Analysing Peter Maxwell Davies' Ave Maris Stella
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2020
- In this lecture, we're analysing Peter Maxwell Davies' Ave Maris Stella and seeing how we can use his Magic Square technique as a compositional process. We'll be discussing the difference between pre-composition and composition and how it's important to compose freely and not be governed by a pre-compositional process. Pre-compositional processes are useful for generating ideas or getting over writer's block. They shouldn't be the piece.
Here are some useful timestamps:
00:36 Context: Peter Maxwell Davies
01:27 Ave Maris Stella
03:29 The Magic Square
03:43 The Magic Square: How it Works
03:50 The Letters/Pitch
05:15 The Numbers/Durations
07:52 Composing with the Magic Square
08:18 The Cello Part
08:42 The Piano Part
09:56 The Viola Part
11:00 The Alto Flute Part
11:54 The Marimba Part
12:57 Pitch Centricities
14:19 The Clarinet Part
15:42 Compositional Structure of Ave Maris Stella
19:46 The Main Points
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#lecture #analysis #composition
Fascinating these composers, as are you. Way in over my head with the magic squares, but do follow and read music to some degree.lol played most brass instruments, love the sound. Your very nice to share all this , and very pleasant to watch and listen to. With mornin coffee☕ have a great day
Thank you so much, this is a lovely comment :)
This is one of the few discussions of PMD’s magic square technique. Sharing!
Great! Thank you! Love the way you present it! It is so entertaining to watch!
That's lovely to hear thanks :)
Thank you for this. This Aussie was captivated by you and your Yorkshire accent! ;) This piece and the first Symphony have always been my favourites of Max's works. It's interesting that the details of the compositional process are completely hidden by the wonderful textures and incidental harmonies. Much in the same way as it is with a lot of Boulez. Would you agree?
Hi Michael, thank you for your comment. It's refreshing to hear someone say they're captivated by the Yorkshire accent haha...you make a good point also, I think there's something to be said here about the distinction between precomposition (getting those "materials") and composition (structuring them into music). Even though many composers can use the same precomp. process, it's the composition itself that is unique to the composer, right?
The structure of the magic square comes directly from the rotational principles of Krenek, who influenced Stravinsky’s late period. It is a simple process.
I remember Max talking passionately about canons, mind you, he was normally passionate about anything to with music. He said even when he wasn’t composing, this was in the mid 70s, he would write canons to keep his technique finely honed, the equivalent of playing scales and arpeggios. Canons were bread and butter for him.
Sadly, most of the informal talks Max and Stephen Pruslin gave about his music were ephemeral and not recorded as far as I know. His pre concert talks for the Fires of London concerts at the QEH set the tone. This is a marimba concerto in all but name.
Thanks very much for this comment, it's very interesting! I'll have to research more into Krenek, thanks for pointing this out. It must have been really invaluable to hear Maxwell Davies speaking about music firsthand / in person.
This is really good.
Thank you! :)
@@AlannahMarie I would like to share this link with my Masters composition class. They are studying this piece this term. You explain in a very fun way. More fun than me. I think I scare them with all the numbers.
Thank you so much! Of course you can share this with your Masters students.