Constructing Contrast: Juxtaposition as a tool for formal construction in my own creative practice, explored through the music of Stravinsky and Donatoni

<p>Juxtaposition and Superimposition are two techniques that I have adopted as a core feature of my creative practice. This exegesis examines the origins of these techniques through the analysis of two 20th century works, Igor Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920/1947) and Franco Donatoni’s Tema (1981), examining how the role all musical parameters, including timbre, pitch, rhythm and gesture, combine to create unique and perceptible shapes which can be purposefully juxtaposed, recombined and shuffled to create musical form. The influence and effect of these compositions is then discussed in relation to an analysis of the major work of my accompanying portfolio: Hot Coals for orchestra (2016/2017), demonstrating how ideas taken from the preceding analyses are developed further, and influence not just the resulting aesthetic, but also the construction and process of composition itself.</p>