MICHAEL BAKRNČEV Volume 1 – Chamber works Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Master of Music – Folio of Compositions ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3130-1362 Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Music Produced on archival quality paper Student ID: 671255 Submission date: 14-03-2016 v DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY This is to certify that: The folio comprises only my original work towards Masters of Music (composition), except where indicated in the Preface. Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used. The folio is between 50-60 minutes in length, as approved by the Research Higher Degrees Committee. Michael Bakrnčev March 14th, 2016 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my supervisor and teacher, Elliott Gyger, who has taught me much about myself, music and upholding a consistently professional approach in a career in composition. I will be forever grateful. Thank you to Brenton Broadstock who taught me for a semester, and within that semester was able to help me with my breakthrough regarding the extension of musical ideas. Thank you also to head of department, Stuart Greenbaum, who has (without fail) responded consistently to my urgent requests and needs and questions – late on weekdays, and even on weekends. You have taught me about not being afraid to go the extra mile, thank you. Thank you to Benjamin Northey, Julian Yu, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Australia, Trio Adorno, Trio Medici, the Linos Piano Trio, Kupka’s Piano, Cameron Millar & Chris van de Kuilen for performing my music. Thank you to my fiancé Emily for your support, understanding and patience especially during the last few weeks of my candidature. Thank you most of all to God, and my beloved family. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS RECORDINGS ........................................................................................................... viii FOLIO INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... ix-xvi Volume 1 PIANO TRIO NO. 2 - JANINO .................................................................................. 1 FORTIFIED ECHOES ................................................................................................ 45 SAXOPHONE CONCERTO ...................................................................................... 87 Volume 2 201 DREAMS & THEIR INTERPRETATIONS ......................................................... 1 SKY JAMMER ............................................................................................................. 49 viii RECORDINGS 1. PIANO TRIO NO. 2 11 '20'' Performed by the Linos Piano Trio Live performance recorded at the Elizabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre by ABC Classic FM, during the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition on July 18, 2015 2. FORTIFIED ECHOES 10'30 '' Performed by Kupka’s Piano Live performance recorded at the Queensland State Library, Brisbane, on May 16, 2015 3. SAXOPHONE CONCERTO 18 '20'' Performance by Cameron Millar (Saxophone) and Chris van De Kuilen (Piano) Live performance at the Vierwindenhuis, Amsterdam, on December 14, 2015 4. 201 DREAMS & THEIR INTERPRETATIONS 13'30 '' Performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Recording of a workshop performance at Iwaki Auditorium on October 21, 2014 5. SKY JAMMER 8'30 '' Performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Northey Live performance recorded at Iwaki Auditorium on February 10, 2016 ix FOLIO INTRODUCTION The purpose of this brief folio introduction is to give the reader a general overview of the works presented within this portfolio, including aesthetic and philosophical issues that helped inform my compositional process throughout my candidature. Each of the five works contained within this portfolio shall be discussed briefly, in chronological order. The reader should be made aware at this point that my musical output and thinking thus far in my career has been stimulated heavily by Macedonian folk dance and folk song tradition, which is my heritage. 201 Dreams & Their Interpretations 201 Dreams & Their Interpretations was written for a workshop which was held by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. As it was the first piece that I wrote during my candidature (but not the first orchestral piece I had ever written) I went into it with some level of confidence. However, I was certainly aware of my main technical challenge, (later to become my ‘breakthrough’ moment during my candidature), which was being able to extend musical material across larger formal spans. I decided that this work was to be treated as an advanced exercise in orchestration, rather than have (the preferred) focus on motivic development. I am naturally drawn to the music of the Divine Liturgy according to St. John of Chrysostom, being of Eastern Orthodox faith. At the beginning of my candidature, I was attending church quite regularly, which included 3 hours of Church every Sunday. I observed Saint’s days, and even participated in fasting for six weeks in the lead