Musical and Structural Modelling techniques in Robert Simpson’s ‘Rasumovsky’ Quartets.

Here you can find updates about my ongoing PhD Research in Composition at the RNCM, focused on the structural modelling techniques demonstrated in the 4th, 5th and 6th string quartets by Robert Simpson – his ‘Rasumovskys’. For news and other blog posts, please see their relevant pages (linked).

Blog Posts

Robert Simpson: A Listener’s Guide. Pt. 7: Symphony No. 8 & Vortex

Introduction So, this brings us to the final Symphony available to us online – the 8th. Before discussing that and the other work in post – Vortex, his final Brass Band piece – I will give a brief introduction to the three remaining Symphonies which are only available direct from Hyperion on CD or download.…

Robert Simpson: A Listener’s Guide. Pt. 6: Brass – Nielsen and Reger

Introduction A return this week to Simpson’s brass music, leaving just one to talk about in a later post – Vortex. The main focus of today’s post is on his later and longer brass band pieces – the Four Temperaments and the Introduction and Allegro on a Bass by Max Reger (my favourite of all…

Robert Simpson: A Listener’s Guide. Pt. 5: The Mid-Period Symphonies

Introduction Originally I had planned to group the symphonies in pairs, as there are 8 available to stream. But since nos. 6 and 7 were written in the same year (1977) it makes no sense to separate them, and their striking difference to no. 5 makes its inclusion necessary too for context (plus, Lyrita Records…

Robert Simpson: A Listener’s Guide. Pt. 4: ‘Symphonic Studies’ for Brass Band

Introduction After the Quartets and the Symphonies, Simpson’s most significant musical contribution to the world came in his brass band writing, completing 5 substantial works for the ensemble. Having grown up in a Salvation Army family and playing cornet in the band, his skill at writing for the ensemble is not surprising. Both works in…

Robert Simpson: A Listener’s Guide. Pt. 3: The Transitionary Symphonies

Symphony No. 3 (1962) A return to the symphonies then. The 3rd Symphony can perhaps be considered as a transitionary one, along with the other works completed in the 60s – of which there are relatively few compared to the other decades of his composing life. This was likely due to his particularly busy schedule…

Examples of Culminative Setting in my Music

Most of my work so far, other than writing my quartet, has been exploring various avenues of literature on musical borrowing, such as that of Burkholder on the music of Charles Ives – see: The Uses of Existing Music: Musical Borrowing as a Field (Burkholder, 1994). This got me thinking about how I have used…

Robert Simpson: A Listener’s Guide. Pt. 2: A Glimpse at the Quartets

Introduction For the sake of variety, I am going to be alternating between the symphonies and other works in these posts, straying from the chronological order occasionally in order to keep the posts similar lengths. Today we are looking at two movements from the string quartets (the only two movements available outside the CDs), and…

Robert Simpson: A Listener’s Guide. Pt. 1: The Early Symphonies

Introduction “What’s your PhD on?” “Who?” “What’s his music like?” These are questions I have been asked a lot recently, and while I can easily talk about the music of Robert Simpson all day, it’s very difficult to introduce it to people through my words alone. With a lot of composers, this is not such…

Dynamic Conundrums in my 4th Quartet

I realise that I had set up this section of my website for updates on my PhD, but had not yet made use of it, yet alone introduced my project. In October, I returned to the RNCM to start my PhD in composition with Adam Gorb and Adam Swayne as my supervisors. My project is…

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