I.

Post-modernism and the concept of continuities

a. Asyla is an example of a piece that is built on pluralisms
i. Plurality of stylistic influences
1. EDM (Movement 3)
2. Expressionism (Movement 4) (Mahler/Bartok)
3. Wagnerian textures (Movement 2)
ii. Plurality of meanings
1. The word Asyla
iii. Plurality of pitch/harmonic structures
1. Triadic constructions
2. Symmetrical sets (octatonic, whole tone, and hexatonic
collections)
3. Chromatic constructions
iv. Plurality of temporalities
b. Because this piece lacks a formalist, singularly operative organizing
principle, analytical perspectives must be based in the only consistently
operative mechanism in the piece, and that is its temporality, its existence
in time, its progression from one moment to the next
c. In this discussion, I will be drawing on material discussed by John Roeder
in his article Co-Operating Continuities in the Music of Thomas Ads
d. The progression from one moment to the next provokes the question of
continuity

i. One can define continuity in music as the fulfillment of a projected

expectation formed by a singular temporal element, such as a
rhythmic pattern, melodic construction, or harmonic structure.
1. For example, when a leading tone is heard in tonal music,
the mind projects the resolved tonic, and if the projection is
fulfilled, the music is heard to sound continuous
ii. Continuity can take multiple forms, and in Ads music, such
forms become considerably abstract, however their effect is of a
cognitive coherence and often accessibility
II.

Continuities in the 2nd movement

a. Present the melody of the second movement

b. Present the stream of continuities at letter D (1:53-2:36)

i. They each have a unique metric profile
ii. They each have a unique harmonic profile
III.

Similar systems in the first movement

a. Start with the opening dyads

b. Present the important structural moments as being oriented around the axis
created by these dyads
i. Letter C
ii. Letter G
iii. Letter K
iv. Letter S
v. Letter U
c. Other continuities:
i. The horn melody, itself an octatonic continuity
ii. The lower neighbor motif
IV.

Movement 4 draws on similar principles

a. The continuity of whole tone motion in the bass
b. The primary melody: an inversion of the horn melody from the first
movement
c. The voice leading of many of the harmonic structures resembles the kind
of voice leading we looked at in the second movement

V.

The work in context

a. This work has been performed hundreds of times by major institutions

b. Who is are the consumers of this music? Ads is not a composer supported
by the state, so in a sense this music is music for the marketplace. This is a
principle which we havent really encountered yet in the course.
c. This piece lacks the direct political implications of much of the music we
have studied, particularly the other pluralist pieces which had very clearly
defined political agendas (Symphonia, Maxwell Davies pieces etc.)