رامین روشندل

The main purpose of this paper is analyzing pitch-class organization and compositional techniques in "Dialogues", a piece composed by Elliott Carter. Written in 2003, the piece has been composed for piano and chamber orchestra. In the first part, the authors have studied the ways in which the composer has represented his harmonic language, as well as the manners that he has pursued in order to organize pitch-classes: Utilizing some sets having unique properties, such as sets )“chords” in his own word rather than “sets”( which are two all-interval tetrachords, (0146) and (0137) with Forte names of 4-Z15 and 4-Z29 and all-trichord hexachord )012478(, with Forte name of 6-Z17. Another kind of sets have been presented which have a significant role through the piece, and those are aggregates. These four sets (as the composer himself named them "key chords") have a structural role in the harmony of the piece. Except the sets mentioned above, there are some sets which have a graphical phenomenon: symmetry on the circle diagram. We can summarize the utilization of symmetric sets in two ways. First, using a symmetric set as a superset of one of the key chords. In this way, we can separately consider the importance of the superset on the one hand, and its key chord subset on the other. Second, we can find one of the key chord subsets as the subset of the symmetric superset. There is a priority of using symmetry over using key chords or their subsets in the second way. It also has been asserted that the above sets interactively have been combined together and the ways Carter has used these sets in the piece have been reviewed and classified all together. We can follow some of his used procedures in the piece such as adding or removing pitch-classes and consequently augmenting or diminishing intervals, key chords transformations, key chords as subsets as well as utilizing invariance between all-trichord hexachords.
In the second part, some other techniques have been presented which demonstrate how Carter makes use of them as compositional possibilities in the piece. Using key chords in the shape of vertical blocks as well as melodies are the most common ways in which Carter combines key chords together. In addition, we can follow three employed methods the composer has exerted aggregates. First, which is similar to serial music, the pitch-classes have been used without repetition to form an aggregate. In the second, we find repeated pitch-classes. In the third, some sets present incomplete aggregates lacking one or two pitch-classes (semi-aggregates). It may be logical to consider the third way as a combination of the first and the second categories. The third method is also most typically found in sets composed in vertical or horizontal structures. Both combinations are other techniques that provide new combinations which can lead to larger sets such as Key chords, subsets, or even aggregates. It has been tried in almost every part of this paper to simplify the complexity of the piece with the analytical examples taken from the "Dialogues" score.

The main purpose of this paper is analyzing the form and Harmony in “Neynava”، a piece composed by “Hossein Alizadeh”. Written in 1984، the piece has been composed for solo Ney (an Iranian instrument) and string orchestra. According to Composer himself، this piece is developed according to “Dastgah of Nava” and its melodic movement and parallel combination is consisted of different modes that could be seen with similarity to modes in this Dastgah. Iranian Composers have always been interested in combination of Iranian musical materials with Western-European ones. For achieving a phenomenal piece using this combination، a Composer not only needs a perfect knowledge about the language of both classical and Iranian music but also he must be professional using these both sides. “Neynava” could be named as a successful piece in this field. Chords consisted of fourth intervals common usage started in the beginning of the 20th century in pieces like chamber symphony op. 9 composed by Arnold Schoenberg. Though this phenomenon appeared just in this single piece of him it influenced other composers afterward. This harmony could be seen in other 20th century composers’ works such as Claude Debussy، Paul Hindemith، Béla Bartók and Olivier Messiaen. But we will see that choosing the notes of chords with perfect fourth intervals in “Neynava” have been chosen regarding important parts of Dastgah of Nava. In order to analyze the form of Neynava، each movement has been studied separately; then the rhythmic and melodic motifs of each part have been reviewed and classified all together. Furthermore، any conformity of different parts of Neynava’s forms with classical music or Radif، have been generally reviewed (if any). Then، a revision of sentences، their variations، and their rhythmic or melodic motifs، have been categorized and reviewed in each respective movement، in a general context of Neynava. However، any similarities of such motifs (including motifs with slight deviations) have been studied. In form analysis we’ll show that Composer developed general form of the piece، with consideration of general forms of Radif which means we can see that horizontal movements and contrapuntal melodic lines were taking a priority over vertical relations; though we can classify two different types of harmonies for this piece. Tierce harmony could be seen and it has been used when the Composer wanted to make a modulation to a new mode or to make a new texture. In second look it can be shown that each part is written with consideration of modal characteristics using those melodic motifs that could be expanded and changed according to Composer’s preferences. This change usually could be seen as a “rhythmic change” or adding more ornaments. In harmony analysis، the way harmony has been chosen and the instances of chords based on tierce or quartal harmony، will be reviewed، taking into account melodic limits in the mode of respective Dastgah، and using tonal plans derived from different parts of Neynava. The Analysis of Harmony in Neynava will show the way Composer create a harmony for string orchestra which is about to be accompanied by Iranian music with “Ney”.