An Analysis of Mario Davidovsky's Synchronisms No.6 For Piano and Electronic Sounds

Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/c247dt47t

Abstract

In an interview with Charles Dodge in 1968, the pianist Robert Miller was asked what he would like to explore next, to which he replied, "the problems posed by playing with the unvarying part of the recorded tape."¹ Synchronisms No. 6 was written for him and first performed by him at the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival in August, 1970.
In this work, the piano is played conventionally on the keyboard, employing just a few inside-the-piano effects consisting· of plucked and damped strings. The tape part includes both pitched and non-pitched noises. Notation is also conventional, with the tape part on its own staff using note heads for pitches, as well as blocks, crosses, and shaded areas for noises, percussive sounds, and "white'' sounds.

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