Piano Sonata No. 1 by Carl Vine; a Theoretical and Pianistic Study

Abstract

Carl Vine was born in 1954 in Perth, Western Australia. He began his music studies when he was five years old with lessons on the cornet. Later he began piano study with Stephen Dornan and composition study with John Exton at the University of Western Australia. When he was sixteen years old he received the first prize in the Australian Society for Music Education Composers' Competition for his electronic work, Unwritten Divertimento (1970). He enrolled as physics major at the university but he switched to composition in his junior year. He was awarded many prizes, such as the Adams Award for the Outstanding Contribution to Music for Dance in Australia and the APRA-AMC (The Australasian Performing Right Association-The Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) Classical Music Awards for "Best Instrumental Work," Piano Sonata No. 1. He has composed in various genres such as concertos, symphonies, string quartets, piano sonatas, dance, theatre, film, television, and electronic works. Piano Sonata No. 1 (1990) is one of his most popular works. Because of its virtuosity, this sonata has been performed at two piano competitions: the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and Sydney International Piano Competition. This sonata was dedicated to and premiered by Australian pianist Michael Kieran Harvey, who won the Ivo Pogorelich International Competition in 1993. Michael Harvey stated: The scheme is similar to the Carter Sonata - two movements, with the slow section built into and defining the faster portions of the first movement. The second movement is based on a moto perpetuo which soon gives way to a chorale-like section, based on parallel fifths. In my preliminary research, I found five doctoral papers that include discussion on Vine's Piano Sonata No. 1. In these papers, theoretical analysis is approached in a general way. Cyba Hanna and Eun-Kyoung Yang's approach was to describe dynamics, tempo, and pedaling and virtually ignore theoretical analysis. In another paper, Bo R. Mihn wrote about polyrhythm and intervals, but only gives one example of each. The approach of Benjamin Boren and Kui Min is to compare passages of the Elliott Carter Sonata to the Vine sonata to show the similarities in their pianistic style. My plan is to do a detailed analysis of this work from a theoretical standpoint. I will examine melody, harmony, and form using traditional analytical tools such as the location of church modes and key centers. For those areas of the music that do not follow traditional methods, I will use set theory. In this piece, there are many repetitions and I will examine how Vine uses repetitions as a formal device. In addition, because the rhythms in this sonata are very complex, I plan to study them to determine if there are any rules or patterns that Vine used to create his rhythms. In 1987, David Lewin proposed a way to visualize metric pulses and their relationships to one another, including dissonant relationships. I am going to incorporate that particular method into my description of rhythm and meter in Carl Vine's music. What I expect to show in my paper how set theory applies to the work, how the composer utilizes repetitions in his forms, and describes his rhythmic organization. I hope that this study will contribute to a better understanding and appreciation of the music of Carl Vine.