John Roeder, "Pulse Streams and Problems of Grouping and Metrical Dissonance in Bartók's 'With Drums and Pipes,'" Music Theory Online 7.1 (2001) | << Sect. 2b | Section 2c | Sect. 2d >> | |
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[2.7] Second Block (Example II.3) [click here
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The materials of mm. 26-29 do not obviously substantiate the notated meter,
but they do group within each stream in a straightforward way. The left hand
reiterates a semitone cluster every three eighth notes, in alternating registers.
The right hand reiterates (although never exactly) a 5-eighth note group
that is subdivided by changes of textural density and contour into 3+2. The
concurrence of these groupings is an example of what Krebs (1997) calls a "grouping
dissonance," in which the eighth-note pulse is grouped into two "interpretive
levels of different cardinality," 3 and 5. The levels begin an eighth-note apart,
not at the same time, so they exhibit "displacement dissonance" as well. Since
there are five statements of the 3-eighth duration, and three statements of
the 5-eighth group, the hands return to their original orientation just before
the end of m. 29. However the sense of completion is thwarted by the omission
of a left-hand attack there, and by changes to the pitches and to the locations
of clusters in the right hand. These changes suggest that the effect of metrical
dissonance is not the sole purpose of the passage.
<< Sect. 2b | Section 2c | Sect. 2d >> |
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