Chamber Music in Wales

Lynne Plowman was born in 1969, attended the Welsh College of Music and Drama, and studied flute and composition (including lessons with Andrew Wilson-Dickson) [cite: 738, 740].

Night Dances was commissioned by the Stratford English Music Festival and premiered in October 2002[cite: 781, 782].

The work consists of three movements tracing a narrative: a wild, intoxicating night-time dance, a gradual uncoiling of energy, and finally the night being overwhelmed by sleep[cite: 783, 784].

Exam prompt: What is unusual about the overall form and shape of Night Dances? How might it differ from a standard three-movement piece?

Plowman draws on Bartók's Bulgarian rhythms, Astor Piazzolla's tango repertoire, Ligeti's rhythmic build-ups (Musica Ricercata), Indian music (Ravi Shankar), and Bach's Preludes[cite: 798, 799, 800, 803, 811, 813].

Exam prompt: What types of traditional dance music can be found in Night Dances?

Much of the melodic material is based on two specific serial rows, particularly in Movement 1 (bars 18-50) and Movement 3[cite: 801, 802].

Exam prompt: Attempt a definition of Serialism. How strictly is the technique applied in Night Dances?

Its overall shape gently subverts expectations by letting the work's energy gradually dissipate, concluding with a very short and slow last movement rather than a fast finale[cite: 814, 815].

Exam prompt: What is unusual about the overall form and shape of Night Dances?

Fast, Dark, Playful. Crotchet = 160. Formed of Dance 1a, Interlude 1a, Dance 1b, Dance 1c, Interlude 1b, and a Coda[cite: 852, 854].

The piano LH alone plays a repeated 2-bar phrase alternating between 4/4 and 3/8. The beats are subdivided into 3+3+2+3 quavers[cite: 866].

Exam prompt: What is unusual about the register in which the piano is used in bars 1-16?

The pitches are strictly confined to C and E flat, establishing C minor[cite: 866].

Exam prompt: The pitches in this passage are mainly confined to one pitch (C): which composer and piece influenced this?

A quaver pattern (a repeated C) is introduced in the RH, producing a continuous series of quavers between the hands[cite: 866].

The flute enters. Unlike the rigid piano, the flute is rhythmically free, unpredictable, and highly chromatic. It outlines the first 5 notes of Row No. 1[cite: 866, 877].

Exam prompt: What is the difference both rhythmically and melodically in the flute part to that in the piano?

The bass continues to outline C-Eb, but adds F# (the tritone) against an Eb seventh chord in the piano RH[cite: 876].

Exam prompt: In which bar is harmony used for the first time?

A 4-bar melody in the flute adds the final 6 notes to complete the 10-note row (Row 1) [cite: 901].

Exam prompt: Between which bars is the complete first note row heard in the flute?

A 6-bar melody high in the flute outlines the inversion of notes 4-10 of Row 1 transposed to E[cite: 912].

Exam prompt: Are the rows always used in their entirety or are segments of them used?

An 8-bar melody in the flute outlines a new secondary row (Row 2), which is 7 notes long[cite: 924].

Exam prompt: Where does the second row appear?

The flute plays an asymmetrically phrased 5-bar melody through changing time signatures over a major 3rd harmonic progression (Gb to Bb) [cite: 961].

Exam prompt: Which short melodic figure found in this section later takes on a more significant role?

The piano rises in Eb minor. The flute outlines a pattern derived from notes 8-10 of the first row (C-G-C-F#) [cite: 990, 991].

Exam prompt: Are any of the note rows used in this passage? If so, where can they be found?

A varied repeat of the piano intro. The pitches expand from 2 notes to 7 notes, outlining a minor blues scale on F# (C-D-Eb-E-F#-G-Bb) [cite: 1022, 1023].

Exam prompt: How does the passage for piano alone heard at bars 63-79 differ from its first appearance at bars 1-16?

The rhythmic pattern is developed into continuous quavers[cite: 1037].

Exam prompt: What process does it go through?

This recapitulation fuses all elements together. The underlying tonality changes to A minor. The piano bass expands to pairs of 5ths rising through a tritone (A-C-Eb) against a C major 7th chord[cite: 1060, 1067, 1076].

Exam prompt: At which bar is there a dramatic change in the tonality from what has gone before?

The flute melody is an elaboration of its earlier appearance, now featuring melismatic figuration drawn from Row 1 (adjacent semitones, falling 5th, and tritone) [cite: 1083, 1084].

Exam prompt: The flute part from bars 112-39 recapitulates an earlier appearance... Explain two ways in which it is now different.

The original flute theme from bar 51 is transformed into a small, cheeky, march-like theme in augmentation in the piano RH[cite: 1120, 1121].

Exam prompt: What is different about the idea's rhythm in the piano at bar 143 and thereafter from its original appearance?