up to Christmas and Easter. As a musician and composer, I was particularly intrigued by the frequent occurrences found in the Liturgy of elements from traditional Macedonian folk music – certainly no surprise, yet always fascinating to know. x One of the musical fragments found at the end of this work, expressed as violin harmonics in a very slow progression and secondly as an oboe solo, is a direct extract from a chant sung during Easter. Oboe solo (b. 176-179) – Orthodox chant sung during Easter Another increasingly prominent element of my compositional style is adapting Macedonian folk melodies into my own music. In this case Zaplakala je vdovitsa (A widow shed her bitter tears) was incorporated into the work. This is a rather captivating melody which suited the direction I wished the piece to go at the time, firstly because it is in free meter which meant that I was less restricted with how I could manipulate the rhythms and secondly, because of the smooth contour of the melody, which allowed it to suit the dream-like nature of the piece. I particularly enjoyed retrograding the rhythm and layering the melody in fifths in the next section of the piece (b. 70-80). One of the strongest features typical to the Orthodox Liturgy and in folk music is a particular cadence, which UCLA Ethnomusicologist, Boris Kremenliev, labels in his book 1Bulgarian-Macedonian Folk Music as typical of the Byzantine church mode “Glás I”. This particular cadence has a specific hold over me in my own music. One can see in the example below an F natural at the top of the scale and an F sharp at the bottom, which gives the minor modality a sudden major lift. Example of the cadence as stipulated by Kremenliev 1 Kremenliev, B. 1952. Bulgarian-Macedonian Folk Music. Los Angeles, United States: University of California Press. 59 p. xi This cadence is found in countless examples of Macedonian folk music and is reproduced in a variety of different ways. It plays an important role in this work, and is represented multiple times throughout the works contained within this portfolio. 201 Dreams & Their Interpretations: (b. 5) – violin II 201 Dreams & Their Interpretations: (b. 7 & 8) – violin I & II 201 Dreams & Their Interpretations: (b. 43 & 44) – French Horn I 201 Dreams & Their Interpretations: (b. 131 – 134)) – Flute I xii Piano Trio No. 2 – Janino Another example of the “Glás I” cadence is found in the Macedonian folk dance the Janino Oro. An oro is a dance typically performed at celebratory occasions, such as weddings, christenings and other festivities related to religious events. The Janino Oro is an exciting, fast paced dance in 18/16 meter, consisting of repeating chains of twos and threes, in this instance, 3+2+2+2+2+3+2+2. I became immediately attracted to this oro once I began to teach myself how to play it on the traditional Macedonian wooden end-blown flute, the kaval (which is similar to a Turkish ney). 2Example of the cadence (in bar 2) in the Janino Oro, as notated by Linsey Pollak The rhythm of the Janino Oro has been used in different ways throughout the work, including elongating and shortening of the melody itself, which is often harmonized in fifths, but also by mimicking the ‘chains of twos and threes’ rhythm by way of accented notes in bars 108 through to 116, for example. Janino Piano Trio No. 2: (b. 108 & 109) – Violin (accents stated as 3+2+2+2+2+3+2+2 – same as the rhythm of the Janino Oro). 2 Pollak, L. 2005. Macedonian Folk Music. Queensland, Australia: Lerista Editions. 30 p. xiii Janino Piano Trio No. 2: (b. 168 - 170) – Violin (melody expansion with altered harmonization) A technique I developed during my candidature was utilizing the circle of fifths, so that my harmonies are constantly evolving (or in a constant loop). An example of this can be found in this work from bar 188 through to bar 193. In bar 188, a septuplet semiquaver pattern is set up with specific notes. Beat four in bar 189 changes: I shifted it up a fifth, and then took it down an octave. In bar 191, beat four remains in its new position, whilst beat three moves up a fifth. In bar 192, beats three and four remain in their new positions, while beat two moves up a fifth. Then, in bar 193, beat one shifts up a fifth, so then by the time we reach bar 194, there is a new sequence of notes, therefore allowing me to change tonality as I please. Janino Piano Trio No. 2: example of the ‘fifths technique’ right hand piano only (b. 188 - 193) There were many other pieces I wrote in between 201 Dreams & Their Interpretations and this work, where I was often struggling with the concept of motivic development. I began working on this piece in late 2014 (while I was studying with Brenton Broadstock), and it was while writing it that my ‘breakthrough’ occurred. My ‘breakthrough’ was learning the ability to extend my musical material. At first, I would write perhaps eight bars of music, and would change to a completely different idea (as I didn’t have the tools or technique to be able to extend the material contained in those eight hypothetical bars), but would try and connect the two ideas smoothly, which I found incredibly frustrating.