Distant lights : trio for flute, cello, & piano

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Charles Dean Norris (Creator)

Institution

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )

Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Advisor

Mark Engebretson

Abstract: Distant Lights: Trio for Flute, Cello, & Piano seeks to depict a near-future apocalyptic event that threatens humanity's survival on Earth. Stories of science fiction, specifically those in film, inspire my approach to creating new musical works with narrative elements. Films like Interstellar and, separately, various Pixar movies, as they appear on a larger timeline known as the “Pixar Theory,” are directly comparable to Distant Lights in terms of storytelling as they share similar elements which I will discuss throughout chapter two. I draw inspiration from Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time), George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale), Ian Clarke’s The Great Train Race, and Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 6. As Messiaen provides models for creating a large-form work written for a relatively small number of players and a model for writing for the piano, Crumb’s Vox Balaenae provides a structural model for the music of the first movement and additional guidance in writing for the specific instruments used in Distant Lights. Bartók’s 6th String Quartet and Ian Clarke’s The Great Train Race offer approaches to writing for the cello and flute respectively. The performance of the work is enhanced by visual details, inspired by the use of lights and shadows in George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae. Images drawn from the James Webb Space Telescope add deeper layers of reality to the musical narration. Visual aspects of the work draw focus to both the story and the performers, providing a more immersive experience. The resulting work seeks to musically depict a story the encompasses warning signs, chaos, anxiety, a departure from Earth, desperation, and hope for the future. In future endeavors, I plan to explore similar science fiction ideas that have their origins in potential real-world events. The score of the composition itself is the primary component of this thesis and is presented in its entirety in Appendix D. The paper provides context and explains how these disparate source inspirations were brought together to create a cohesive muti-movement work.

Distant lights : trio for flute, cello, & piano
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Created on 5/1/2023
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Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Language: English

Date: 2023

Keywords

Cello, Distant Lights, Flute, Piano, Piano Trio, Space

Subjects

Trios (Piano, flute, cello)

Scores

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