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The Treatise Committee for Liang Liang Certifies that this is the approved version
of the following treatise:
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
May, 2009
iv
Acknowledgements
First, I would like to thank the members of my committee: Donald Grantham,
Andrew Garrison, Bruce Pennycook, Russell Pinkston and Yevgeniy Sharlat. I am
grateful for their patience.
I would specially thank my advisor Russell Pinkston, whom I studied composition
and acoustic-electronic music for seven years, and Bruce Pennycook, whom I studied
film scoring for many semesters.
I would also thank my previous composition professors, Neely Bruce, Alvin
Lucier, Anthony Braxton, Xiaogang Ye, Jianping Tang, Wenjing Guo, Guoping Jia,
Zhenjing He, Zhicheng Lao, Weikai Xing. And I would thank the composers who taught
me in master classes in France, Xu Shuya, Brian Ferneyhough, Klaus Huber and Qigang
Chen, They gave me a lot of help in my twenty-four year composition study.
Most importantly, thank my wife, Qi Zhu, my mother, Min Cao, my father, Fuzhi
Liang and grandmother, Huizhen Cao. They always support me, especially in my difficult
times.
v
Samsara
Supervisor: Russell Pinkston
Samsara is a six movement orchestra work. The composition attempts to explore
the meaning of life through Buddhist cosmology, the reincarnations within the six realms,
Preta, Animal, Human, Hell, Asura and Heaven. The purpose of the composition is to
investigate the possibility of communication between multiple cultures, arts and
philosophies, ancient cosmologies and modern techniques. The composition uses a
variety of extended techniques on orchestral instruments, such as string clusters,
harmonic glissandos, col legno, sul ponticello, Bartók pizzicatos, heavy pressure and
circular bowing; woodwind breath sounds and wide vibrato; prepared piano and inside
piano techniques etc. The compositional techniques used in the work contain aleatoric
elements, minimalism, micro-polyphonies, and non-western traditional or folk elements.
The pitch choices in the composition include microtones, newly defined chromatic scales
and the modes from Indian traditional music.
vi
ANALYSIS ........................................................................................ 85
1
I
Instrumentation
3 flutes (all doubling piccolo) 3 oboes 3 clarinets in Bb (all doubling bass clarinet) 3 bassoons (all doubling contrabassoon)
4 French horns in F 3 trumpets in Bb 3 trombones 1 tuba 5 percussionists: percussionist 1: Washboard, vibraphone percussionist 2: tam-tam, xylophone percussionist 3: low anvil, woodblock, maracas, crotales, tam-tam (share with percussionist 2 or percussionist 4) percussionist 4: tam-tam, cymbal, bell tree, bass drum, bass drum (share with percussionist 5) percussionist 5: bass drum, glock 1 harp 1 prepared piano: place rubber wedges in the center position of the strings of the
following notes to create mute sounds and overtones
strings
2
II
Play close to sixteenth notes but not necessarily in tempo
From slow to fast then back to slow
Repeat the passage in the box until the end of the black line
Choose any chromatic pitch within the range of the cluster. Play with strong pressure on the bow and
slide in the indicated direction, and bow freely
Choose any chromatic pitch within the range of the cluster. Play with the rhythm indicated and move
slightly up or down as indicated, and bow freely
Choose any chromatic pitch within the range of the cluster and slide up
quickly
Choose any pitch in the collection and play col legno battuto with the
indicated rhythm, staccato
Play the indicated rhythm until the end of the black line, choosing
various pitches from the collection, and bow freely
Choose any chromatic pitch within the range of the cluster and sustain,
and bow freely
Choose any pitch in the collection and play sul ponticello tremolando and gradually move up and down
3
III
Choose any chromatic pitch close to the highest possible pitch of the instrument and play sul ponticello
tremolo
Rapidly repeat the passage until the end of the black line with any
pitches in the high range of the instrument. The pitches should
move from low to high as indicated by the arrow
Wide vibrato
Sudden loud air sound only
Rapid scraping of the strings in the high range horizontally inside of
the piano with guitar pick
Slow scraping of the strings in the high range horizontally inside of
the piano with guitar pick
Slowly scraping of the lowest string vertically with guitar pick
Play the cluster loudly on the piano with arms and elbows
Previously prepare the rubber wedges between the keys to make
percussive sounds on piano
Play arpeggio as fast as possible within the range of the cluster
Free harmonic glissando on any single string
Circular bowing: The bow should draw (down-bow) when
approaching the bridge, and pushed (up-bow) when approaching the
fingerboard; or the reverse


f
p



pp
pp
ff
V. Asura Realm



mp
mf
3
3
3
mf
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
f


67
71
36
3
3
3
3





71
75
51
3

3
3





3
3
fff
80
84
85
ANALYSIS
Introduction
The word samsara comes from India. It “is the cycle of birth, decay, death, and
rebirth to which all living beings are subject until they achieve release through
Enlightenment.”1 Buddhists believe the forms of the reincarnations contain six different
categories, named six realms: Naraka (hell) Realm, Preta (hungry ghost) Realm, Animal
Realm, Human Realm, Asura Realm and Deva (Heaven) Realm. “An individual is born
into a certain realm or path depending on past karma”.2 A graph called "Wheel of Life"
shows the six realms and the mechanism that causes these samsaric reincarnations.3
Samsara for orchestra contains six movements which depict the lives in the six
realms. I attempt to use this composition as an opportunity to combine a variety of skills
and techniques introduced in late 20th century music, such as aleatoric elements,
minimalism, and micro-polyphonies. I superimpose different techniques vertically and
integrate them into new styles. The composition is influenced by many 20th century
classical music composers, such as Krzyszt Penderecki, John Cage, Joseph Schwantner,
Olivier Messiaen, John Adams, György Ligeti, Igor Stravinsky and George Crumb, and
film music composer Christopher Young. The pitch sets I use are based on an artificial
eight-note scale, the Samsara scale, which is created by the combination of two scales
from Indian classical music. The composition attempts to integrate several different
cultures, Western contemporary music, Indian classical scales, East Asian folk elements
and West African rhythms into a new style. Except for the beginning of the third 1 Edward A. Irons, “Samsara,” Encyclopedia of Buddhism (New York: Facts on File, 2008): 420 2 Edward A. Irons, “Six realms of existence,” Encyclopedia of Buddhism (New York: Facts on File, 2008): 456 3 Edward A. Irons, “wheel of life,” Encyclopedia of Buddhism (New York: Facts on File, 2008): 557-561
86
movement, Human Realm, the whole composition is atonal and based on various
chromatic, diatonic or microtonal clusters. I use many extended techniques for the
strings, harmonic glissandos, col legno, sul ponticello, Bartók pizzicatos, heavy pressure
bowing and circular bowing; breath sounds and wide vibratos in the woodwinds;
prepared piano and sounds made inside the piano etc. The various special timbres and the
gradual transformation are more important than the melodies and rhythms in the
composition.
87
Movement I. Preta Realm
Preta (the hungry ghost) is a realm full of suffering. It is the second lowest level
in the six realms, only higher than the hell realm. “This fate is explained as the result of
greed in an individual’s earlier life.”4 “Beings born into such destinies are described as
having huge bellies and tiny mouths. They can thus never satisfy their cravings.”5 To
reflect this character, I chose to use many chromatic clusters, sul ponticello tremolos and
string harmonic glissandos to create highly dissonant, dark and ominous effects. The style
of this music is influenced by Krzysztof Penderecki.
Starting from the first measure, the violin I part is divided into two groups and
play harmonic glissandos in quarter-tone intervals.
Example 12: Violin I, harmonic glissandos, Mov. I, m. 1
The sul ponticello tremolos in the cello part blur the pitches in the cluster and
create a white noise effect in the low register. The cluster also moves up and down
slowly.
4 Edward A. Irons, “Preta,” Encyclopedia of Buddhism (New York: Facts on File, 2008): 390 5 Edward A. Irons, “Preta,” Encyclopedia of Buddhism (New York: Facts on File, 2008): 390
88
Example 13: Cellos, sul ponticello tremolo clusters, Mov. 1, mm. 1-2
In movement I and II, I use a prepared piano. In movement I, rubber wedges are
placed in the center of the strings to create overtones. The idea is inspired by John Cage’s
prepared piano compositions.
Example 14: prepared notes in piano, Mov. 1, mm. 1-3
In movement I and IV, I use two ways of scraping the strings inside the piano,
quickly scraping the strings in the high range horizontally, and slowly scraping the lowest
string vertically back and forth to create dark, ominous and harsh effects.
89
Example 15: rapid scraping of the strings in the high range horizontally with guitar pick, Mov. 1, mm. 3-4
Example 16: slowly scraping the lowest string vertically with guitar pick, Mov. 1, m. 26
Flutes, oboes and clarinets play wide and free vibratos in chromatic clusters. Flute
3 performs accented breath sounds like a shakuhachi.
Example 17: clusters in woodwinds with wide vibrato and the flute’s breath sounds, Mov. 1, mm. 5-12
90
In the middle of the movement, clarinets and flutes, then oboes repeat the
indicated rhythmic patterns with pitches chosen from the collections. The effect is
inspired by the granular synthesis technique used in electronic music, and it is employed
in all six movements.
91
Movement II. Animal Realm
Buddhists believe the Animal Realm is “plagued by a lack of intelligence, by
being food for other creatures, and by enslavement to humans”.6 This movement starts
with free rhythm, dramatic motives and dynamic changes to depict small animal gestures
and actions. Rubber wedges are inserted between the strings in the middle range of the
piano to mute them and create the wood like sounds. Piano, washboard, xylophone and
woodblock play a gradually accelerated rhythm, which is commonly used in eastern
Asian traditional music, especially musical drama.
Example 19: gradually accelerated rhythm in piano and percussion, Mov. II, mm. 1-2
6 Edward A. Irons, “Wheel of life,” Encyclopedia of Buddhism (New York: Facts on File, 2008): 557-561
92
The following example shows the influence of Olivier Messiaen’s works which
depict birds. However, I used my own artificial scale (the Samsara scale), instead of
Messiaen’s seven scales.
Example 20: the motives show the influence of Olivier Messiaen, Mov. II, mm. 11-14
My uses of micro-polyphony were inspired by György Ligeti’s work
Atmosphères. Instead of creating cluster effects as in Ligeti’s works, I use micro-
polyphony as a micro-canon technique to create “chorus” or “echo” effects, as in
93
electronic music. In the following example, the micro-polyphony in flutes and clarinets
imitates the movements of a group of animals.
Example 21: micro-polyphony in flutes and clarinets imitates the movements of a group of animals, Mov. II, mm. 15-18
In the middle of the movement, the crescendos and decrescendos in the strings’
sul ponticello tremolo clusters imitate the sound of ocean waves. The double-basses play
long glissandos using artificial harmonics to create the “seagull effect”, which is inspired
by George Crumb.
94
Example 21: strings imitation of ocean waves and the double-basses’ “seagull effect”, Mov. II, mm. 25-29
Woodwinds play micro-polyphonic ascending passages over the strings to depict
the bubbles in the water.
95
Example 22: Woodwinds micro-polyphonic ascending passages, Mov. II, mm. 37-38
The ending of the movement depicts hunting by humans and their destruction of
the environment, leading to the death of the animals. The music suddenly becomes
furious and intense. My use of brass and percussion accents, combined with loud clusters
on the piano, is influenced by Igor Stravinsky’s the Rite of Spring, as shown in the
following example.
