Portfolio of compositions and accompanying commentary

This portfolio consists of five original compositions with supporting commentary, as well as audio recordings of some of the pieces. They explore the influence of my contact with particular Brazilian and jazz musics, together with certain twentieth century and contemporary western concert musics. These musical influences are explored freely in response to the conception and evolution of each piece, and in my commentary I discuss aspects of MPB (Música Popular Brasileira, or Brazilian popular music), traditional and popular music from Brazil’s northeast, and jazz that have informed my work. At times, extra-musical factors provided motivation, supplying metaphors that I found helpful while making compositional decisions. The portfolio includes a solo piece for piano, two pieces of chamber music, a piece for voice and instrumental ensemble with 11 players, and an orchestral piece, and my commentary takes a twofold approach: I first present my pieces within the context of the main influences, and then discuss each piece individually.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo