New Directions - Context and Background by Mr Chapman

Symphony of Psalms

mrchapman_music — 2023-10-06 09:13:20 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPNrvzdn3qI

Prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune

mrchapman_music — 2023-10-19 21:38:24 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UAYCubihlc

Background

mrchapman_music — 2023-11-16 21:34:38 UTC

When?

1920s

Who?

Schoenberg, Webern, Berg

Why?

Breaks from tonal system.

2nd Viennese School - link to classical music.

Instate a new standard/system.

The Theory

mrchapman_music — 2023-11-16 21:43:45 UTC

Pieces based ordering the 12 semitones to form rows.

Prime - row in order

Retrograde - row backwards

Inversion - inverts the intervals of the prime.

Retrograde-Inversion - inversion backwards.

All rows can be transposed to start on any pitch.

Features

mrchapman_music — 2023-11-16 21:43:55 UTC

Atonality.
Dissonance.
Use of serialism.
Angular melodies with wide leaps.
Pointillism
Interpretations of traditional forms

Webern Quartet Op. 22 Movement 1

mrchapman_music — 2023-11-16 21:47:31 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlE5wt6SnOc

Berg Violin Concerto

mrchapman_music — 2023-12-07 20:52:36 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_X5e9ImQxo

Schoenberg Vier Sticke op 27

mrchapman_music — 2023-12-07 21:50:36 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxTwPOHWEHI

What was it? - Ideas and aesthetics

mrchapman_music — 2024-02-08 20:38:30 UTC

'New Classic'

Clarity and sense line

Primacy of melody over harmony

Stripping out of emotional expression - moving away from romanticism.

Started to favour woodwind over strings.

Musical Features

mrchapman_music — 2024-02-08 20:38:59 UTC

Key composers

mrchapman_music — 2024-02-08 20:39:07 UTC

Stravinsky

Milhaud

Hindemith

Pulcinella Suite: Sinfonia

mrchapman_music — 2024-02-08 22:05:01 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_E7w9P8x5o

Pulcinella notes

mrchapman_music — 2024-02-08 22:06:24 UTC

Pagodes

mrchapman_music — 2024-03-08 13:35:18 UTC

Estampes - Pagodes Handout

mrchapman_music — 2024-03-08 13:36:18 UTC

Pagodes - Mr Chapman's Notes

mrchapman_music — 2024-03-08 13:36:41 UTC

LSO - Seminar

mrchapman_music — 2024-03-08 13:37:20 UTC

Context

mrchapman_music — 2024-03-08 13:37:47 UTC

When - Post Romantic / Early C20th

Paris at the turn of century - 1900 World Fair

Debussy first encountered Gamelan.

What is it?

Influenced by impressionist painting - giving an impression of something. Reaction to realism and fixed form.

Lack of definition - blurring

Soft edged

Colour and shade - 'nuance'

Who?

Debussy, Ravel,

Pagodes Audio

mrchapman_music — 2024-03-08 13:39:12 UTC

Nationalism

mrchapman_music — 2024-05-03 08:31:11 UTC

Context

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:13:01 UTC

When - 1920s - Schoenberg, Expressionism, emanicipation of dissonance. Stravinsky - Rite of Spring.

1950s-70s - John Cage, Stockhausen, Messiaen, Berio, Varese, Ligeti.

Modern aesthetic - drive for new ideas, harnessing new technology, avant-garde.

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:21:25 UTC

Integral serialism - took the ordering and numbering further to control other musical elements including instruments, rhythm, structure etc.

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:25:24 UTC

Modes of limited transposition - working to find new systems and combinations to replace tonality.

Based on prime numbers - 17 and 29 note rhythms, sequence never realigns.

Expressive use of dynamics

Dissonant

Challenging for performers (and audience)

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:26:08 UTC

+Aleatory

4:33

Electronics

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:33:19 UTC

Micropolyphony

Kubrick

Context

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:34:41 UTC

Opposite of modernism - desire for simplicity, tonal, often major, includes amplified instruments, rhythmic.

Philip Glass

Steve Reich

Terry Riley

La Monte Young

Context

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:34:49 UTC

Musique Concrete - Pierre Schaeffer - combined real life sounds to create a soundscape. 1920s.

Tape techniques.

Synthesizers 1950s/60s - sounds shaped by tone generators.

Effects interacting with real instruments.

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:41:03 UTC

Tape and voice

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:41:44 UTC

Interest in exploring the possibilities of instruments - techniques, sounds, ranges etc.

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:51:41 UTC

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 10:56:34 UTC

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 11:03:26 UTC

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 11:06:01 UTC

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 11:07:44 UTC

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 11:11:26 UTC

Greek myth. Combination of live voice and instrument and synthesizers.

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 15:04:38 UTC

Audience walk between speakers playing the piece.

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 15:11:19 UTC

Manipulation of recorded vocal sounds.

Double Bass and Live electronics

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 15:16:30 UTC

Inspired by similar ideas - ambience and layers to add density and explore tonal possibilities of a single instrument. Exploration of sonority. Reverb, looping, delay (echo)

Cello and Live Electronics

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-04 15:26:22 UTC

More tonal and melodic - uses mix of acoustic sound and electronics. Looping, reverb.

Musical features

mrchapman_music — 2025-09-05 08:45:08 UTC

Lack of harmonic direction

Free in sense of form - melody and harmony.

Rhythm and pulse undefined, spacious.

Rubato.

Sound over structure.