A brief fragment of the piano part from Section 1 sounds in a higher register. A low C at bar 155 establishes the tonic[cite: 1140, 1142].

Steady, Seductive, Playful. Crotchet = 84. Largely 4/4. Formed of Dance 1a, Dance 2a, Dance 1b, Dance 2b.

The flute melody traces a line in A with major/minor ambiguity around the third. It uses a minor form of the blues scale on F#.

Exam prompt: Where does the main melodic material for this passage originally first appear?

This passage is for piano alone, featuring accelerating arpeggiated figurations around an open 5th on F#.

Exam prompt: What particular piano figuration dominates this section?

A return to the ascending bass figure, now rooted on a pedal note of F# throughout the section.

Exam prompt: What term would you use to describe the continuous F# bass note throughout this section?

The flute is completely silent for the last 34 bars of the movement. The piano figuration passes through three different registers, reaching its greatest intensity at bars 88 and 96 before a long diminuendo.

Exam prompt: What is the most unusual feature of this section?

Still. Dotted crotchet = 56. 6/8 time. A brief (32 bars) movement consisting of one long statement of the flute melody.

A statement of row 1 in the flute over a low pedal C in the piano.

A statement of row 2 with an added penultimate C.

The music comes to rest in B flat major.

Exam prompt: What is unusual about the key in which the last movement of Night Dances ends?

The work is centred around C and F# (a tritone). E flat and A also play important parts, creating another interlocking tritone. This avoids traditional dominant/subdominant movement.

Exam prompt: What two intervals dominate the relationship between the various tonal centres in Night Dances?

The flute tessitura shifts over the work from a high tessitura in Movement 1, down an octave in Movement 2, to its lowest notes in Movement 3, reflecting the programme of being "overwhelmed by sleep".

Exam prompt: How does the tessitura of the flute part change over the three movements of Night Dances?

Movement 2 commences with "white note" harmony (Pandiatonicism) based on the Aeolian scale on A. It uses common chords and sevenths without conventional resolutions, retaining strong tonality without chromaticism.

Exam prompt: What is "white note" harmony?

The harmony in Mov 1 is often bitonal/static. Over a C/Eb bass, the right hand plays an Eb7 chord and an open 5th on C-G with an unresolved appoggiatura on F#.

Exam prompt: Describe some of the different harmonic styles found in Night Dances.

Bars 63-85 use an additive rhythmic device. Starting with a 4/4 + 3/8 metre, notes are gradually added into the pattern until it becomes a series of continuous quavers.

Exam prompt: What is additive rhythm and where can its use be found in Night Dances?

Despite strong metric regularity in the piano, the flute line often moves irregularly in long notes, rhythmically independent of the piano.

Exam prompt: In what way is the flute part rhythmically different to the piano in the first movement?

Dynamics create long-term structure. Mov 1 contrasts soft/loud; Mov 2 builds to the loudest bars (80-83) then diminuendos; Mov 3 fades out entirely.

Exam prompt: How might the use of dynamics in Night Dances be described overall?

Andrew Wilson-Dickson was born in 1946 and now lives and works in Cardiff[cite: 851]. He taught at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama [cite: 854].

It was originally written as a piece for a London-based tango band in 2002, but the flute and piano version was made in 2006[cite: 871, 872]. It is in one movement lasting around 6-7 minutes [cite: 873].

The piece is a tribute to the Argentinean tango composer Astor Piazzolla[cite: 875]. It honours Piazzolla's debt to Bach by embedding the theme of the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor for organ, BWV 582, from start to finish[cite: 876].

Exam prompt: What are the characteristics of a tango? What time signature would you expect it to be in and what kind of rhythms might you expect to find in it?

The tonality is traditional but moves between the style of the 18th century (deference to Bach), late Romantic, and early 20th-century British music, particularly referencing Arnold Bax [cite: 878].

Exam prompt: What is a passacaglia and what part does a ground bass play in it?

Crotchet = 120. A presentation of Bach's ground bass theme followed by six short variations, with the theme moving through different parts of the texture in each [cite: 902, 903].

Bach's ground bass theme is presented in the piano LH in C minor. Bach's original is in 3/4 but is presented here in 4/4 time with the same note values [cite: 905, 906].

Exam prompt: What is the difference between the use of the ground bass theme here and in Bach's original passacaglia?

The theme moves into the piano RH as a two-part canon at the 7th, heard against a chromatically ascending LH counter melody (C to B, omitting E natural) [cite: 919, 921].

Exam prompt: What is the main feature of the counter melody heard in the piano LH between bars 7-12?

Three statements of a new idea are heard in the flute, each more elaborate and longer than the last (4 beats, 5 1/2 beats, then 10 beats), dominated by the notes C-Eb-G[cite: 922, 923].

The theme appears in a decorated form in the flute part on long, trilled, or accented notes, against an ascending C harmonic minor scale in the piano LH (culminating on Db) [cite: 925, 927].

