Abstract
The present submission consists of an Analysis of Luciano Berio's Sequenza VI for Viola (1967) and a folio of nine Scores composed between 2009 and 2013, which are accompanied by their recordings and a Commentary on the Compositions. Knowledge of the radical compositional trends of the avant-garde period and the more conservative and pluralistic creativity from the 1970s onwards is adapted to create coherent works of sophisticated and seemingly free forms. The following research questions are addressed: How can the serial and modal material be organized and combined? In the folio the serial material is elaborated in various ways to shape lengthy melodic lines freely harmonized by tertian harmony. The modal material is harmonized according to its own aesthetic requirements. The transition from an area of serial material to an aesthetically different environment of modal material is prepared gradually by modulations in harmony, texture, rhythm, dynamic and tone colour. How is the textural and rhythmic irregularity of Sequenza VI modelled in the folio? Sequenza VI, written for a solo instrument, develops a great textural and rhythmic irregularity in line with a large-scale structural thought. In the compositions, written for ensembles, the music develops in a more consistent manner by constant transformations between seemingly free and open events which occur within a sophisticated framework. A new event usually brings about a tempo and metric differentiation which is controlled by metric modulation. How might the performance freedom implied by the rhythmic notation of Sequenza VI be transferred to compositions for ensemble? In Sequenza VI the freedom in performance, implied by the unbarred conventional notation, mainly refers to the degree of rhythmic deviation which is allowed to the performer. In the compositions the sense of rhythmic freedom is obtained more by a variety of textures than by a rhythmic deviation in performance. The metric patterns are changed frequently in a consistent manner but not before a minimum aural comprehension. This approach requires writing with bar-lines for the best co-ordination. Broadly speaking the rhythmic parameter is exalted as the most important stylistic factor in both Sequenza VI and the Compositions.