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-02 20:36:03 UTC

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-02 20:36:58 UTC

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-02 20:37:22 UTC

Introduction to Spectralism

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 19:31:03 UTC

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 19:31:46 UTC

Spectralism

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 19:43:52 UTC

Exploration of held note dissonance - similar effect to harmoniser. Combination of close harmonies and the acoustic effect created.

Gerard Grisey

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 19:45:26 UTC

Hyper virtuosity

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 19:48:06 UTC

Extreme level of complexity designed to stretch the performer as an element of the composition. Playing technique - breath tone, percussive tapping, bending, glissandi, extremely disjunct and episodic.

Brian Ferneyhough

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 19:51:30 UTC

Solo Cello sonority

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 20:03:17 UTC

Expanded use of instrument techniques, unusual and complicated demands on the performer. Exploration of instrument sonority and possibilities.

Electronics+Live Instrument

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 20:10:55 UTC

Shows how the use of electronics in live performance had become a key influence among composers in 20th Century - also stretching to minimal composers such as Steve Reich.

Spectralism

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 20:35:56 UTC

Close dissonance, utilisation of sound of harmonic partials/series. Exploration of tonal layering.

Tristan Murail

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 20:36:41 UTC

Quarter Tone Music

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 20:37:48 UTC

Quarter tone piano

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 20:40:05 UTC

Quarter tone possibilities - smoothness of chromatic movement. The possibilities of close intonation combination.

Quarter Tone

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 20:40:59 UTC

Julia Kent

mrchapman_music — 2025-10-09 20:43:24 UTC

Sonority: Prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune - Debussy

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 07:32:33 UTC

Use of solo woodwind sonority to open - Flute.

Similarity to the bassoon opening. Debussy places the flute in the mid range creating a more mysterious mellow tone in contrast to the intense and even strained sound of the bassoon voiced in its highest register.

Sonority: La Mer - Debussy

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 07:32:52 UTC

Debussy uses of orchestral colour and layered textures, often combining unusual instrumental timbres to create more of a soundscape. This is comparable to the varied orchestral colours in the Introduction, where Stravinsky uses unusual instrumental registers to create atmospheric textures.

Sonority: Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 07:40:17 UTC

Bartók highlights individual instrumental groups and unusual timbral combinations, often treating the orchestra as a collection of soloists. This is similar to the distinctive orchestration in Jeu du Rapt where instrumental textures are also sharply contrast to intensify the drama.

A further possible parallel is in the use solo orchestral instruments to imitate traditional Hungarian and Romanian folk instruments and timbres.

Rhythm: Holst - Mars

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 08:28:49 UTC

Holst uses a relentless 5/4 ostinato rhythm in the strings that drives the entire movement and creates a mechanical, militaristic character. This is comparable to the pounding accented chord ostinato in Les Augures Printaniers, where repeated rhythmic blocks generate a similarly aggressive and primitive energy.

Rhythm: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 08:31:11 UTC

Bartók frequently uses irregular rhythmic groupings and driving ostinati, creating tension through constantly shifting accents. This resembles the changing metres and unpredictable accents in Jeu du Rapt where rhythmic instability heightens the sense of violent movement.

Harmony: Petrushka - Stravinsky

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 08:37:36 UTC

CHORD OF THE WEEK #1 - THE PETRUSHKA CHORD - YouTube

Stravinsky layers C major and F♯ major triads simultaneously, producing the famous “Petrushka chord” and creating striking bitonality. This is closely comparable to the E♭7 and E major polychord in Les Augures Printaniers, where two unrelated harmonies clash to create extreme dissonance.

Harmony: Miraculous Mandarin - Bartok

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 08:39:49 UTC

Bartók uses dense chromatic harmony and dissonant orchestral chords to create a brutal, unsettling sound world. This parallels the violent harmonic clashes and dissonant chord blocks in Les Augures Printaniers.

Harmony: 5 Orchestral Pieces - Schoenberg

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 08:44:04 UTC

In these pieces Schoenberg uses atonal harmony and fragmented melodic gestures, producing intense dissonance and unstable musical textures typical of Expressionism. This is comparable to the violent harmonic clashes and dense orchestral sonorities in Jeu du Rapt, though Stravinsky’s music tends to rely more on rhythmic energy and repeated chord patterns.

Melody: Romanian Dances - Bartok

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 08:46:56 UTC

Bartók incorporates authentic Eastern European folk melodies, often using modal scales and narrow melodic ranges. This is similar to the folk-derived bassoon melody at the start of the Introduction, which also draws on Russian folk material.

Melody: Hary Janos - Kodaly

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 08:48:46 UTC

Kodály writes melodies based on Hungarian folk scales and dance rhythms, giving the music a distinctly national character. This mirrors the folk-influenced melodic style in the Introduction of The Rite of Spring.

Tonality: Daphnis and Chloe - Ravel

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 08:51:41 UTC

Ravel often uses extended tonal harmony and modal inflections, creating ambiguous tonal centres rather than clear functional progressions. This is comparable to the weak tonal focus in the Introduction of The Rite of Spring, where harmony functions more as colour than traditional progression.

Sonority: Symphony of Wind Instruments - Stravinsky

mrchapman_music — 2026-03-13 09:14:09 UTC

In the Introduction of The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky gives unusually prominent roles to solo woodwind instruments in extreme registers, most famously the bassoon opening melody in a very high register, followed by layered entries from other woodwinds.

This emphasis on clear instrumental colour and prominent woodwind writing does anticipate Stravinsky’s later Neoclassical works, where wind instruments frequently take structural or melodic prominence.