Exam prompt: Is the ground bass theme repeated in exactly the same way as it first appeared every time it is used?

The decorated theme in the flute forms a 3-beat repeated rhythmic idea (derived from bar 6), creating cross-rhythms against the 4/4 metre [cite: 940, 941].

The theme appears in the flute as a series of 2-note figures (a flutter-tongued note followed by a higher accented note) [cite: 949].

The piano features chromatically descending common chords, sevenths, and diminished chords in semi-quavers, recalling the counter melody at bars 7-12[cite: 962].

Exam prompt: Where else can this idea be found in the opening section?

Flexible, Slower, Dreamy. A slower quasi-improvisatory section. The original pitches of the theme are retained, but the music moves through suggested keys without settling [cite: 978, 979].

Exam prompt: What is the difference between the way the theme is used in Section 1 and the first part of Section 2 (bars 42-58)?

The theme is stretched out through the whole section. The initial four notes are in the flute (42-45), then pitches pass between the piano and flute [cite: 982, 983, 984].

Exam prompt: Is it possible to identify one home key for the whole of this section?

A brief reference is made in the flute to the orchestral work "Summer Music" (1917-20) by Sir Arnold Bax [cite: 986].

Exam prompt: Are there any direct quotations from other composers in Section 2? If so, then from whom and where does it appear?

Tempo 1. A central section, closer to tango stylistically than any other part of the work [cite: 1000].

A new tango-inspired theme, unrelated to previous material, is heard in the flute (bars 84-87) and the piano (bars 92-95)[cite: 1008].

For a brief period of five bars (91-95), the Bach ground bass theme disappears entirely from the texture [cite: 1009].

Exam prompt: Does the theme disappear from the texture at any point in Section 3 and, if so, where?

Tempo 1, Crotchet = 120. A return to the material of Section 1 with a literal recapitulation of bars 8-33 (occurring in bars 107-132).

The theme returns for the first time to the bass of the piano, as originally heard at bars 1-6, now with an added RH part.

A repeat of the piano part from bars 100-104 with a new flute part rising up in major and minor 3rds, covering 10 chromatic notes. Ends with a C minor cadence.

Follows the passacaglia principle of retaining the ground bass at its initial pitch (C minor), but it rarely appears in the bass after the opening, moving between inner voices and the top line.

Exam prompt: Give two examples of how the C minor tonality of the theme is blurred or undermined?

A transformation of the theme in the flute has its C minor tonality harmonised through a series of chords with octatonic inflections.

Exam prompt: What does the word octatonic mean?

Both flute and piano are of equal importance, with textures and sonorities mainly traditional but constantly used to differentiate sections.

The piano part consists of held chords, articulated in arpeggiated form giving them depth and density (stretching across 3-4 octaves) beneath a florid flute line.

Exam prompt: How are the long-held piano chords in the first part of Section 2 given weight and depth?

Harmony resembles late 19th-century Bach transcriptions (Liszt/Franck), moves to Rachmaninov-style chromaticism (bars 35-38), Bax-style unresolved altered sevenths (Section 2), and Piazzolla tango parallel 6/4 chords (Section 3).

Exam prompt: Name three of the different composers whose styles are evoked in tango passacaglia.

The core rhythmic tension is a passacaglia theme originally in 3/4 serving a tango written in 4/4. The original Bach anacrusis disappears entirely.

Exam prompt: What is the difference metrically between how Bach presents the theme and how it is presented in the opening bars of tango passacaglia?

Unlike Bach's rigid 8-bar periods, the variations here are characterised by asymmetrical period lengths: 6.5 bars, 5.5 bars, 6 bars, 5 bars, etc.

Dynamics shape sections and plot climaxes: loud/energetic Sec 1 contrasts with the soft Sec 2. The central tango section builds to the loudest point at bars 92-93.

Rhian Samuel was born in Aberdare, South Wales, in 1944. She studied oboe and later became Professor of Music at City University, London [cite: 1172, 1173, 1176].

Commissioned for and premiered by Nicola Ellis and Sadie Harrison at King's College, London, in June 1988 [cite: 1186].

The work is driven by a programmatic narrative where the instruments are two characters. The flute is spontaneous, demonstrative, and exhausts itself. The piano is "daunted" but "ever patient" .

Exam prompt: Give two examples of the way in which the difference between the two instruments is projected in Ariel[cite: 1393].

The title refers to Ariel from Shakespeare's The Tempest, a flying, magical, invisible spirit [cite: 1204].

Capriccioso, crotchet = c.92. Shows a gradual build-up of a motif whose grace notes offer articulation (1 to 2 notes, etc.) [cite: 1221, 1225].

The opening notes move through 11 out of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, reaching Eb at bar 9. The missing note is D [cite: 1226].