96
Example 23: Accents in brasses and percussion, with clusters on the piano, Mov. II, mm. 48-53
97
Movement III. Human Realm
This movement is the only one which contains conventional melodies and
rhythmic patterns. The Tibetan Plateau is the highest Plateau in the world and the sources
of many long rivers originate there. I use Tibetan sacred and folk music elements in the
beginning of the third movement to symbolize the source of the Human Realm. The
heavy pressure bowing in the low ranges of the cellos and the basses, the harmonics in
Violin II, and the lowest notes on the contrabassoons are combined to imitate the
overtone singing commonly used in Tibet and Mongolia, etc. The quarter-tones in the
brasses imitate the sounds of Tibetan long horns. The accents on the cymbals and the
tam-tam, together with the piano clusters, imitate the sounds of the Tibetan cymbals used
in the temples.
98
Example 24: The imitation of Tibetan sacred music, Mov. III, mm. 1-5
99
Micro-polyphony is used to emphasize the folk style melodies played by the
woodwinds starting in measure 5. It is a canonic style micro-polyphony in a pentatonic
scale with“ chorus” or “echo” effects, which is different from the chromatic cluster
effects in Ligeti’s Atmosphères. The intervals between leader and followers are as short
as quarter or eighth-notes. Violin I is divided into four groups softly reinforcing the
woodwinds to create an echo effect. The melodies are parodies of Tibetan folk melodies
which feature numerous ornaments. They are not based upon any existing melodies.
Example 25: Folk style melody micro-canon, Mov. III, mm. 8-9
100
The rhythmic canon that starts in the middle section of the movement is
influenced by both American minimalism and West African drum ensemble music.
Strings use pizzicato, Bartók pizzicato, and col legno to play percussive chromatic
clusters, followed by percussion and piano.
Example 26: The rhythm canon on strings, percussion, piano and harp, Mov. III, mm. 28- 32
Strong and irregular accents are used in the following section to create a primitive
and intense moment, leading into the “war” section before the end of the movement. It is
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obviously influenced by Igor Stravinsky’s the Rite of Spring. The glissandos on French
horns imitate the Horn sounds in the battle.
Example 27: Irregular accents by strings, percussion, piano board and the harp’s wooden frame, Mov. III, mm. 33-36
Woodwinds then start a “granular” effect to reinforce the dissonant and intense
effect. The first violins also switch to tremolo clusters to make a long crescendo.
102
Example 28: Woodwinds “granular” effect reinforces the intense effect, Mov. III, mm. 33-36
Example 29: The ending of this movement, Mov. III, mm. 37-43
103
Movement IV. Hell Realm
The Hell Realm is the lowest level in the wheel of life associated with the most
suffering. The movement starts with the contrast between the high register clusters by
violins, violas, flutes, clarinets and oboe, and low register clusters by cello and bass with
heavy pressure bowing. The brasses contribute with glissandos of the high register
clusters and crescendos.
Example 30: The beginning of Hell Realm, Mov. IV, mm. 1-12
104
Wide vibrato cluster in the viola part reinforces the horrific feeling.
Example 31: the viola wide vibrato cluster, Mov. IV, m. 20
Flutes, Clarinets, Oboes, Violin I and trumpets successively switch into clusters
with fast moving short motives.
Example 32: The “granular” effect appears again in flutes, clarinets, oboes, violin I and trumpets, Mov. IV, mm. 53-58
105
Movement V. Asura Realm
Asura Realm is a level higher than Human Realm and lower than Heaven Realm.
The Asura race is huge and very powerful, and “sometimes referred to as the jealous
gods, as their longing to acquire the delights of the gods comes not so much from their
own desire for pleasure as much as from a powerful sense of envy. They want those
things because they cannot bear others to possess what they do not.”7
The beginning of the movement V depicts the Asura’s mysterious world. The
musical language is influenced by Joseph Schwantner, with arpeggios based on minor
thirds and major sevenths played by piano, vibraphone, and glockenspiel. Highlight notes
are played by anvil and crotales, with slow glissandos of soft harmonics in the violins and
violas.
7 Kulananda, Wheel of Life: Buddhist symbols series (Cambridge: Windhorse Publications, 2004): 27-29
106
Example 33: the influence of Joseph Schwantner, Mov. V, mm. 1-7
The violin cluster used here is soft and thin, quickly moving up and down,
making it sound lighter and more mysterious rather than intense and dissonant.
Example 34: Violin clusters move up and down, Mov. V, mm. 8-9
107
Slowly scraping the high register of the strings inside the piano with a guitar pick,
creates a colorful, bell-tree like effect.
Example 35: Slowly scraping the high strings of piano, Mov V, mm. 17-16
Seventeen-note piano ostinato repeats rapidly until the end of the black line to
create crystal-like sounds. Later, the ostinato is augmented in slow tempo, played by
woodwinds and percussion.
108
Example 37: Seventeen-note ostinato played by woodwinds and percussion in slow tempo, Mov. V, mm. 28-29
The ending of the movement depicts the war between Asura Realm and Deva
(heaven) Realm. Buddhists believe Asura are obsessed with jealousy towards the Deva
and they always fight with each other. This section contains the war elements which
appear several times in previous movements, combined with the seventeen-note ostinato
used only in this movement.
109
110
Movement VI. Heaven Realm
This movement is the only one which is comparatively consonant throughout.
However, the movement is based on diatonic clusters and there is no obvious tonal
center. The use of the micro-polyphonic technique in the woodwinds here is quite close
to the cluster effect in György Ligeti’s Atmosphères. However, the diatonic pitch
collection makes the sounds more consonant and lighter, with a happy and “flying”
feeling.
Example 39: diatonic micro-polyphony makes consonant cluster effect, Mov. VI, mm. 17-20
111
Scales
Samsara for orchestra is based on an artificial eight-note scale, the Samsara scale.
The scale is created by the combination of two seven-note scales, called that from Indian
Classical Music. They are the Purvi and Todi scales.8
Example 1: seven-note Purvi scale and Todi scale
Six of the seven notes contained in these scales overlap. Only the third degree is
different. By combining all notes from these two scales, a new eight-note scale is created.
Example 2: the artificial eight-note Samsara scale
Movement II, Animal Realm is based on the original form of the Samsara scale.
The following example is an excerpt from the cello part of this movement. The cellos are
8 That (thaat) – The Indian Modes. Introduction to Indian Music. 13 April 2009 <http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/that.html>
112
divided into two groups and use sul ponticello tremolos to play any notes chosen from the
collections provided, and gradually move up and down.
Example 3: sul ponticello tremolos in cellos, Mov II, mm. 21-22
The combination of the Samsara scale starting from C and the Samsara scale
starting from C# creates a new eleven-note scale. Movement I, Preta Realm and
movement IV, Hell Realm are based on this eleven-note scale.
Example 4: The creation of the eleven-note scale by combining two transpositions of the Samsara scales
113
The following example shows the eleven-note scale used in the flute, oboe and
clarinet parts in movement IV, Hell Realm. Rapid passages are played with the indicated
rhythmic patterns by using the pitches from the collections. The two collections of
pitches are from two segments of the eleven-note scale.
Example 5: The use of eleven-note scale in the flute, oboe and clarinet parts, Mov. IV, m. 19
The Samsara scale can be divided into one pentatonic scale and one major triad.
The black notes in the following example show the pentatonic scale embedded in the
Samsara scale. The white notes form a major triad, which is part of another pentatonic
scale starting from C.
114
Example 6: A pentatonic scale and a major triad embedded in the Samsara scale
The pentatonic scale is probably the oldest scale in the world. It commonly
appears in ancient folk songs in many different cultures all over the world. For this
reason, I use the pentatonic scale in the third movement, Human Realm, as one of the
basic elements. The beginning of the third movement uses the pentatonic scale with many
fast ornaments to imitate the style of Tibetan folk songs.
Example 7: The canon in the flutes use the pentatonic scale and fast ornaments to imitate the Tibetan folk song style, Mov III, mm. 6-7
The Samsara scale also contains a pentatonic scale and a major seventh chord.
115
Example 8: A pentatonic scale and a major seventh chord embedded in the Samsara scale with one note overlapping.
The pentatonic scale shown above can be rotated and transposed to form another
pentatonic scale. That scale can join with the major seventh chord and become a
complete major scale.
Example 9: The rotation and transposition of the pentatonic scale
Example 10: The combination of the pentatonic scale and the major seventh chord into a complete major scale
116
The last movement is based on the major scale. However, there is no obvious
tonal center in that movement. So, the scale can also be recognized as one of the seven
medieval modes. The following example shows the use of the Lydian mode in the violin I
part at the beginning of the last movement.
Example 11: The use of the seven-note mode in Violin I, Mov. 6, mm. 1-3
117
Structures
The order of the six movements is not based on the order of the wheel of life. I
arbitrarily changed it in order to get a better aesthetic result by the contrasts of light and
dark, goodness and evil, beauty and ugliness, pleasure and suffering. The intensity
contacts evenly splits into six movements, in order to create several climaxes. The
following example shows the intensity level and dissonance changes in six movements.
Example 40: The intensity level and dissonance changes in six movements
Mov: I II III IV V VI
Movement I, II, III, and V use a structure commonly found in Chinese traditional
music, which starts with slow tempo and free rhythm, and then moderate tempo and strict
timing, then gradually louder and faster, finally reaching the climax in the end.
Movement II starts with small animals’ happy motions, then bigger animals, ending with
the hunting by the humans. Movement III starts with humans’ peaceful life, then
primitive dance, ending with the cruel war of humans. Movement V starts with Asuras’
mysterious life and ending on the war of Asura and Heaven. Movement VI uses a
transformation of a variation form. The main theme continuously appears many times
followed by its various developments in different keys. The lengths of the six movements
118
are almost equal in order to symbolize the equality of all living beings in Buddhist
cosmology.
119
Bibliography
Arom, Simha. African polyphony and polyrhythm: musical structure and methodology Trans. Martin Thom, Barbara Tuckett, and Raymond Boyd. Cambridge, New York, US: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Artaud, Pierre-Yves. Present Day Flutes. Paris, France: Gérard Billaudot Editeur, 1995 Irons, Edward A. Encyclopedia of Buddhism. New York, US: Facts on File, 2008 Kulananda. Wheel of Life: Buddhist symbols series. Cambridge, UK: Windhorse
Publications, 2004 Robert, Jean-Pierre. Modes of playing the double bass, A Dictionary of Sounds. Paris,
France: Musica Guild, 1995. Wade, Bonnie C. Music in India : the classical traditions. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey,
US: Prentice-Hall, inc., 1979. Wiederker, Jacques. The Contemporary Cello. France: L'oiseau D'or Editions Musicales,
1993.
<http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/>
Hultgren, Craig. Extended Techniques for Cello. <http://www.lunanova.org/CelloET/>
120
VITA
Liang Liang received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the central conservatory
of music in July 1998. He entered Wesleyan University, studying composition with Neely
Bruce, Alvin Lucier and Anthony Baxton, and received the degree of Master of Arts in
2001. In 2002, he entered Butler School of music of the University of Texas at Austin,
studying composition and electronic music with Russell Pinkston, and studying film
scoring with Bruce Pennycook.
In 1995, he attended the MUSICARAMA95 International New Music Festival in
Hong Kong with his composition Aurora Borealis for piano quartet. Aurora Borealis was
selected in the album, Nine Horses - New Music from China and released by Wergo in
1996. In 1996, he was invited to attend the master class in Abbaye de Royaumont in
France, and studied with Brian Ferneyhough, Klaus Huber and Xu Shuya. In 1997, he
attended the Centre Acanthes in Avignon, France, and studied with Qigang Chen. In
1997, he got commission from CCTV (China Central Television) to write the themes and
background music in Zhengda Variety Show (Zhengda Zongyi). In 2000, he composed
the music for Huanghua Zhang’s puppet show the bell. In 2000-2001, He composed the
music for Larry Hunt’s mask show Playing with Klee and premiered in Hong Kong in
January 2001. In 2007, he composed the original music for the feature film, The Cassidy
Kids, and composed the music for East meets West show for Huanghua Zhang and
premiered in Norway in 2007.
Permanent Address: 13569 Anarosa Loop, Austin, TX 78727
This dissertation was typed by the author