Doctoral portfolio of compositions

Abstract

I have always been interested in taking advantage of the inherent drama within a work in my compositional output, as I believe this is the key to successfully creating engagement with the listener. While selecting ideas to present for my portfolio, I found myself gravitating towards the setting of texts, as this provides an accessible dramatic blueprint to stimulate my musical thought. Hence, the compositions presented in this portfolio are all linked by the presence of a solo voice. As the texts were to form the dramatic and emotional impetus for the works, I decided that it was important that the vocal parts also became the foundational core of the music itself. As a result, the voice in these works play an integral role in informing, not only the mood of the accompaniment, but also musical elements such as pitch, rhythm, and form. My musical tastes and experiences are wide-ranging, and I have a particular interest in acknowledging influences across a broad range of styles and genres, from opera to industrial rock. The content of this folio reflects the diversity of my musical interests, in a way which I believe gives a well-rounded profile of myself as a composer and musician at the present time. These works include large-scale orchestral writing, chamber writing, and rock music featuring myself in a performing role. Au Revoir is a work for baritone and orchestra, with libretto compiled from the letters of a New Zealand soldier of World War I. Death of a Bullfighter is a large-scale chamber work for soprano, flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, and cello. The text comprises selected poems from Federico García Lorca’s Lament for the Death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías. Magpie is an EP-length collection of songs sung by myself, along with a band consisting of electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, oboe, clarinet/alto/tenor saxophone, violin, drum machine, and laptop-based sampler.