amy bauer The Other of the Exotic: Balinese Music as Grammatical ...

The Other of the Exotic 361
Ex. 15 ‘Galamb borong’, transformation network of countersubject (CS),
bars 3–33
Right hand
3 5 10 15 20 25 30
I8
I10
T10
T8
T10
I8
MT CS CS CS CS CS CS CS
tail
I 5
T 7
T9 I 5 T7
T3
T 3 T 1 T 9 T 1 T 7 I3
T 9 T 1 T11 I 7
CS
CS
T4 I0 I2 T4 T10 I 8 I 0 T0
CS CS
CS CS
CS CS CS
CS
Left hand
‘Galamb borong’ is a subtle parody of both the virtuoso étude and the oriental
character piece; yet it has for the most part transcended satire to enter the
contemporary canon with nothing more than a sly wink. The virtuoso étude is
well represented by this highly demanding and showy work, which utilises the
entire pitch and dynamic range of the modern piano and requires the pianist to
apply different levels of dynamics, articulation and rhythmic organisation to two,
three or four voices simultaneously. The counterpoint noted in Section 1 is
certainly a familiar procedure for structuring a toccata-like work or character
piece, in which short, recognisable motives in transposition and inversion replace
legato melody and clearly demarcated formal sections. As a further guide
through this network of motivic associations, transformational graphs are provided
for the primary motives in Section 1.
These motives travel predominantly by a level of transposition (T n ) of interval
class 10 in the hands, towards and away from the ‘normative’ or stable T 3/9
relation between the right and left hands. Each motive transforms by characteristic
transpositions and inversions (I), which move away from the relatively stable
beginning of the work to produce contrapuntal and ‘harmonic’ motion. I will first
examine the progress of the countersubject, which, like descending scales
throughout Ligeti’s oeuvre, permeates the texture and provides a constant source
of dynamic tension. Ex. 15 includes only those appearances of the countersubject
in the outer voices of bars 1–33 (including one instance of the countersubject
in concert with itself, bars 13–14). Two scale degrees, ˆ3 and ˆ4, predominate in
both hands (A/C and B/D respectively) in order to reinforce the opening notes
of the core melody and their prolonged descent. The T 7 relation introduces
‘harmonic progression’ by sequencing the countersubject at the fifth, while the I 5
relation introduces the ‘consequent’ of the opening phrase with rising scales in
four registers (bars 10–15). As the section proceeds, both hands alternate
Music Analysis, 27/ii-iii (2008)
© 2009 The Author.
Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.