Time set and serial technique applied to the orchestra

Authors

Carlos Duque

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/quodlibet.2020.73.714

Keywords:

serialism, dodecaphonism, twelve-tone composition, orchestral composition, time-set, hexachords, Gerhard, Schönberg

Abstract

Roberto Gerhard was one of the precursors in western electronic music and in the application of his experience to orchestral music. In the development of his personal technique, he amalgamates the use of folklore that emanates from his professor Felipe Pedrell and the structuralism that he learned from Arnold Schoenberg. This article analyzes the serial technique applied to the New York Symphony 4 (commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on its 125th anniversary), comparing the real application with the theoretical universe that Gerhard exposes in his articles, which are often mere
formulations that are not carried out due to the needs of the musical development of each specific
piece. The article presents examples of each specific process such as structure, tempo, time-set and
hexachordal applications applied to the Symphony 4 ‘New York’.

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