Following on from work carried out by Márta Grabócz, John Irving, Julian Hellaby and others, this article examines ways in which a piece of music can signify in terms of its structure, its dynamic and expressive trajectory and its topical content, and shows how a grasp of these aspects can be a valuable tool for the performer. Focusing on Balakirev’s arrangement of Glinka’s song “The Lark”, a particular beginning-middle-end design (Agawu 1991, 2009) is identified and shown to support and interact with dynamic, expressive and topical features. Recommendations for performance are drawn from these hermeneutic observations.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Julian Hellaby (2024) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: