplifying the expression in the piano part. The playback of the tape is
controlled with keynote (there is also a PowerPoint version) and the pianist is controlling the
keynote while performing. There is one tape part for each movement, with the tape being
longer than the piano part to give the performer more freedom in their shaping of the
performance. The tape part is composed in such a way that it doesn’t have sections that needs
to be in time with the piano, making the piano and tape parts relatively independent from each
other, but still complementary. The three parts are titled as follows:
Movement one: “Regn och åska” (Rain and Thunder)
Movement two: “Nästan Polska” (Quasi Polska)
Movement three: “Det oumbärliga slutet” (The Indispensable End)
This piece was intended first for only piano, and movement one and two were written with
that in mind. Both the form and musical material was mostly decided intuitively at the outset,
then revised mostly on the level of musical material, while the overall form stayed intact. This
could be described as a bottom-up strategy in the compositional process. The tape parts for
the two first movements were created when the piano parts were already completed. With the
third movement, I had at the beginning no real clue for what I wanted to write. So, I turned to
algorithmic and generative processes, creating an infinity series based on the fifth. I also
created tuned parts of the series to enclose characteristics from the first and second
movement. In this, the idea also adding a tape part emerged. My first thought was to generate
the tape part using the infinity series, and make it more of a texture in the background. I kind
of gave up on that idea, but ended up using parts of the series in the tape for the third
movement. The bass line in the Doom theme in the third movement also derives from the
infinity series. In movement three, the musical material for the piano part was mostly written
intuititively, except for the Doom theme. I created the material by playing the piano and
notated what I played into Sibelius. In this movement I composed the tape part simultaneously
and that influenced the piano writing tremendously.
The two first movements were written early on during this master’s project and therefore the
form for those movements is based on intuition. With the third movement I did think much
more about the form, and I wanted to connect the two earlier movements with the third.
Movement one and two are very disconnected from each other and don’t share any musical
material. The third movement is also written early during my research, and I had not
embraced the use of Freeform when writing music at this point. So, all of the form was made
in my head only and not written down.
Figure 5.20: Overall form of Det oumbärliga slutet.
When I made the analysis, I looked at the complete composition, and not on the individual
movements by themselves. That is the reason behind why the piano layer of the composition
has an unorthodox labeling in movement two and three, but looking at the overall form it is
logical. The tape part follows the same logic in the meso layer but in the macro layer I choose
to name it after the sound source used to create those sections.
Regn och åska
The form for the first movement in the macro layer for the piano is A, B, A1. Like in
Anchorings / Arrows the returning A1 section is structurally different in its mesoform. In my
piece I use the same musical material with variation as in my A section compared to
Anchorings / Arrows that blends in material from other sections in its returning A1 section.
The macroform for the tape is also in three parts and is with intention juxtaposed to the piano
to create a more interesting and complexed form. Another reason behind it is to not make the
performer feel the need to be in time with the tape. Since the tape is written to be in the
background is largely textural, crossfading is a prominent technique.
Figure 5.21: Form of Regn och åska.
The mesoform in the piano part is asymmetrical in its variations in the repats. That is a
reference to the randomness of thunder. Thunder is being depicted by a diatonic cluster in the
lowest register, and with the use of dynamics I’m representing the proximity of the thunder,
moving towards the listener in the beginning of the movement and moving away in the end.
The mode that is used in the entire movement consists of the notes A, B, Db, Eb, F# and G.
The asymmetry is seen most clearly in the A and A1 section while the B section is more
symmetrical to enhance the difference between the sections.
Figure 5.22: Example of asymmetry in the variations.
In the tape part the mesoform is simple, structured in larger sections. Each corresponding
meso section to the macroform has the same concrete sound-source, but processed differently,
to generate the different parts in the mesoform.
Nästan polska
The second movement named Nästan polska is, as mentioned above, composed intuitively on
the piano. I started from the beginning and composed to the end. Before I started, I created
some rules or guidelines for me to follow. One was that I wanted the opening melody and
main theme to have a touch of Swedish traditional music to it.
