Timbre-texture co-ordinate

: (a portfolio of original compositions)

Abstract

The emergence and rapid development of innovative and revolutionary directions of avant-garde music in Europe during the twentieth century posed new problems and opportunities to composers, musicologists and performers. In some central movements and styles of the avant-garde it became impossible to find any traces of established forms of a melody or conventional rhythmic structures, and more and more works obeyed rules and aesthetics that went far beyond the existing paradigm of classical music of previous centuries.

The timbral-textural dimension became one of the foremost driving forces behind the architectonics of avant-garde music. This doctoral thesis researches and presents the theoretical formulation and practical implementation of the phenomenon of the timbre-texture co-ordinate, as well as being an introduction and study of the phenomenon of timbre-texture. This work formulates the theoretical definition and framework and also demonstrates its role within the structure of new music works written for diverse instrumentations ranging from solo instrument to chamber ensemble and orchestral symphony to opera and theatre. The author deals with music where there is no melody, harmony or rhythms in the traditional sense, and thus timbre-texture becomes the main instrument of developing and creating a new piece of music.

The research presents an innovative paradigm for composition, analysis and performance where timbre-texture is the fundamental dimension. It provides specific, rigorous and detailed demonstrations of ways of composing, analysing and performing avant-garde music with extensive use of new composition techniques and extended methods of playing instruments.

Date of Award	30 Jun 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Sponsors	Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Supervisor	Oliver Searle (Supervisor)