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Corners of the Sky

Abstract Details

2017, DMA, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition.
Corners of the Sky was written for pianist Kristofer Rucinski and conductor Jon Norywota, as part of the New Concerto Project. This project was developed by composer Rachel Walker and myself to help promote orchestral works, specifically those written by young female composers. The title is an adaptation of a title of a poem by Frederico Garcia Lorca, In a Corner of the Sky. This piece is a single-movement work for piano soloist and orchestra, with a form that is constructed in four distinct sections: A-B-A’-C. These sections are contrasting in character, as well as being distinguished by different treatment of the harmonic material. The first section is fully chromatic, using a twelve-tone chord at the beginning, and an ostinato that also uses all twelve pitches. Although section B also uses chromatic harmony, it is more focused on intervallic relationships, specifically tritones and minor seconds, and later, perfect fifths. Section C is the least harmonically dense section of the piece. Although it uses eleven pitches in total over the course of the section, they are spread out in the piano part over a flowing pentatonic ostinato, while the rest of the orchestra presents a sustained pentatonic chord. The construction of this work is based on five motivic ideas. The first is a plodding, insistent ostinato, first presented in the piano at the beginning of the work, and then passed through the orchestra until it builds up to a tutti climax. The second idea, a brooding, angular melody is also first presented by the piano. Fragments of this melody appear recontextualized throughout the piece in various sections of the orchestra. The third idea develops over the course of the piece. It is a chromatic descent, which first appears as only two notes, but gradually adds notes until it becomes a full chromatic scale passed through the woodwind section and descending portamenti played by the strings. The repeated notes that constitute the fourth motivic idea is presented as a rhythmic ostinato, and are sometimes combined with other motivic ideas. The final motivic idea is sharp, accented notes that appear first in the woodwinds as interruptions, and is later taken up by other sections of the orchestra. This idea is often combined with the repeated notes and the chromatic gestures.
Douglas Knehans, D.M.A. (Committee Chair)
Michael Fiday, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Mara (Margaret) Helmuth, D.M.A. (Committee Member)
69 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Harrison, L. (2017). Corners of the Sky [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1504871713130251

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Harrison, Laura. Corners of the Sky. 2017. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1504871713130251.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Harrison, Laura. "Corners of the Sky." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1504871713130251

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)