Figure 5.23: Example of polska melody in Swedish traditional music that I used as inspiration
for my opening melody and main theme. (Folkwiki, 2025, 3 March)
The second rule was that I decided for the movement to be in 3/4 meter. I tend to compose in
common time, and I wanted to break away from this. To create the main theme, I started by
playing a bunch of different polska melodies on the piano before creating my own. Once I had
the melody down, I composed the harmony to it then continued forward with the next part in
the movement.
Figure 5.24: Main theme in Nästan polska.
The macroform in this movement is in three parts, just as in the first movement. However, this
time there is a recapitulating section that is still structurally different but much shorter and
skips material that was presented in the exposition. This shortened recapitulation section gives
to me more the functional sense of a coda than a proper recapitulation. From workshopping
with Anders, he told me that the end felt to him as an echo from the beginning.
Figure 5.25: form of Nästan polska.
As mentioned above, I relied on intuition and feel when I wrote this movement, worked by
the piano and used a bottom-up strategy without thinking too much about the resulting form. I
do like the outcome, for me it’s very interesting since listening to the movement it has
character of popular and traditional form of being very recognizable, but still has surprises
and unexpected events in it. My aim was for this to me gives a freshness, but still much logic
and coherence, in the movement.
The tape part in the second movement does not really have a musical form, since it consists of
a long recording of nature sounds during summer. The reason behind that choice is that
traditional music reminds me of summer and nature. So, I wanted to give this movement that
atmosphere and really take the listener somewhere else. This provides great contrasts to the
other tape parts that makes use of more heavily processed sounds.
Det oumbärliga slutet
The third and final movement, the title of which also provided the title of the entire piece, Det
oumbärliga slutet, was composed using a multiscale planning approach. With this movement I
wanted to reuse musical material from the previous movements, to tie the entire composition
together. This happens in both the piano and in the tape part. In this movement, I wrote the
tape part simultaneously with the piano part. That led me to write the piano part with much
more air and breathiness. That makes the piano and tape much more internally
communicative. The tape part for this movement is still texture based, but when the piano is
not playing the tape shines through and completes the sonic experience.
Figure 5.26: Form of Det oumbärliga slutet movement 3.49
As stated earlier the tape parts are longer than the piano parts, to give the performer freedom
in their interpretation of the piece. A problem created by this method is how the composition
should end in a good way. The way I solved it in the last movement is that the performer
repeats the last section in the mesoform labeled K1 until the tape ends. In the previous
movements the performed would simply just switch to the next tape part before starting to
play the new movement.
The macroform for this movement in the piano part is Introduction, A section, B section, A1
section and B1 section. In my analysis it is labeled as F, G, H, G1, H1. The reason behind that
is that I’m looking at all the movements as one composition and not analyzing them
movement by movement. As a macroform it looks quite standard but the last B1 section (H1)
differs very much in its structure compared to the earlier B section (H). Giving it more the
function of a coda just like in the previous movement and not a complete repetition of the
section with variations.
The macroform in the tape part is more original, and is structured in eight parts. That is quite
many parts for one movement in the macroform so I’m seeing it more as a higher level of
mesoform. One way of analyzing the macroform of the tape part is to see it as a three-part
structure. Every part end with the Throwing Glass Texture but begins with different materials.
That makes every section its own while sharing a similar logic. Following this perspective,
I’ve labeled the parts A, A1, A2. Contrary to most macroforms in three parts, such as the
sonata, my form doesn’t have a contrasting middle part, which otherwise is one of the key
elements in a three-part form. The reason why it works here is that the beginning of each part
is different. If the beginnings would be the same, as well as the endings, and only rely on
small variations it would risk becoming monotonous.
Figure 5.27: Macroform for tape layer divided in three parts.
In my analysis of the mesoform my attempts at integrating material from previous movements
into the final movement for both the piano and tape parts come out rather clearly. Those
returning parts have variations to them but still keep their identity.
Figure 5.28: Bar 63, Reuse of material from the main theme of the second movement.
Labelled as D5 in the analysis of the piano layer.
As also can be seen in the analysis of the piano part is that the returning section in the
macroform has different structure in its mesoform. They differ both in the number of bars and
in the nature of their musical material.