Abstract
This PhD portfolio crystallises my practice-based research focused on stretching the boundaries of the guitar’s idiom through technological innovation, arrangement and new music collaborations.
In the centre of the research sits the development and practice of a new Magnet Capo System and the Ligeti Guitar. This new system and new guitar prototype allow the rapid transformation of open-string sets by the placement of single and double-string capos. It radically extends the idiomatic features of the instrument concerning voicing, harmonics and resonances.
The innovation was strongly inspired by the process of arranging 21st-century piano music, in particular by György Ligeti. The choice of name, Ligeti Guitar, is not solely a gesture of honour but also an intent to create a bridge between the guitar and musical modernism.
The portfolio contains a thesis integrating five papers and a multimedia folder encompassing scores and recordings of my arrangements and of new compositions by collaborating composers, all accompanied by additional documentation. The five papers explore different intersections of Innovation, Arrangement & Collaboration.
The first two papers discuss the utilisation of the magnet capo system and Ligeti Guitar in my arrangements of Béla Bartók’s The Night’s Music, three movements of György Ligeti’s Musica Ricercata and Frédéric Chopin’s Berceuse, and a new work, Six Miniatures composed by David Gorton. Through these works, I explore the extended idiomatic features as per the transformation of the instrumental space and extension of affordances, bringing in the terminology of Gibson, De Souza and Merleau-Ponty.
The third paper analyses different Arrangement processes, contextualising and creating terminology for guitar arrangement.
The fourth and fifth papers discussing Collaboration, comprise two different methods: collaborating with composers on arranging their works and collaborating on creating new pieces for guitar. The fifth paper explores my collaboration with György Kurtág on arranging his pieces for guitar. The sixth paper explores the radical guitar textures of new works created in collaboration with composers, including David Gorton, Tom Armstrong, Daragh Black Hynes, Gráinne Mulvey, Alessio Elia, Áine Mallon, Petra Szászi, Samu Gryllus, Péter Tornyai.
The contribution to broad guitar scholarship and practice is evidenced by the demonstration of the Magnet Capo System and the Ligeti Guitar, the creation of a new repertoire, and the discussion of new findings in the field of guitar space, cognition, arrangement, collaboration, and additional contribution to historical musicology related to Kurtág’s guitar works.The last section, Reflections and Visions, of the portfolio addresses my perceptions and future plans on my journey with the Ligeti Guitar. It aims to outline further potentials of the Magnet Capo System and Ligeti Guitar and outline future ideas for innovation, augmentation, dissemination and collaboration.