'Ashes': A Movement for Symphony Orchestra

Ashes is a single movement work for symphony orchestra with accompanying essay. The piece has a structure reminiscent of sonata allegro form, and contains sections corresponding to the movements of a classical symphony. These sections include; an expository opening section, a development in two sections corresponding to a slow movement and a scherzo, and a finale with an extended coda. The musical language is dodecaphonic. In the essay objections to using a form similar to that of a more traditional tonal language are addressed. It is argued that form derives from human cognitive capacity and not from abstract relationships between content and structure. Furthermore it is suggested that musicians often use metaphorical models when composing and that these models are often based on musical sources. The metaphorical relationship of the title to the form of the work is also discussed. It is shown that the work contains a motion from highly differentiated material to more amorphous material. This motion occurs by means of a process of 'atomizing' the dodecaphonic structures, and simultaneously moving from traditional phrase-structures towards structures based on the fulfilling of processes. The 'atomizing' process is likened to the effect of combustion rendering a solid into particulate matter. The title suggests another level of metaphor that concerns the effect of history on the specificity of meaning of musical forms and language. It is argued that the expansion of musical language decreases the clarity of the terminology we use to describe musical phenomena. Thus the existence of a 'common language' is inevitably lost as composers follow their creative impulses, extending the forms and language they inherit.