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Portfolio of Original Compositions and Analytical Commentary

Sarsfield, Donal Robert

[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2014.

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Abstract

This portfolio of original compositions investigates how a concentrated perspective on one particular sound source has the potential to develop a perceptual link between the listener, the work and the world in which we live. To this end a contradictory approach to organising sound is employed; sounds are chosen for their intrinsic properties but are never fully removed from their referential identity. This approach is framed within a broad awareness of cultural listening, which recognises the value of the sound sources in society, but within the confines of the work these sounds operate with neutral symbolic function in order to emphasise their morphological identity. The commentary discusses the main issues arising relating to the composition of the six works in the portfolio, namely the recording, transformation and organising of recorded sound.