I am pleased to announce the forthcoming series of Wednesday afternoon research seminars taking place at the University of Surrey, to which anyone is welcome, free of charge.


Venue: room TB6 in the Teaching Block, marked as no. 38, behind PATS building marked as no. 40, on the campus map which can be accessed here:
https://www.surrey.ac.uk/sites/default/files/campus-map-2017.pdf

Time: 16.00


Music and Media Research Seminars, Autumn Semester 2017

The Research Seminars this semester focus on the work of academics associated with the Department of Music and Media at the University of Surrey. We are delighted to welcome back Prof Steve Downes, who was on the staff at Surrey for 17 years before moving to Royal Holloway four years ago.

11th October                Dr Georgia Volioti (University of Surrey)

Narrativity in Grieg's Ballade Revisited: The Nineteenth-Century Pianist as Story Teller.

Contrary to previous musicological criticism that posits Grieg's ballade as a deficient narrative structure, in this paper I use evidence from historical recordings to shed new light on the alleged problematic generic status of this work.

1st November              Prof Steve Downes (Royal Holloway College, University of London)

Burt Bacharach and the sentimental waltz

This paper examines Bacharach's allusions to the sentimental waltz in two songs, 'A House is not a Home' and 'Anyone who had a heart'. These allusions, in which Bacharach's technical sophistication is particularly notable, are taken to raise a number of hermeneutic and generic questions.

15th November           Prof Steve Goss (University of Surrey)

Finding Good Notes: the interaction of ideas, craft, and technique in the compositional process
How can we talk or write about intuitive decision-making as part of the compositional process? Recent research into the adaptive unconscious suggests there is a locked door between what we can do with our unconscious minds and how we try to explain it – the story-telling problem, as psychologist Timothy Wilson calls it. The talk will be illustrated  with examples drawn from my recent compositions: Piano Concerto (2013), Invisible Cities (2017), Labyrinth (2016) and A Concerto of Colours (2017).

29th November           Dr Bill Thompson (University of Surrey)

Gates: A composition for improvisers using prime numbers

Gates was composed in 2001 in Austin Texas for a small group of professional improvisers. Since then it has been performed numerous times in the US and abroad, most recently on September 2nd in London when more than 25 performers took part in a 4 hour realisation.

In this talk I discuss the basic premise of the piece, the use of prime numbers to derive timings, and Cage’s concept of interpenetration.


6th December              Dr Jeremy Barham (University of Surrey)

Mahler's Fifth Symphony, waltz and all: the Koschat mystery resolved

In this paper I offer a solution to a long-standing mystery concerning Mahler's declared use in his Fifth Symphony (1901-2) of a hitherto unidentified theme by folksong composer-singer Thomas Koschat. I explore the context and mechanics of the borrowing, assessing its untapped significance for understanding the structural unfolding
and wider meaning of the Symphony.




_____________________________
Dr Jeremy Barham
Reader in Music
Department of Music & Media
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey GU2 7XH
UK
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/DMM/People/jeremy_barham/