Exam prompt: What part do the 12 notes of the chromatic scale play in the opening nine bars? [cite: 1252]

The motifs are drawn from the semitone (heard as major 7ths and minor 9ths) [cite: 1225].

Exam prompt: What main interval dominates both the flute and piano during the first nine bars of Ariel? [cite: 1250]

Texture thickens through harmonisation in the piano, characterised by major and minor triads with an added semitone [cite: 1227].

Exam prompt: What characteristics can be found in the block chords introduced in the piano between the end of bar 10 and the beginning of bar 12? [cite: 1251]

The flute rises to a climactic high A (bar 18), falls to a high F, and is echoed by a D-Bb fall at the end of the sub-section [cite: 1229, 1230].

A clear homophonic declaration of a 9-note phrase by both instruments "stamps on" continued development[cite: 1245].

The section ends decisively. The piano plays a final long D, which completes the initial series of 12 notes missing from the opening [cite: 1248, 1249].

Exam prompt: What is the significance of the low held D in the piano at bars 41-42? [cite: 1254]

Andantino, crotchet = c.72. A cadenza for flute alone, beginning slowly and gaining in rapidity [cite: 1262, 1263].

The low C# provides an anchor, moving to D# and back to C# at bar 57 [cite: 1264].

Exam prompt: Explain how the low C# operates as an anchor pitch throughout the cadenza? [cite: 1265]

Towards the end, phrases end with dropping 4ths (B-F#; F-C; G-D), ending the cadenza as it was introduced at bar 42 [cite: 1264].

Exam prompt: In what way do the series of falling 4ths at the close of the cadenza relate to close of Section 1? [cite: 1266]

Tempo 1, crotchet = c.92. A scherzo-like passage, developing material from Section 1 [cite: 1267, 1268].

The piano briefly introduces staccato repeated chords at 62; they disappear but return at 72, becoming more regular [cite: 1271, 1272].

Exam prompt: How are the chords in the piano between bars 72-82 made-up? [cite: 1283]

The flute continues 2-note figures, reveals the previously-heard 3-note figure, and obsessively repeats it at bars 88-89 to build tension [cite: 1272].

Exam prompt: What figure originally heard in Section 1 makes an appearance once again in Section 3? [cite: 1282]

Allegro, crotchet = c.120[cite: 1291]. The penultimate section: the flute and piano play in polyrhythm, reaching the work's climax in an "energetic dance"[cite: 1292, 1386].

The flute's 4-note pattern 'fights against' the piano. Both instruments define a 5/8 rhythm, though oppositionally, creating intense metrical conflict[cite: 1294, 1295].

Exam prompt: What rhythmic device is particularly used in Section 4?

The flute drops into a shrill set of written out trills of varying lengths, almost never coinciding with the 5/8 metre of the piano[cite: 1297].

Exam prompt: Does the flute share the piano's rhythm between bars 102-108 and, if not, what does it have?

The piano introduces the reappearance of staccato chords, which by bar 102 have turned into a strict 5/8 figure[cite: 1295, 1296].

Exam prompt: What metrical rhythm can be found in the piano part between bars 102-110 and how does the composer make us hear it?

A flamboyant flute cadenza accompanied by an upward piano arpeggio culminates in five downward arpeggios in the flute alone, ending on an upward diminished octave (major 7th) [cite: 1326, 1327].

Lento, crotchet = c.56[cite: 1332]. A return to the pitch material of the opening section as the "exhausted" flute attempts to return to its lyricism and the piano supports the dying melody[cite: 1333, 1389].

The flute plays a variant passing through all 12 notes of the chromatic scale before gradually returning to the middle C with which the work opens[cite: 1338, 1340].

Chords are mainly bitonal in their make-up (e.g., F/E major, C minor/D minor). The chord's "lean" sound is achieved by reducing it to 2 notes (a 5th or 3rd) rather than full triads[cite: 1410, 1411, 1412, 1413].

Exam prompt: How are the chords in the piano between bars 72-82 made-up?

Harmonisation is characterised by major and minor triads with one added extra note, a semitone apart from one of the other notes[cite: 1406, 1407].

Exam prompt: What characteristics can be found in the block chords introduced in the piano between the end of bar 10 and the beginning of bar 12?

Uses simple metres (3/4, 4/4, one 7/8 bar) but heavily disguises the barline. e.g., the space between notes gradually opens out and closes in (2:3:4:5:5:3:3 quavers)[cite: 1427, 1428, 1429].

Melodic lines outline the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, but it is not strict 12-tone serialism because notes are repeated before all 12 are introduced[cite: 1443, 1444, 1445].

Dynamics create long-term shape (bars 1-17 moving from pp to ff), create a sense of dialogue between instruments, and form insistent call-and-response passages using a single 'f' dynamic (bars 74-82)[cite: 1454, 1455, 1456, 1457].