Harmonic Composition Approaches based on Persian Music Case Study: Five Pieces for Piano of Mohammad Reza Darvishi

The harmonic approach of Persian composers’ who apply folk or court music of Iran is controversial. There are several approaches to polyphony and harmony. It seems that Mohammad Reza Darvishican make a new way of applying folk themes. The main problem with harmonic textures, in using these modes, is the problem of coherence in the piece. In other words, the question is that how we can use a harmonic or polyphonic approach in a context with folk themes? And how modal features of a mode like intervallic structure, patterns, and the function of degrees in a modal can be demonstrated in a polyphonic or harmonic texture? It is assumed that there is a relationship between modal structure and harmony in Darvishi’s pieces, and we attempt to discover this relationship. To be more specific, how does he treat the modal features, and how he has used Iranian music in a modern context? To achieve this aim, one of his works is selected to explore the relationship. “Five pieces for Piano” has been analyzed using Forte’s method. From this point of view, the pieces mainly revolve around cells 3-4 and their variations. However, other different elements are used besides this cell. The current cell is the intervallic structure in Dashti mode and is frequently used in other pieces of the composer. It can be said that the main reason for this choice is his interest in Dashti’s intervallic structure. However, motives also demonstrate the relationship to Persian music. Other cells which can be seen in pieces are intervallic structures of other modes like Chahargah. In some parts of the piece, polychords are used based on the combination of these cells. For instance, in the third sections’ polychords at the beginning part is the combination of Isfahan mode and Dashti. In other words, each chord of the piece is the characteristic interval and degree of a mode. This approach is like Bartok, Stravinsky, and Schnittke. These composers for making their polychords and clusters have tried to use tonal elements which are of high importance in their pieces. As a case in point, Schnittke has made clusters by using triads with common thirds (for instance: C major- C sharp minor), but Darvishi has used chords with modal characteristics to make his clusters. Also, there are some differences between Bartok’s polymodal chromatism and that of Darvishi. Bartok has used different modes on the same tonic for creating a full chromatic context (E Phrygian and E Lydian, for instance) and found a role for each tone in the twelve-tone scale. Nevertheless, Drvishi’s role is not chromatism and tries to use different modes in different tonalities. Sometimes, the result is similar to the works of Bartok. It can be said that Darvishi introduces different modes through chords which include the characteristic of modes and their intervallic structure. Each chord relates to a specific mode.