Forged from fire: the lifecycle of a sword a set of compositions for piano and various ensembles

Jered Kostenko

Forged from Fire is a set of ensemble works for piano and selected instruments. The four pieces constituting this collection are: 1. Crucible—yet to be written, 2. Abandon—a quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and piano, 3. Threnody—a quintet for violin, viola, violoncello, double bass, and piano, 4. Fray—an ensemble piece for four trumpets, tenor and bass trombone, percussion, and piano. The works in this project utilize chromatic transformations, a concept of harmony advanced by German theorist Hugo Riemann in the late 1800s. Today, transformational theory has enjoyed a considerable amount of popularity; music analysts have seized upon Riemann’s and other historical theorist’s concepts, expanding and refining them. The use of chromatic transformations in a functional approach to the analysis of musical structure has been dubbed Neo-Riemannian theory. The Neo-Riemannian model focuses on relationships between harmonic entities rather than on scale degree. For instance, the diatonic submediant and tonic in the major key are not thought of as vi and I; rather, the musical space or distance that is travelled between them is known as r, a functional label which represents the reciprocal relative major-minor relationship. In Neo-Riemannian theorist David Kopp’s transformational model, an expanded system of descriptive labels highlights the common relationships between triads of the traditional tonal system. Because of its horizontal musical emphasis, Neo-Riemannian theory traces the unique harmonic journey of a composition. The combined sequence of functional labels aptly describes the harmonic evolution the piece undergoes as it progresses, providing the user with a tonal blueprint of the work. For Forged from Fire, I utilized a pre-compositional approach. Using Neo-Riemannian labels, I created chains of chromatic transformations that form the harmonic substrate of each piece. Common-tone relationships between chords lend coherence to a musical work. Furthermore, an approach utilizing immediate, chord-to-chord harmonic function can draw attention to possible harmonic paths that otherwise might have been overlooked

Forged from fire: the lifecycle of a sword a set of compositions for piano and various ensembles

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